Federal cuts could effectively end programs for Minnesotans with intellectual disabilities

A variety of services in Minnesota exist to support people with disabilities so they can live independently and participate fully in the communities where they live. Now those programs are potentially on the chopping block.

“We're all very afraid,” said Amy Hewitt, director of the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota. She said the outcome of losing these services would be re-institutionalization. “And we know people have very difficult lives in institutional settings,” she said.

The proposed federal budget, obtained by the Washington Post, includes enormous cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services, with elimination to parts of the little-known Administration of Community Living. The administration oversees funding distributed to many state disability programs, including here in Minnesota.

The programs in Minnesota to be hit the hardest by a sacking of the administration are Minnesota’s Disability Law Center, the Governor’s Council on Disabilities, and the Institute on Community Integration, where Hewitt works. These programs don’t really have other sources for funding, she said.

To listen to the full conversation click the player above.

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