CHICAGO — Disability advocates disrupt the lieutenant governor’s speech at a celebration of the American with Disabilities Act.
Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti was blocked during her speech at the Chicago event by dozens of people in wheelchairs, chanting “I’d rather go to a jail than die in a nursing home.”
Tim Sullivan, a disabled man living in Chicago, says the changes to the determination of need (DON) score proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner would cut off him off from aid he receives through the Illinois Department of Human Services’ home services program. The aid includes paying for someone to help with basic tasks like getting out of the bed and getting in and out of the shower.
Sullivan says the fact Sanguinetti herself has a disability, as she suffers from multiple sclerosis, adds a little extra sting to Rauner’s proposed cuts.
“If anything, she should be on our side, fighting for us, not against us,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan adds that he and other disability advocates have tried to engage Sanguinetti on these proposed cuts, with no success.
“We met her at another event and talked to her, and she was like a deer in headlights,” Sullivan said. “She didn’t even know what the hell we were talking about, and we tried to get a meeting with her, and she was oblivious to it.
Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti was blocked during her speech at the Chicago event by dozens of people in wheelchairs, chanting “I’d rather go to a jail than die in a nursing home.”
Tim Sullivan, a disabled man living in Chicago, says the changes to the determination of need (DON) score proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner would cut off him off from aid he receives through the Illinois Department of Human Services’ home services program. The aid includes paying for someone to help with basic tasks like getting out of the bed and getting in and out of the shower.
Sullivan says the fact Sanguinetti herself has a disability, as she suffers from multiple sclerosis, adds a little extra sting to Rauner’s proposed cuts.
“If anything, she should be on our side, fighting for us, not against us,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan adds that he and other disability advocates have tried to engage Sanguinetti on these proposed cuts, with no success.
“We met her at another event and talked to her, and she was like a deer in headlights,” Sullivan said. “She didn’t even know what the hell we were talking about, and we tried to get a meeting with her, and she was oblivious to it.