Today we learn about abuse that occurred in a state-run school for people with disabilities in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Among other things, employees of the facility forced residents to join a fight club and filmed the fights.  In one particularly gruesome moment described in a CBS article, "one resident is seen on the video trying to run away from his attacker and a large group of employees and residents tracking him through the halls. When cornered, he wails and moans and tells the employees, 'I will behave.'"

This story is tragic.  It also has public policy implications because care for adults with disabilities remains severely underfunded and the abuse of people with disabilities remains commonplace.  Today, Patricia E. Bauer reports on some particularly horrendous treatment of a woman with disabilities in Pennsylvania.  Simple Google searches reveal that the problem is systemic.  (Washington, D.C., in particular, has a difficult time in this regard.)  I am frequently disheartened, however, to find stories about cases of neglect and abuse in group homes for people with disabilities in the back pages of the third section in my hometown newspaper.  Understandably, not every human tragedy can be on the front page all the time, but I feel that insufficient attention is paid to what happens, from a public policy angle, when people with disabilities turn 21 and school districts have finished financing their "free and fair" public education.  Who takes care of them?  How?  With what funding?  With what supervision?  For many people, families become caretakers and do a good job.  For others, families are unwilling or unable to provide adequate food, shelter, and services.  It would be criminally negligent of the government to abandon people with disabilities who don't have the luxury of a loving and financially stable family.  Unfortunately, this is often what happens. 

The CBS article highlights Texas Governor Rick Perry's spending reductions for health and human services in Texas.  I would call on Rick Perry to adjust his funding priorities.  (Perhaps he could institute a state income tax, for instance?)  I would also call on public policy makers in other parts of the country to use what happened in Corpus Christi as a reminder to be vigilant about the rights of adults with disabilities, because underfunding and failing to oversee group homes and other services for people with disabilities can have dangerous consequences.