We’ve failed people with significant disabilities

Gov. Kim Reynolds sent shock waves through the disability community with her recent announcement that she is closing the Glenwood State Resource Center, home to about 200 Iowans with a variety of significant disabilities.

Let’s be very upfront here — virtually every person on planet earth can live in the community. Very, very few people need to live in an institution. (I would argue only those who present a specific harm to others.) The problem is that as a society, we have failed people with significant disabilities. We have not provided the resources they need to live safely in the community. Those resources could be medical, equipment, highly trained staff or other things. Whatever the case, we, as a society, have decided these folks are not worth it. It is more important that the rich get richer.

So, from a purely philosophical standpoint, I’m glad the Glenwood Center is going away. People need to live in the community, close to family. Here is the problem: Reynolds will not do right by these people. Look what happened when the Mount Pleasant and Clarinda centers closed! Iowans died! Few people noticed, and even fewer cared. Look what happened when she privatized Medicaid! Iowans died! But very few people noticed, and even fewer cared.

Unfortunately, in Reynolds’ Iowa, the future for these 200 people is very grim. So the closing of Glenwood, while long overdue, will likely be a death warrant for a number of our most vulnerable citizens. We must do better.

Rod Sullivan

Iowa City