Americans for Autism Advocacy Blasts Indiana Family and Social Services Administration on Budget Cuts for Developmentally Disabled Kids and Neurodiverse Individuals

The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported on Monday that Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch (R-Indiana) and three sitting members of the state’s legislature are calling on the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to pause further budget cuts.  The budget cuts have been targeted towards programs affecting individuals with developmental disabilities.

Further budget cuts have been prompted after members of their state Senate Appropriations Committee were warned that The Hoosier State faces a $1 billion dollar shortfall in Medicaid funding.  During the 2023 state budget deliberations, Governor Eric Holcomb (R-Indiana) faced a lot of heat from state lawmakers for cutting reimbursement rates for applied behavioral analysis technicians.  Indiana lawmakers ended up rescinding the cuts after facing pressure from families of neurodiverse Hoosiers.  Nationally known think tanks on the right and the left warned of states having to make steep Medicaid cuts due to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The people of The Hoosier State deserve better from their state government.   It is unacceptable for Indiana’s main social service agency to consider further budget cuts towards programs affecting the neurodiverse and developmentally disabled. Indiana lawmakers should look at the following options before making irresponsible budget cuts such as:

Indiana’s lawmakers and executive branch need to stop the budget games and start putting the needs of neurodiverse Hoosiers first.  As Indiana lawmakers will end their 2024 session soon, preventing budget cuts for the neurodiverse should be priority number one for Indiana lawmakers and their new Governor come 2025.