Advocates For Disabled Protest

$29 Million In State Cuts Is Too Much, They Contend, As They Press O'malley For A Reversal

That affects the kind of help received by people such as Matt Matheson, 39, who cannot speak, feed or dress himself, but who enjoys activities provided by care workers who go to his Clarksville home five days a week.

His mother, Pam, 58, who uses a wheelchair after an auto accident, said the help is vital to his care because of her own physical limits. A former special-education teacher at the state's Rosewood Hospital Center, she met Mattheson there when he was 7, took him into her family and later adopted him.

Without the care the state provides, "he gets very frustrated and begins to self-abuse," she said. "I wish people who make final [budget] decisions can look into Matt's eyes."

Several legislators who attended the Ellicott City meeting said that even though the state faces a fiscal crisis, the cuts to disabled services are too severe.

"I think we did too much damage," Kasemeyer said. "They definitely have been treated unfairly," Kittleman added, criticizing the O'Malley administration's use of state funds to buy large tracts of land for preservation when needy state residents are suffering.

Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat, came away with a more personal impression.

"This put a human face on each story. When I go back to Annapolis, I will remember that," she said.

Baltimore Sun reporter Laura Smitherman contributed to this article.