| Argument |
Some Possible Responses |
| They won't make it in the community because
they have too many disabilities and can't take care of themselves. |
If they have supports in the community they
can move. They can make it. The state should not be incarcerating
people with disabilities and keeping them dependent. The state should
help make them independent. |
| Institutions should be a choice. People like
living in institutions. |
Would you choose to live there? How can they
make a choice without experience. No one has the option to live
elsewhere with supports they need, how can it be a choice? Providing
services in an institution is done for ease of service delivery, not
for the individual who lives there. It costs much more to
institutionalize someone than to provide them with community supports. |
| People will end up on the streets |
That will only happen if the state dumps
people out of institutions without the proper community supports in
place. We don't want anyone to move until we are sure that the
supports and services are in place. |
| People in institutions are perpetual children.
They only have minds of two year olds. |
Since when do we lock up two year olds? |
| Parents and families don't want them to move. |
Research shows that families who are against
people moving change their minds afterwards because they see the
positive things that happen. |
| This is a good institution. Everything they
need is right there, like doctors and nurses in case of an emergency. |
You can get the same things in the community.
The community has good medial care and other services for people. |
| The community system isn't ready and won't be
accountable for what happens |
As more people move, the community system will
have more resources to help people. People will have more people in
their lives to look out for them. |
| There's no guarantee the money will be there. |
The money has been there for the institutions
since they began. It costs more to perpetuate an institution than
provide community based services. People have been living in good
community based services for years. The same funds that pay for
institutional care can pay for community care. |
| Society isn't ready, they'll be made fun of
and won't have friends. |
There will be more opportunities for people to
make friends because research shows people go more places and do more
things when they live "on the outside." Non disabled people
will get to know disabled people as neighbors, fellow church members,
classmates, diners, workers etc. Once they do, they won't be the
objects of jokes. |
| The employees will lose their jobs and it will
hurt the community where the institution is. |
Employees who work in the institution can
become the community based support workers when the institution is
closed. Are you saying that people have to live sub-standard lives to
protect jobs? |
The Bottom Line: This is a human and
constitutional rights issue.
People have the right to live in the community.
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