Kansas Provider Speaks Out about Waiting List

Tom Laing of InterHab, an ANCOR member and State Association Exec, was published in the Wichita Eagle April 28th with his take on Kansas’ state budget for developmental disability programs. Laing was responding to an earlier editorial in the Eagle praising the state legislature for adding funding to the budget to address the waiting list for services for Kansans with physical disabilities. He called the praise 'premature' because the legislature has done nothing to budget for individuals with developmental disabilities who are on a waiting list for supports and services – a list that could reach 4000 people by July. As Laing so aptly says:

“How would you react if 4,000 Kansas children were told there was now a waiting list for kindergarten? How would you react if your child were told that because of state budget mismanagement, he could not enter the college of his choice for another two or three or four years? … Is it OK that the most important services offered by government for individuals with DD are curtailed, and that people in need may have to wait for up to four years? Of course not. The people of Kansas need to let their elected leaders know the time for action is now.”