Editorial: Nevada is unkind to disabled

Monday, Nov. 27, 2000 | 9:44 a.m.

For more than 20 years Nevada has ranked at the bottom in terms of funding for those needy individuals, according to a federally funded study by the University of Illinois at Chicago. That is a pathetic record for which there is no excuse.

Granted, the Nevada Legislature has been trying to play catch-up with the state's mental health budget ever since then-Gov. Bob Miller made severe budget cuts in response to a recession in the early 1990s. But as of 1998 we were still spending only $1.05 for every $1,000 of personal income on services for the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, less than one-third the national average of $3.69. In a state with such a healthy economy that is pitiful.

Our insensitivity in this area of funding is hurting community-based services such as Opportunity Village, which provides vocational training and recreation for 1,000 disabled clients annually in Las Vegas. Because of limited state support, the agency cannot pay its employees enough to keep them and has an annual staff turnover of 65 percent, three times the national average for such organizations. Try to run a business with that kind of turnover.

It is our hope that legislators next year take a longer look at the mental health budget. We do not believe the overused excuse that money is tight is legitimate when it comes to meeting those needs. It should be noted that when there is a true funding shortage, mental health services regretably are among the first to be cut, as past history has proven.

The state needs to develop a new long-term strategy of service delivery to individuals with mental retardation or such disabilities as autism, cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome. We hope one day that Nevadans look up with pride at our commitment to such individuals. But if lawmakers do not act soon, we are afraid that day is a long way off.