Yesterday at the Executive Forum we had a budget presentation from Director
Casey and Dan Blair of the Division of Developmental Disabilities. One
interesting point of their talk was that there is a$22 million supplemental
appropriation in the budget what would get the Division through the remainder
of the fiscal year without any cuts or delay in funding. Legislators need to
approve that supplemental appropriation. Another point was that the cost of
state institutions has risen to $247,835 per year per person! Compare that to
the average cost of CILA at $53,624 including day services! More on the
budget later as I prepare our comments for the Senate and House
Appropriations Committee meetings scheduled for March 16th and April 1st.
Kim Shontz, Director of the Support Services Team, Illinois Crisis Prevention
Network did an excellent review of their good work and recommendations for
improvement. Here is her presentation: “Illinois Crisis Prevention Network.”
Good story from today’s Chicago Tribune on the Special Olympics efforts to
end the R Word.
Heading to Chicago today for an interview with ComCast Newsmakers!
Tony
Special Olympics campaign: Respect
By Lizzie Johnson Tribune reporter
The Special Olympics hosted its seventh Spread the Word to End the Word
Day on Wednesday.
This year’s theme: “Got Respect.”
“It’s like the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign,” said Jennifer Marcello, director of young
athletes for Special Olympics Illinois. “The idea is getting respect for everyone.
It’s not necessarily just individuals with intellectual disabilities, but for every
person, regardless of race or religion or ethnic background.”
The Spread the Word campaign was started in 2009 by college students
Soeren Palumbo, of Notre Dame, and Tim Shriver, of Yale. Their aim was to
push for more respectful and inclusive language for people with intellectual
disabilities. The R-words — “retard” and “retarded” — are widely considered
pejorative because they perpetuate negative stereotypes.
Christy White, a spokeswoman for Special Olympics, said: “It’s more than
just taking a pledge not to use this word. Our goal is to get more youth and
adults engaged, to take it outside of the classroom and make a bigger
difference.”
White said 48 states have passed legislation changing the term “mentally
retarded” to “people with intellectual disabilities.”
Marcello said she has seen a big difference since the campaign started.
“More and more people are starting to think about what they say before they
actually say it. It’s nice seeing people inherit these values. Even greater, our
athletes now have the competence to stand up for themselves and ask people
to use a different word. That’s the greatest accomplishment I’ve seen.”
More than 500,000 people have registered to take the pledge to spread
awareness, according to the Special Olympics website. Participants are
encouraged to share photos using the hashtag #GotRespect.
The Spread the Word campaign is held on the first Wednesday of March
each year. lijohnson@tribpub.com
Twitter @lizziejohnsonnn
.
Tony Paulauski Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org
