Tampa Tribune: Agency Enables Independent Living

[Guest guest]

Editorial Letter of the Day Agency Enables Independent Living Published: Apr 25, 2007 News from TBO.com: Regarding "Money Short For Hospitals, Poor" (Metro, April 21): As a person with developmental disabilities, I understand the importance of being able to live in my home by way of the med waiver program. The ability to remain in my own home

allows me to be a productive member of the community, as opposed to simply being a faceless patient in a state-run institution. There is a great difference between existing and living. Thanks to the med waiver, I am living. I invite Gov. Charlie Crist and the director of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to visit our homes and visit the archaic realm of state institutions.Should disability befall you, Gov. Crist, where would you want to live? MICHAEL PHILLIPS Tampa The writer, 26, has Werding-Hoffman disease, a genetic disorder that causes total muscle atrophy. He typed this letter using one thumb and a switch to scroll through an on-screen keyboard. Alliance for Freedom and Inclusion

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