Institutionalized is not a dirty word

By Rep. Barney Fisher

Missouri 125th District

In a recent Herald-Tribune op-ed piece, Ms. Katheryne Staeger-Wilson, of Missouri Protection & Advocacy Services, gave her brand of social justice and was less than forthcoming about the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U. S. Supreme Court's Olmstead Decision of 1999.

What the Missouri Department of Mental Health is doing at the Nevada Habilitation Center is absolutely not a violation of ADA or Olmstead. Similar arrangements have been completed at Higginsville and Marshall.

Ms. Staeger-Wilson, MoP&A, the Missouri Council on Developmental Disabilities, and other social activist groups deliberately ignore the provisions of ADA and Olmstead that they don't like and push the provisions that they do like. According to them, institution is a dirty word and integrated community settings is the only living arrangement allowed by ADA and Olmstead and all mental health care facilities (institutions) must be closed. According to MoP&A, simply residing in a mental health care facility, regardless of the quality of care, is abuse or neglect, and a violation of ADA and Olmstead. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In writing the Olmstead majority opinion, Justice Ginsberg said that no citizen can be kept in a restricted environment (institution) if they can live in a less restricted community setting. However, Justice Ginsberg then stated the requirements for moving a citizen to a less restricted environment:

* 1. A less restricted environment must be at the discretion/evaluation of the state's professionals;

* 2. The individual is not opposed to a less restricted environment; and

* 3. The financial resources of the state must be considered.

In spite of what Ms. Staeger-Wilson thinks, the Olmstead Decision is not a mandate to close mental health care facilities. In fact, the implementing instructions for Olmstead caution the states not to use Olmstead as justification for closing mental health care facilities.

Ms. Staeger-Wilson would have everyone believe that community setting equals first-rate, better care than an institution. Many, if not most, of NHC's residents have already been in multiple community settings where they were medically neglected, mentally, physically, and even sexually abused. I personally know two NHC residents who have been in over 20 combined community settings where they were abused and neglected, but thrive at NHC! Recently, a well-known community service provider had a district supervisor arrested on child pornography charges! It's no wonder that NHC residents, their parents and guardians oppose community settings. They've been there and done that. Yes, Ms. Staeger-Wilson, social justice is about maintaining institutional jobs, especially if those job-holders provide quality care. The administration, staff, and employees at NHC are famous for their first-rate care that you are so willing to end to push your social agenda.

MoP&A is just one more example of an over-bearing, heavy-handed, and arrogant federal entity intent on ramming their one-size-fits-all version of a social agenda down the throats of the state, the disabled and their parents and guardians. For confirmation of that assessment, just ask Tammy Bond, the Vernon County Public Administrator, or the Missouri Association of Public Administrators.

The essence of ADA and Olmstead is freedom to choose how one can live, not how one can be forced to live. I fully support community settings, I fully support in-home settings and I fully support mental health care facilities. It's a shame that Ms. Staeger-Wilson and MoP&A don't support true civil rights and true freedom of choice!

I urge all 125th District citizens to contact Governor Nixon and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to urge approval of the Missouri Department of Mental Health's plan to build group homes on the NHC campus. CMS point of contact is Cynthia Mann, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Blvd., Woodlawn, MD 21244.

As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story!"