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John
Williams' Column: Lex Frieden Calls for Action on
Disability Issues

John M.
Williams

Date:
03/07/2003

Lex Frieden, Chairman of
the National Council on
Disability, is one of the most eloquent and
distinguished advocates for people with disabilities in
this country. When he talks people listen; since he
speaks from experience, he knows what he's talking
about.

In a message that the President, Congress
and states should respond to, Frieden, speaking before a
group of disability advocates March 5 at the National
Press Club in Washington, DC, called for immediate
action on issues affecting community-based services
programs and the implications of health care reform for
people with disabilities.

He also called for
rehabilitation services to receive additional state
funds so people with disabilities can achieve
independence and become taxpayers instead of tax
recipients. He pointed out that institutionalized people
do not pay taxes.

Frieden says the country has a
lack of an infrastructure designed to support personal
assistant services for people living in the community.
The centers for Medicare and Medicaid state that 73% of
the money being spent for long-term care is spent to
support people in nursing homes as opposed to living in
the community.

Frieden advocates that this 73% be
reduced, and that the money to provide assistance to
institutionalized people with disabilities can be better
spent to provide assistance in their homes where they
can be part of their families.

There are more
than 400 centers for independent living in the U.S.
helping to organize personal assistance services to
people with disabilities so they can live in their
homes.

Frieden suggests that if we do not develop
this infrastructure before 2011 the country will be
frustrated by the lack of resources to create
independence for people with disabilities. “We need to
plan today to provide community based programs to ensure
services in their homes,” he said.

How acute is
the need to address this problem now? In January 2011
approximately 10,000 people per day will turn 65 and be
eligible for retirement. And everyday there after 10,000
more people will turn 65 so by 2020 the U.S. will have
80 million people over retirement age. Frieden argues we
cannot afford to pay for that many people to be cared
for in institutions.

He added that today, as a
result of barriers in the environment, barriers in the
economy, and barriers in attitudes, there are people
with disabilities who are traumatized by the reality
that they have a disability. He urges these individuals
to seek independent living counseling and training to
deal with the trauma of disability.

The reality
is, the longer we live the more likely we are to
experience a disability as a function of natural aging.
According to Frieden, many people in society, as they
age, are concerned about developing a disability. They
have vision loss, sensation loss, mobility loss, memory
loss and other kinds of cognitive challenges. Frieden
advocates the greater usage of assistive technology
among people with disabilities to help them achieve
independence personally and financially.

Another
area of concern to Frieden is the dwindling supply of
resources for providing rehabilitation services to
people with disabilities. Frieden says that it is
important to the nation that we find opportunities for
people with disabilities in our society.

Speaking
of his rehabilitation experiences after a car accident
in the 1960s, he says he was fortunate because he had a
choice to go to Chicago, Houston, New York City or Los
Angeles.

He laments, “The opportunity to choose
today is quite limited because the resources do not
exist in the system to ensure that level of choice.” He
says that because of the lack of resources professionals
working in rehabilitation, facilities struggle to ensure
that people receive quality care.

Frieden lauds
some of today’s policies in providing health care that
has focused on prevention, efficiency, and minimizing
the costs to taxpayers. However, he believes the quality
of care needed in the rehabilitation field is
sacrificed, due to insufficient resources. He adds,
“Therefore we need to look at policy changes as we
reform health care in Medicaid and Medicare to ensure
the highest quality of services are available to the
people needing them most.”

Speaking from
personal experience to drive home his points, he pointed
out that without rehabilitation services he, a
quadriplegic, would be living a life of dependency,
probably in a hospital with 24 hour care. Instead, he is
fully employed and a leader with a long record of
accomplishment.

He believes America has the will
and resources to deal with these problems. He believes
America can give people with disabilities the
opportunity to work and to be productive in their homes,
to be educated and to be involved in their communities.

He states, “We can set an example worldwide for
this effort. We have a moral and social commitment to
ensure that all Americans live life to their fullest,”
and stresses that “nobody should be left without hope of
living a better life.”

A strong supporter of the
Americans with Disabilities Act, he suggests that the
principles and integrity of the law must be kept intact,
and by doing so, we increase opportunities for people
with disabilities and strengthen the financial health of
the country.

The opinions expressed in this article are
those of the author, and not necessarily those of the
National Organization on Disability.

© 2003
National Organization on Disability

View
other N.O.D. articles by John
Williams

John Williams, an
award-winning columnist, has been writing about
disability issues for 22 years. He has written a weekly
column for Business Week Online magazine and is
knowledgeable about assistive technology products. If
you have any comments or questions, or would like more
information on this week's article, please contact John
Williams at [email-masked].

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