Pushing back against proposed cuts of the Maryland's Developmental Disabilities Administration

Even before Maryland hit a budget crisis, the accounts in the Developmental Disabilities Administration were surging. Spending on the supports and services that help people with developmental disabilities live productive lives had spiraled from about a billion dollars two years ago to more than a billion-and-a-half last year, blowing past the state’s allocation and still rising. Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed budget calls for cutting the Developmental Disabilities Administration by $200 million dollars, including eliminating a set of resources called LISS -- low-impact support services. Families, advocates and people who provide the services say the proposed cuts are cruel and frightening. To better understand the situation we talk with Andre Coates, whose son is developmentally disabled, and who started the Maryland Community Connection 24 years ago to help families locate the resources they need, and with Gregory Miller, president and CEO of Penn-Mar Human Services.