The Elections are over and we are sending men and women to Richmond– and roles throughout our local cities and counties, who are committed to making a stronger Virginia. Part of making a stronger Virginia means they must understand what it takes to create A Life Like Yours for people with all abilities.

Over the next several months members and friends of The Arc Of Northern Virginia must make the time to welcome our new leaders and tell them our personal stories—we must give them the tools to make good decisions on behalf of Virginians with disabilities and their families and friends. The Arc’s primary request this year falls into two areas:

» More funding for community base services; and

» Changing the term mental retardation to intellectual/developmental disabilities.

The first request will open doors and opportunities for people with disabilities and the ladder will work to get rid of stigma associated with having a developmental delay.

I. Community base funding breaks down into four areas:

1) Our leaders need to commit to funding 800 MR Waiver and three hundred DD Waiver slots this year and for the next 10 years… Virginia wants to be proud to say that we invest in all Virginia’s regardless of ability. By making the commitment to fund a minimum of 1200 waiver slots annually, for the next 10 years, Virginia will be able to brag that we are #1 in supporting people with disabilities nationwide—not 47th.

2) Many people are not eligible to receive Medicaid Waiver services, like myself Jill Erin Egle’–but we still need all the support we can get! The Arc would like to request $5 million dollars to support a thousand people across the Commonwealth– so they can live a life in the community just like ours.

3) If Virginia is going to invest in bricks and mortar for building places for people with disabilities to live….The Arc would like to see $50 million dollars in capital funds to build community based housing across the Commonwealth. This means instead of building large institutions—the state would provide resources to build affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities—EVERY WHERE!

4) Of course, you know The Arc of Northern Virginia and our partners were successful in getting the Northern Virginia differential last year—the Northern Virginia differential ensured that the “quality of services” could be maintained. The Arc would like to see an annual cost of living adjustment made to our Medicaid Waiver rates so reimbursement for services will keep up with the cost of doing business.

II. Getting “Rid of the R Word”
Members of people first have been working to get rid of Mental Retardation changed to Intellectual/developmental disabilities we work closely with Jay Hoffmeier of Kovar and our local governments to get them to change the title in their work groups. We are know working with Secretary Marilyn Tavenner to make this change statewide. You may ask why it is so important to get rid of the word retarted, will let me answer what the people first group had to say :

A lot of us don’t like the “R word” which is label and stands for Retarded. We don’t like it because it hurts our feelings and it puts us down in our lifetime. 40 years ago doctors used to label us as retarded because it was accepted in society when an adult was born with a disability it was okay to say the “R word”. In today’s society it is NOT okay to use the “R word” when you are talking about a PERSON. We want to be known as a person first. A person with a name– not called a diagnosis, an I.Q. Score, a mental age, or somebody’s child. If you must describe our disability use intellectual or developmental disability.

The elections are over and whether our leaders are Republican Democratic or Independent… They all need to commit to creating A Life Like Yours for people with developmental disabilities—because this will make Virginia the strongest Virginia ever. Imagine what we can do when we were all working, playing, laughing, and living together.