Washington D.C. :: ADAPT Activists Set Up Operation DUH City For HUD..

Straight from their own Fingertips and in Loving Unity from this Keyboard..

Washington, DC - At 5:00 AM, ADAPT activists took over the plaza in front of the massive headquarters of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). ADAPT quickly set up tents and other structures to house activists for the remainder of the action. The action's focus is all about the need for accessible, affordable, integrated housing.

ADAPT simultaneously launched a website for the action, nicknamed Operation DUH. The website can be viewed at www.duhcity.org . ADAPT's Housing Platform can be viewed at:

• www.duhcity.org/press/DUHPlatform.pdf

To make this action as effective as possible, ADAPT needs your help! Contact your Congress person and tell the to endorse ADAPT's Housing platform! Let them know that people with disabilities face a housing crisis that forces hundreds of thousands into institutions or other dangerous living conditions. Tell them to meet with ADAPT at DUH City!

Also, contact the Presidential Campaigns! Tell Senator Obama and Senator McCain that they need to endorse ADAPT's housing platform and solve the housing crisis for people with disabilities.

Chris Hilderbrant
Rochester ADAPT

In reference to ADAPT's request for everyone to contact their Congress men and women, the following will help get you there:

• United States Senators :: In addition to both listing all U.S. Senators on this webpage along with a couple of options for narrowing our searches, Senate.gov additionally provides a search engine with a state drop down list at the top righthand corner of each page..
• Contact your U.S. State Representatives :: The U.S. House of Representatives website offers the aforementioned contact webpage along with this Member Listing by state.. They do not immediately appear to offer that same nifty quick reference search feature at the top of their own website.. They do, however, offer a clickable visual map of the United States which is a nice accessibility touch for those of us with cognitive disabilities..

Quickie Observation :: The Senate.gov website loaded fairly easily via my crappy Internet service provider.. The House.gov one, on the other hand, phew, not so much.. Need to work on that, Fellas.. People who don't have money Vote, too.. :wink:

United In Advocacy from Talking Rock..

Press Release :: ADAPT Wins Meeting with HHS to Work on Medicaid Reform..

HOT off the Presses..

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock.. :wink:

For Immediate Release
April 28, 2008

For information contact:

• Bob Kafka 512-431-4085
• Marsha Katz 406-544-9504
• www.ADAPT.org..

ADAPT Activists Win Meeting with HHS Sec. Michael Leavitt to Work on Medicaid Reform :: HHS Staff Affirms that Access to Community is a Civil Right

Washington, D.C.--- 500 ADAPT activists closed off all access to the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, headquarters for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and kept it closed until HHS Sec. Michael Leavitt agreed to meet with ADAPT on the multiple policies that force people into nursing homes and other institutions, and prevent them from moving back to their own homes and communities.

75 ADAPT members entered the HHS building before security locked all the doors, and presented the ADAPT demands in the initial negotiations with HHS staff. The demands included:

• Meet with leaders of ADAPT within 30 days, with the understanding that access to the community is a civil right that can be improved by the following measures. The meeting can clarify any of the following and identify other barriers to home and community based services in all 50 states;
• Improve the implementation of the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration Projects by increasing the flexibility states have;
• IMMEDIATELY eliminate any rules that cause undue burdens regarding case management;
• Eliminate any rules that discourage small grassroots providers, like Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and other non-profits, from meeting the needs of the consumers they serve;
• Eliminate any regulations and interpretations of "spousal impoverishment" and "risk" that promote institutionalization of persons with disabilities;
• Work with ADAPT to pass the Community Choice Act (S 799 and HR 1621).

"People need to be able to choose to live in their own homes, near their families and friends," said Dawn Russell of Texas ADAPT. "Families shouldn't be torn apart by mean-spirited Medicaid policies and regulations that force some people into nursing homes or even to leave their home state in order to get the community-based services and supports they need."

After a six hour standoff, Philo Hall, Counselor to Sec. Leavitt, committed to Leavitt meeting with ADAPT within 30 days as he addressed the crowd in the pouring rain. He began by acknowledging that access to the community is definitely a civil right. Then Hall admitted that HHS has fallen behind in its former regular communication with ADAPT, and acknowledged that the lack of communication has contributed to HHS making some not-well-thought-out decisions that have hurt the disability community. Renewed communication will begin immediately with another meeting between ADAPT and HHS staff on Wednesday, April 30.

"You know, President Bush's first Executive Order was the New Freedom Initiative (NFI), which ordered all federal departments to remove barriers to full community participation for people with disabilities," said Bob Kafka, ADAPT National Organizer. We've been making slow but steady progress until the past couple of years when it seemed like the Medicaid folks forgot the President's order and started reinstituting policies that will push people back into institutions. We're hoping that after today ADAPT will work with us to reverse the current trend, and assure older and disabled Americans can live full lives in their community."

In Loving Memory :: Mark Dyer, ADAPT..

Through a member post over at the Georgia ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) emailing list, many thanks to Cheri Mitchell for passing along that we have lost a dear friend, a very active disability advocacy family member, Mark Dyer..

Mark was one of those really active individuals you might not always see but would definitely hear of a lot if you spent any Time around the disABILITY LINK hub down there in Decatur.. I had the distinct honor of a fun, interesting, and educational exchange with him last year at (I think it was) the Georgia Independent Living Network's C.A.U.S.E. Best Practices Conference.. Earlier this very week, had just once again thought back on that moment as exemplary, as worthy of personal aspirations in my own self-advocacy efforts..

Dearest Mark.. Your inspirational activism will be missed by many..

Warm cyber hugs from the Hills of North Georgia..

ADAPT :: HUD Secretary Comes to ADAPT with Commitments; American Hospital Association Agrees to Meet..

Latest press release on ADAPT's current (non-violent civil) action up in Washington D.C...

For Immediate Release: April 29, 2007

For information contact:
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504
http://www.adapt.org..

HUD (US Department of Hoursing and Urban Development) Secretary Comes to ADAPT with Commitments; American Hospital Association Agrees to Meet

Washington, D.C.--- This time around ADAPT didn't have to shut down HUD headquarters, because as HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson stated, "I came to you," when he and three members of his staff met with 500 members of ADAPT in their Washington, D.C., hotel. By the end of the morning, Jackson had stated unequivocally that "Fair Housing is a right." And he made a number of commitments to ADAPT, including:

• Informing ADAPT, before the September ADAPT action in Chicago, on how many housing vouchers for persons with disabilities he has recovered from the 58% loss in vouchers that the disability community suffered due to a combination of federal budget cuts, and misappropriation of vouchers by local entities that administer the voucher program in communities across the country.
• Vowing to eliminate the "outrageous" level of discrimination in housing against persons with disabilities. HUD recently reported that 40% of the Fair Housing complaints filed with HUD are based on the "protected class" of disability. This number surpasses, for the first time in history, the percentage of complaints filed on the basis of race (39%).
• A promise to facilitate a meeting between ADAPT and Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Maxine Waters (D-CA). Frank is Chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Waters is Chair of the Financial Services Committee's Sub-committee on Housing and Community Opportunity. This Committee and Sub-committee are responsible for legislation affecting changes to the Section 811 program. ADAPT is calling for a restructuring of the Sec. 811 housing program to provide affordable, accessible, integrated housing, as well as increase the number of vouchers available to persons with disabilities, both of which will require action by Congress. Sec. 811 is the segregated housing program for persons with disabilities. The segregated housing program for older persons is Sec. 202.
• Jackson committed to work with ADAPT on implementing ADAPT's Access Across America Program, which would provide housing vouchers to persons with disabilities in nursing homes and ICFMRs that, combined with Money Follows the Person and previously existing initiatives in the states, will get people out of nursing homes and into affordable, accessible, integrated housing in their own communities.
• A promise to meet with ADAPT three times a year, with the next meeting most likely occurring in Chicago during the next ADAPT action, September 8-13.

"ADAPT is pleased that Sec. Jackson came to us, and we are cautiously optimistic at this point," said Cassie James, Philadelphia ADAPT Organizer. "His own personal experience with discrimination gives him a window into the unconscionable discrimination in obtaining affordable, accessible, integrated housing that is experienced by people with disabilities all over America. We look forward to the Secretary keeping his commitments and partnering with us to improve the current sad state of affairs."

In other action on Tuesday, ADAPT took over the building that houses the American Hospital Association (AHA), ultimately receiving a commitment from AHA top leadership to meet with 15 ADAPT members in the next 30 days. ADAPT is demanding that the AHA endorse the Community Choice Act (S 799, H.R. 1621, "amend title XIX of the Social Security Act"); work with ADAPT to develop a hospital discharge protocol that will steer people into community services, not institutional services; put ADAPT on the agenda of the next AHA conference; and finally, write a letter to all AHA member hospitals encouraging them to make discharge referrals that do not inappropriately segregate and institutionalize people with disabilities, thus complying with the U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision.

Commented Gene Spinning Rochester ADAPT, "Hospitals should not be feeder systems for the nursing home industrial complex, and we expect AHA to take a lead in reforming the all too common practice of treating us like cash cows and making automatic referrals at discharge to nursing homes without even exploring what's available in the community."

On Wednesday, ADAPT will meet with Mike Hudson, Chair of the Republican National Committee. ADAPT will also deliver Community Choice Act materials to every member of Congress. Included in the materials is a ten minute DVD compiled from the testimony about the horrors of life in a nursing home that was delivered before a national panel in Nashville during ADAPT's spring 2006 action.

JFA Update :: "Capitol Police arrests 74 protesters in wheelchairs"..

Justice For All (JFA) just dropped out another update regarding the 120 ADAPT arrests during their non-violent civil action up by and in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill..

Capitol Police arrests 74 protesters in wheelchairs..
By Kelly McCormack
The Hill..
April 30, 2007

This one, when searched by the title, managed to hit the Internet news circuit..

JFA Breaking News :: 120 ADAPT Activists Arrested..

JUST NOW opened the following email from Justice For All (JFA)..

S#cky part..? Tried to go to Google News and nothin'.. Not the first dadgummed piece on it.. What's up with that..? I know.. Sighhhh......

Dear Readers,

At approximately 2:00pm today, AAPD (American Association of People with Disabilities) received word that 120 of the 500 ADAPT activists from across the nation had been arrested in and outside the House Rayburn Office Building on Capitol Hill. Arrests were made in the offices of Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) as well as inside a hearing room of Rayburn and outside Rayburns entrance. Arrest processing is expected to continue into the night.

ADAPT activists were in Rayburn in efforts to have Reps. Dingell and Barton set a hearing date on the calendar for the Energy and Commerce Committee for the Community Choice Act and to have them sign-on as co-sponsors of the legislation.

Leaders of ADAPT met last week with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and are scheduled to meet tomorrow with the Republican National Committee (RNC) all in efforts to help move the Community Choice Act through Congress.

Contact:

Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504

To read more about the Community Choice Act (CCA), visit http://www.adapt.org/casaintr.htm..

(Original) Source: ADAPT..
Source for these fingertips: JFA..

FRIDA: "Speak Out About the Ashley Treatment"..

Ok, thanks to personal health, this one is a couple days late in finding its way out of my inbox, BUT.. No time like the Present, as they say, for letting those involved in Ashley X's treatment know what you think.. A HUGE thank you to the originators for posting email addresses for those of us who don't frequent the phone very often..

Resource for this information was a member post over at the Disability Convention Yahoo! group..

PS.. My view on the same..?

• That a human being's, that a person's "self" was taken from them..
• That this will set a very sad, very sick precedent..
• That Ashley's parents may indeed have believed that what they did was "the right thing to do under the circumstances"..
• That the Lives of that many more of my friends with disabilities may now be seen as in jeopardy..
• That Life itself seems to just keep losing value in the eyes of so many people.. What gives them the right..?

ACTION ALERT: Speak Out About the Ashley Treatment
Fax, E-mail, and Phone Campaign

Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA), with the support of Chicago ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today), the national ADAPT community and Not Dead Yet (NDY), invites you to speak out about the Ashley Treatment.

Our Targets: Seattle Childrens Hospital staff involved in the case of nine-year-old Ashleys growth attenuation and sterilization, as well as Melinda Gates, chair of the Seattle Childrens Hospital fundraising committee and Susan Macek, Director of Communications for Seattle Childrens Hospital.

Why: To oppose their permission of what is now known as the Ashley Treatment, and to condemn further permission of such treatments for children with disabilities whose lives are not otherwise at risk.

When: Tuesday, January 9, 2007, starting at 9 am in your time zone.

Contact Info:

Dr. Douglas Diekema, 206-987-2380
B-5520 Emergency Medicine
4800 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Fax: (206) 987-3836
E-mail: Douglas.diekema@seattlechildrens.org.

Dr. Daniel F. Gunther
Phone: (206) 987-2380
M1-3 Endocrinology
4800 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Fax: (206) 987-3836
E-mail: Dan.gunther@seattlechildrens.org.

Melinda Gates
PO Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102
Phone: (206) 709-3100
Fax: (206) 709-3252
Email: info@gatesfoundation.org.

Susan Macek
Director of Communications, Seattle Childrens Hospital
Phone: (206) 987-5201
Pager: (206) 469-6310
E-mail: susan.macek@seattlechildrens.org.

Ashley is a nine-year-old with a severe cognitive disability. In order to keep her small and more easily cared for by her family, doctors at Seattle Childrens Hospital are having her undergo hormone therapy to stunt her growth. In addition, they surgically removed her breast buds, uterus and appendix. The Ashley Treatment, as her parents call it, is a medical fix to serious social problems we face in America today. The first of these problems is a lack of quality home-based services for people with disabilities. The second is the social attitude that people with disabilities are less than human and therefore fair game for experimentation. The third is a lack of understanding of disability vs. illness: as Joe Hall of South Carolina has stated, "When I was born my parents knew that I would never walk, but they would have never thought it would be acceptable to cut my legs off."

To review Ashleys parents blog, please see: ashleytreatment.spaces.live.com.

To review one of the original articles as reported by the BBC, please see: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6229799.stm.

We need to let the Seattle Childrens Hospital and its fundraising Chairperson know that the Ashley Treatment has not gone unnoticed by those of us who live with disabilities.

For more information, AND TO KEEP US POSTED OF YOUR ASHLEY TREATMENT ACTIVITIES, please call Sharon Lamp at (847) 803-3258 or e-mail Amber Smock at ambity@aol.com.

(Original) Source: Feminist Response In Disability Activism (FRIDA)

Crossposted at: Georgia Disability Advocates' Calendar.