by Michelle Radtkin

        At the November meeting of the Advocacy Committee of the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, committee members shared with Ohio State Senator Edna Brown the impact state budget cuts are having and will have on Ohioans with developmental disabilities and their families.  Many mothers caring for special needs children are not able to work without assistance of day programs and home aides.  Cuts in services also affect those working in the field, very many of whom are women.

The AAUW also emphatically opposes slashing Social Security benefits, raising the retirement age, privatizing, or raiding the program in a misguided attempt to reduce the deficit.   The program, which has over 70 years of successes, is one of our nation’s best anti-poverty programs and provides critical benefits to millions of children, disabled workers, surviving spouses, and retirees. Without Social Security, it is estimated that over half of elderly women would live in poverty — after all, older women frequently don’t have 401(k) accounts or sufficient retirement savings, have contended with a lifetime of pay inequities, and generally outlive their spouses and men in the workforce.

Senator Brown suggested that we “bombard” the office of a legislator who can impact an issue we feel strongly about—by either e-mail or letters.  This tells the legislator how many people are in interested in the issue, and it does have an impact.  Visit www.aauw.org, and take action!