The Advocates Strike Again
Not so many years ago North Carolina housed the mentally ill in places exclusive to the mentally ill. Anything from mild cases to people needing sedation or restraint were housed much as prisoners, unable to leave because they were behind locked doors. For some – the advocates as they are known, those who work and lobby for particular groups of people – this was not a satisfactory situation. They wanted a better situation for the mildly mentally ill, to which many people agreed.
Thus the number of available beds in institutions were reduced concurrent with the deinstitutionalizing of some of patients. Unfortunately, even though often able to function well, many of these people were not able to function without help. At first they may have ended up at relatives, but they could not survive independently, which is why they were institutionalized to start with. As the number of them moved out of mental institutions increased some of them often ended up in medical hospitals which had no place to send them after they were stabilized. This led to the use by the state of adult care homes as a place where the slightly mentally ill could be housed in a safe environment with assistants available 24 hours.
This situation has continued, and many of the mentally ill have found the adult care homes to be their homes. There is assistance if needed, other people to visit with, and safety in a secure environment. Understand that if these people were capable of taking care of themselves, they would not be in these facilities. So they are in a place where the state, the taxpayers of North Carolina, pay to house those who are unable to care for themselves.
Yet the advocates, Disability Rights North Carolina in this case, are not happy. Why not? One might guess the reasons, but the desire is for individuals to live in their own homes, perhaps with relatives, but not in adult care homes. The quote from an article in the uptown paper makes this situation perfectly vague: “The state and the federal government reached a landmark agreement … the state avoids having to defend itself against charges in a federal lawsuit that it is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by improperly putting people with mental illness in adult care homes, when they are capable of living by themselves.”
Here we see the convolutions of government at work. If the mentally ill were capable of living independently, they wouldn’t be described as mentally ill. What is indicated is that some of these patients can do most of the things required to live by themselves, but not all. Not all is a very vague term, but in essence means that someone is going to have to assist these people in their living. The question becomes one of what is the most efficient way for those who are responsible, the taxpayers, to take care of them.
Let us be clear: everyone wants what is ‘best’ for these wards of the state. There is no other way to put it. If they are to receive and are dependent upon state (taxpayer) money for their daily needs, then they are wards of the state. The state has numerous ways to take care of them, but the main focus of the state should be the taxpayers, not the recipients of their largess. Thus the use of adult care homes; putting people of various needs of assistance together in one place makes the use of assistance more efficient. Perhaps it is not the most desirable of settings, who really wants to live there, but they are generally safe and provide for the needs of their residents.
But this is not the goal of the advocates. They pretend that the mentally ill who only need some help should have their own places. Fine. Who is supposed to pay for this housing and the cost of providing assistance? What the advocates don’t concern themselves with is the cost. Make no mistake. It is very expensive relative to the adult care homes. It takes more staff, it involves travel, and it involves more real estate.
Our concern should be first for the taxpayer, not the recipient. If someone needs the assistance of the state, if they are unable to provide for themselves in some fashion that requires taxpayer assistance, then they, and their advocates, should be happy with any assistance the taxpayers are willing to provide. This is not the position of the advocates. The advocates, Disability Rights North Carolina, are only concerned with one aspect, the spending of money to satisfy their personal desires. What they seem to want are individual personal assistants for the mentally ill. What a desire. What Disability Rights North Carolina wants is for wards of the state, recipients of taxpayer largess, to actually live better than the taxpayers themselves.
This is wrong. If someone needs the taxpayers to pay for their living needs, then they should not live better than the taxpayers, but in a place that provides their needs in the most financially efficient manner. Mildly mentally ill people, who need state assistance but are not ill enough for confinement in a mental institution, should be in places that can efficiently care for them. Adult care homes fit the description perfectly well.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=11268
