Time to stand up and demand action

With the end of 2011 coming in Springfield and the start of the 2012 legislative session, two things will still remain the same. Illinois will be last in the nation in providing education and services to special needs children and adults; and special needs families will not be donating heavily to state legislator campaigns during election years.

We have never commanded the proper attention from local legislators to create multiyear plans and provide real solutions to problems that have been getting worse for years and will continue to get worse, if legislators keep avoiding the facts that finally need to be a priority in Springfield.

Thousands of families that have children and young adults with special needs, ranging from Down syndrome to autism, live in local legislative districts and vote. In my state representative district, Ryan Higgins at the Schaumburg Township Republican Organization and current local Democratic incumbents should take notice.

The special needs population in the Northwest suburbs is large, getting bigger and deserves much needed leadership in creating more vocational training, job creation and more CILA communities.

We need less talk and more action in the form of real legislation to help families. Problems with the public union pensions, workman’s compensation, and health care do not get solved quickly or at all, because campaign donations from special interests stop real reform in this state, at the expense of human services.

If you are a special needs parent and live in the districts of state Reps. David Harris, Michelle Mussman, Fred Crespo, Tom Morrison and Sid Mathias, as well as state Sens. Mike Noland and Dan Kotowski, contact them and tell them how you feel, and demand no excuses for why things can’t be done and solutions to how and why they can. Our population is not going away.

Mike Baker

Schaumburg

Autism Society of America