As Berkeley residents prepare to celebrate Independence Day, members of the disabled community have erected a tent city – named Arnieville – on the median of Adeline Street in protest of proposed state cuts to disability services that they say will compromise their independence.

Since June 22, the self-described “Arnie-villains” – disabled persons, caregivers or both – have been protesting the proposed state cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS). Under the program, the state pays home caregivers to assist the disabled with routine household activities, allowing them to maintain some degree of independence rather than “forcing” them into a nursing home.

The tent city was erected on June 22, the anniversary of the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C., which said that forcing people with disabilities into care sites is a form of discrimination and stated that states must develop plans to end unnecessary institutionalization.

“It’s our engine, it fires us,” said Jean Stewart, one of the Arnieville organizers.

Though the “Arnie-villains” have kept a generally boisterous spirit – performing a rendition of the 1979 dance hit “We Are Family,” hurling whipped cream pies at a statue of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and banging on pots and pans – those gathered are aware of the drastic lifestyle changes in store if the cuts to disability services were passed.

“It looks like a party,” Stewart said. “But we’re deadly serious … lives hang in the balance.”

Proposals put forward by members of the California State Assembly include 40 to 50 percent cuts to IHSS funding, according to Stewart.

“(Schwarzenegger) initially proposed eliminating the program,” she said, adding that they are on the chopping block each year.

“Arnie-villains” are also protesting the elimination of CalWORKs, cuts to Medi-Cal and reduction in spending for mental health realignment funds.

Should the cuts go through, Stewart said tens of thousands of people will have to make a choice: find the money to pay for care out of their own pockets, live in a nursing home or become homeless.

For some gathered at the protest, a nursing home and the loss of their independence is an unacceptable alternative to home care.

Vanessa Castro, a UC Berkeley alumna who receives home care, spoke to “Arnie-villains” Friday about a patient who had allegedly been physically abused at a Bay Area nursing home.

“Is that what the governor wants to happen to me,” she said. “We are real people … We refuse to be locked up.”

According to a Berkeley City Council recommendation opposing the state’s budget cuts to IHSS, the program currently supports 490,000 Californians with disabilities – all of whom have low incomes. If they are cut from the IHSS rolls, many will transfer to a nursing home, which will still be paid for in most cases by the state or federal government through Medi-Cal or Medicare. However, nursing home care costs three times as much per hour as in-home care, according to Stewart.

Though the residents of Arnieville have been camping in the middle of Adeline for more than a week, Stewart said the city and police have been “incredibly supportive.”

“It makes perfect sense,” she said. “If the cuts (to disability services) go through, the city’s going to go through hell.”