Utahns with disabilities in poverty, project finds

Utah's leading advocacy organization for the state's most vulnerable residents celebrated 30 years of community service Tuesday, hosting a conference that tackled a variety of topics highlighting that more work is left to be done.

Hosted by Utah Issues, the event included workshops focused on looming federal budget cuts that threaten the vitality of housing assistance, Medicaid and funding for day-care services.

On the home front, advocates told conference participants how to get involved in tax reform, push for ending chronic homelessness and fight for the rights of people with disabilities.

It was at one such workshop that Fraser Nelson, chief executive officer of the Disability Law Center, outlined results of an ambitious 29-county project that probed the multitude of challenges faced by people with disabilities, particularly in rural areas.

Dubbed "Listen and Learn," the project had the center sending its staff to the farthest reaches of Utah's most isolated areas, tapping residents about the problems specific to the communities where they live.

What the tour revealed is extreme poverty, an appalling lack of services and stigma that follows people with disabilities throughout their daily lives.

Nelson, who noted she once worked in Appalachia on an AIDS project, said she was astounded at what she found in Utah.

"I thought I had seen poverty and isolation," she said. "But many of these people are so poor, so overlooked that it really is shocking."

Among the survey's findings:

• Transportation is the "linchpin" problem most people face, confronted with a lack of options that inhibits independence and interferes with the ability to receive basic services, such as medical care

• Cuts to mental health services and Medicaid further compound access to quality health care. As Nelson noted: "Having Medicaid doesn't get you medical care in this state," especially as fewer and fewer doctors are willing to take Medicaid patients

• A severely under-funded public education system means many school districts are ill-prepared to meet the needs of special education students, leading to gaps in service that often pit neighbors against neighbors competing for scarce resources