'Katrina' will fall on our most vulnerable

"This is our Katrina," the staff member from the Ray Graham Association said at a meeting for handicapped adults, their families and friends who assembled to prepare for what could happen if state budget cuts are applied to social service agencies of Illinois.

"You think that this cannot be happening to us, not here in DuPage County, not here in the United States, " she continued, "but it is."

"Where will I live?" asked one 22-year resident at the Villa Park Supported Living Arrangement, an apartment complex supervised by Ray Graham staff.

"I don't want to lose my home," declared another. "What if I get sick? Who will know and help me?"

"Maybe we could have a car wash to raise the money," said a wheelchair-bound resident.

"I could sell my paintings or teach karate," said another.

Could you have been there, as I was, and walked away without a broken heart. If blame is to be assessed, it would be fall on all of us to a degree, but more accountably on our elected officials who have allowed this crisis to come to pass.

And I ask: Will our legislators miss a meal? Will they have to search for affordable, or even available, housing? Will they lose the job that gives them meaning and dignity?

So, on whose head will "our" Katrina fall? Our most vulnerable. They will pay the price. They will be the ones who get sicker, die earlier, and become even more invisible than they apparently already are.

Judith C. Heikes

Glen Ellyn