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Heart shattered over defeat of Amend. 51

This letter has not been edited

Mark Chuck, Parker

Published November 5, 2008 at 6 p.m.

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Disabled Not Treated Equally. My family’s heart was shattered tonight by the overwhelming vote of ‘NO’ for the Disability Tax, Amendment 51. It tells us that the majority of Colorado citizens have no idea what it is like to raise a child with a disability, such as Down Syndrome.

Currently, there is a waiting list for services for these children, because the State of Colorado chooses to limit the number of disabled people who receive necessary help.

Our son has been on this waiting list his whole life and has been denied services, such as speech therapy. At age six, he still cannot speak. We have been told that he probably will never go off of the wait list. This is because he was born into a middle class family. His parents have held a job their whole life and even provided health insurance. However, medical plans limit the amount of assistance they give to people with special needs. Our only hope was Amendment 51.

When our son had to have open heart surgery, his own surgeon commented, “You would have been better off if he was an illegal alien with no insurance, because his (our son) surgery would have been covered by the state.” These children are people of our state. They do more than participate in Special Olympics. They sack our groceries, they drive cars and actively participate in our communities.

These people are already short changed in their opportunities in life because of the physical and mental limitations they face. We were hoping that the change of two cents for every ten dollars would have been a priority to the people of this state. It clearly shows this family that Colorado citizens do not believe that people with disabilities should be given a fair shake in life and treated equally.

Comments

  • November 5, 2008

    6:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jgd writes:

    Mark,

    I have dealt with special needs children and their families for many years and understand your frustrations. In your letter you seem to place a great deal of the blame for not having the necessary resources on the general public for not passing Amendment 51. However, then you mentioned if your son was an illegal immigrant he would be able to receive the needed assistance. Sounds to me you should be petitioning the government to redirect those resources from the illegal immigrants to the children with special needs, such as your son.

  • November 5, 2008

    7:03 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    grandpaw writes:

    Writing letters protesting the way we treat illegal immigrants is not likely to get you additional benefits. What you were hoping for, I think, is a more compassionate people who realize that it is only through the government that people like you are going to get any significant relief. There are too many people who think that compassion is the name of a perfume.

  • November 5, 2008

    8:01 p.m.

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    jgd writes:

    And then there are people who feel compassion (tax money) is endless. Maybe it is time for our government to start showing a little more compassion (tax money) for the tax paying public (lowering taxes) and our fellow citizens and a little less compassion (tax money) for illegal immigrants.

  • November 6, 2008

    7:31 a.m.

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    Acemon writes:

    The citizens were not uncaring of people with special needs, but voted to oppose 51 because of the fine print which revealed another attempt to undo the effects of TABOR. When the amendment is changed to help people without affecting TABOR, I bet more people will vote for it.

  • November 6, 2008

    9:28 a.m.

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    CWW writes:

    I thought the Ref C money was supposed to help the disabled, and go for education. What happened to that?

  • November 6, 2008

    11:03 a.m.

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    anderson writes:

    The letter writer had my sympathy until he made his patently false claim that undocumented immigrants are entitled to something he isn't. No lie is too low, and no fabrication too false when you hate.

    Of course, the legislature should do something more about helping disabled children. Talk to your legislator.

  • November 6, 2008

    11:16 a.m.

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    jgd writes:

    Anderson,

    ***Of course, the legislature should do something more about helping disabled children. Talk to your legislator***

    That is the point you keep missing! Why should an American citizen be required to ask other American citizens to pay more taxes while our legislature is currently using tax payer money to offer medical care for illegal immigrants? When will our legislature come to the conclusion American tax payer money should be used for American citizen's needs, not for illegal immigrants?

  • November 6, 2008

    11:36 a.m.

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    anderson writes:

    Grandpaw more or less called you a heartless bast*rd (without using that term) on another thread. He was right.

  • November 6, 2008

    12:10 p.m.

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    jgd writes:

    Anderson,

    If you want to talk about being heartless, let's talk about a man being required to pay taxes into a government that uses HIS tax money to pay for health care for illegal immigrants while refusing him the funds needed to help his own son. And then we have people like you and grandpaw trying to put the already over taxed general public on a guilt trip because they can't afford to pay anymore taxes.
    Our state and local governments have sufficient funds to support the needs of the citizens, what we don't have to enough to support every illegal immigrant living here. I say, give the special needs children the necessary funds they require from the current general fund. I would hardly consider that being heartless, more like setting priorities on the use tax money for citizens.

  • November 6, 2008

    12:17 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    anderson writes:

    When it turns out that some people really aren't people after all, or are, at least, only partially human, it's easy to be heartless.

  • November 6, 2008

    12:28 p.m.

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    jgd writes:

    Pretty weak argument in your attempt to deny funds for special needs children, so that tax money can be used to support your illegal immigrant friends.

  • November 6, 2008

    12:36 p.m.

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    anderson writes:

    I didn't attempt to deny funds for special needs children. I called for them (see thread above). In fact, I voted for the tax. But you are, as ever, jgd, a dishonest f__ who won't hesitate to exaggerate, distort, or otherwise misinform.

  • November 6, 2008

    12:46 p.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    jdg: "And then we have people like you and grandpaw trying to put the already over taxed general public on a guilt trip because they can't afford to pay anymore taxes."

    I didn't intend to make you feel guilty but I think it's a good thing that you do. You have good reason to. And your effort to make me feel guilty for advocating compassion somehow isn't working. By the way, one reason I voted for Obama is because he will try to cut taxes on people like you who are most in need. Ironic, no?

  • November 6, 2008

    6:27 p.m.

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    jgd writes:

    Grandpaw,

    ***By the way, one reason I voted for Obama is because he will try to cut taxes on people like you who are most in need. Ironic, no?***

    The ironic part is you voted for Obama because he would cut tax and then turned right around and voted for a new tax on these same people. Here is an idea, take the funds currently being use to support the illegal immigrants and redirect it to the special needs children. When this has been done see if you can get an Amendment passed the would increase taxes by $.02 on every $10 to support the illegal immigrants.

    That way everyone can share in your compassion for the special needs children. Get the government to use our tax money for the benefit of the citizens and give the taxpayers an opportunity to show compassion for the illegal immigrants if they chose.

  • November 8, 2008

    3:25 p.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    Many thanks, jdg, for your suggestion. I'll get right to work on it.