Regarding the Jan. 27 article "Mother camps out to get spot in mental ward for son": It would be a mistake to assume that the budget crisis is responsible for the pathetic state of our state's mental health system.
The fact is that people with disabilities are not valued by our state and not seen as worthy of humane care.
The stage has been set for the current act of this tragedy by decades of neglect and underfunding. Consider that in the 1990s, while the national average of state expenditures for mental health services climbed 38 percent, North Carolina reduced its already scant expenditures by 3 percent.
As long as we have elected leaders who show their callousness toward people with disabilities and those who care about them with their budgets, and appointed officials making excuses for the inexcusable, we will continue to witness the unimaginable.
Mark Sullivan
Executive director, Mental Health Association in Orange County, Durham
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The never-ending hysteria (an 8 percent increase in tuition is labeled a "skyrocketing" cost) over education funding in this state obscures the two main issues. Keep up with the latest opinions from the News & Observer, delivered straight to your inbox, for free!
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