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Because these judges
have prevented us from using the scalpel to go and trim some of those programs we now have to use the ax.
And I was hearing a lot of frustration out there and fear about what's going on in California with the governor and his proposed budget cuts
and I thought well let's do something like now to get people out of the house so they would at least feel better about themselves
and at the same to we could educate other people in the community about what's going on.
I'm a home care worker. I've been doing it for almost 30 years. We went from minimum wage and bit by bit we made our way up
to $11.50 an hour and he wants to reduce that to $8.00 an hour.
The governor has on the chopping block to cut about 50% of the funding for IHSS, which would...
which would eliminate about 50-60% of the people who are on the program now.
So our homes not nursing homes is the core message.
And it's actually based on a Supreme Court decision called Olmstead.
The Supreme Court ruled that people with disabilities have a right
to be in the least restrictive environment and the least restrictive environment means
community integration. That's what it means. We're advocating for something that the Supreme Court has already
ruled on. We have of a very sound legal basis for what we're defending and protecting.
People have been stopping by, people have been driving by and honking. People have been staying the night. People have stayed one
night and gone home and other people have come in their place. It's been interesting and really mixed up and kind of cool.
You know, the one thing that I think people don't really understand is that when you're making cuts in a budget,
there are some things that you can pare back on, and there are other things that you just can't play with.
And when it comes to people's lives, when it's living and dying it just can't be on the table at all.
It's a terrible thing to do to people, to make people with disabilities,
people who you know, that need people to help them live and keep independent lives, to keep those people in limbo
and worried every time there's a budget process, it's just not right to do
to do this to people over and over again and that's why I'm out here.