Disabled Demand End to Budget Crisis, Fear Cuts in Services : Rally: Families, caretakers join in demonstration asking Wilson and Legislature to stop ‘mental cruelty’ and pass a spending plan.

More than 2,000 developmentally disabled people, their families and caretakers rallied at a Mid-Wilshire park Thursday, demanding a swift end to the state budget stalemate that threatens to cut their lifeline services.

Many using wheelchairs or supported by crutches angrily called on Gov. Pete Wilson and lawmakers to stop the “mental cruelty” the budget crisis has inflicted on their lives because state-funded service centers that provide vital care, housing and therapy are on the brink of closure.

“I don’t want to be left in a vegetative state, and that’s what will happen if my caretakers do not get paid,” said Rhonda Tilles, 44, who has cerebral palsy and requires assistance to dress, bathe and eat.

Since the onset of the historic budget impasse on July 1, 21 regional centers serving 104,000 severely disabled or retarded residents throughout California have borrowed millions from banks to stay afloat.

But center officials say they have reached the end of their credit lines and will soon begin to furlough employees, shutting down all but emergency services.

“This is an angry, anxious plea to pass the budget,” said Dexter A. Henderson, executive director of the South-Central Los Angeles Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities. “It’s a tragic shame it has come to this.”

He issued layoff notices to 200 care providers, drivers and therapists two weeks ago. Unless he can secure a last-minute loan, the office that serves more than 5,400 will be shut Monday. Other centers throughout the state have issued similar notices.

Nearly every other regional center is also teetering on the edge of insolvency, officials said.

“As we stand now, 20 of the centers have given notice that they will be reducing operation in early September because there is no budget,” Bowman said, adding that her office is receiving word of meal and transportation programs that are shutting down.

Organizers of the demonstration in Lafayette Park, at Wilshire Boulevard near Hoover Street, said the rally was an act of desperation that they were loath to undertake because they did not want to upset their clients.

“For responsible reasons we have tried not to grandstand on this issue,” said Michal Clark, president of the centers’ statewide association. “We have tried to handle this crisis with calm and order. Many of these people are so vulnerable. We don’t want to escalate their sense of anxiety.”

But the widespread layoff notices have prompted a deluge of calls from the disabled and their family members, who said that even a temporary interruption of service will shatter their lifestyles.

They arrived in buses by the hundreds, and in the heat of the noontime sun many carefully navigated wheelchairs through the grass to the assembly area. Family members, caretakers and the disabled waved signs reading: “Get to Work So We Can Live,” “Stop Playing With Our Lives,” and “Release Budget Hostages.” As speakers decried Wilson for the stalemate, many chanted: “S-O-S, Save Our Services!”

“I feel sick right now; I’m so upset and worried,” said Maria Sammelius, 48, whose 22-year-old son is severely impaired by retardation and autism. He lives in a group home and needs constant care because of his often destructive behavior.

“These children have no one else, and that’s why we are all so scared,” she said. She said she would have to stop working to care for her son, causing her family members to suffer financially and emotionally.

The Department of Developmental Services, the state agency responsible for caring for the disabled, funds the private, nonprofit regional centers throughout California. The centers contract with local vendors for services.

Last fiscal year, the centers received $650 million in funding. It is not known how proposed sweeping cuts in state health and welfare funds will affect the centers once a budget is passed, said Shannon Bowman, spokeswoman for the state’s Health and Welfare Agency.

Employees at the regional centers have not been given state-issued IOUs because they are not state employees.

The crisis has put caretakers in a wrenching situation, pulled between their concern over abandoning the disabled and their need to earn money for their own support.

“We have hearts too,” said Celso Reyes, 41, who cares for Tilles. “I don’t know if I could leave her, but I have to earn money for my family too. I feel so sad about this situation.”

Dr. Chantal Lemoine, who works at the Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center in Los Angeles, said her office will lose valuable physical therapists and social workers if it is forced to close.

“No one wants to walk out on the system,” she said, “but we must be paid.”