Disabled Children, Parents Protest Lack of County Care

Pushing their disabled children in wheelchairs, leading them by the hand or carrying them in their arms, several dozen residents of Lynwood, Paramount, Compton and South-Central Los Angeles marched in front of the offices of Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday.

The children, the parents protested, are not getting the therapy they are entitled to because of where they live.

Saul E. Lankster II, president of the Special Children Parent Support Group, said the county has budgeted the money to aid the children--who have a myriad of physical and mental disabilities and require intensive home training to learn to walk, talk, climb and even roll over.

But few therapists are willing to venture to certain parts of the county that have bad reputations, he said.

“We were told by the county that because we’re in the inner city, (physical therapists) can’t come. No one comes to the inner city and works,” Lankster said.

The parents marched in front of the Hall of Administration, then later went inside to explain their needs to the supervisors. The board then asked that a report be prepared for next Tuesday’s meeting detailing possible solutions to the situation.

“In these cities there’s nothing for our children,” Lankster said, adding that the county should pay therapists extra, like the schools do, to get them to go to undesirable areas. “People in Westwood or Redondo Beach don’t have this problem. It’s not fair.”

When asked why the county had not replaced therapists who quit because conditions were poor at the facility that serves those areas, Department of Health Services chief Robert Gates told the board that the problem is not an easy one to address.

“We offered (new hires) that site and they refused to work there. They’re in such demand that if we try to send them someplace they don’t want to go to, they’ll work for someone else.”