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- ADAPT (873)
Nation THE BOSTON GLOBE TUESDAY, MAY 3,1994 [Headline] Disabled people hold health rally By Bob Hohler GLOBE STAFF WASHINGTON — Chanting "Free our people now," the protesters marched with canes and crutches, followed seeing-eye dogs and rolled in wheelchairs to the capital yesterday to press for comprehensive health care for nearly 50 million Americans with disabilities. More than 1,000 of those with disabilities and their advocates joined the "Bridge to Freedom" parade from Arlington National Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial, a route many had marched four years ago to push for the Americans with Disabilities Act. At a rally, they called on Congress to pass a health-care bill that includes a national system of personal attendant services, durable medical equipment, assistive technology, psychiatric care and prescription drugs. An estimated 1.7 million people with disabilities are in nursing homes, a number that could be cut through a comprehensive health plan, many activists said. One member of the crowd described the issues as a matter of life or death. "I spent 21 years, four months and two weeks of my life in an institution," said Sybil Feldman, 53, of Brookline, who rode her wheelchair to the rally. "It means everything to me to be on my own. If I had to go back, I'd kill myself." [Subheading] 1,000 protesters make an appeal to Congress At a White House ceremony before the march, President Clinton told 125 of the activists that he supported their goals. "The health-care system is failing Americans with disabilities, but in so doing, it is failing us all," Clinton said. "It is making us less productive and less strong. It is costing more tax dollars and robbing us of taxes that would come to America's treasury from more Americans working and paying taxes in the ordinary course of their lives." Several people with disabilities from Mass-achusetts who attended the ceremony vowed to press Congress to pass Clinton's health-care bill. "He wants to make life better not only for the disabled but for their families and society in general," said Julie Nolan of Falmouth, an advocate for the Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled. Nolan, Pam Burkley and Leo Lucas said they feared that lobbyists might jeopardize services for those with disabilities. "If I lost my personal-care attendant, I wouldn't be able to work or care for my daughter and I would end up on" welfare, said Burkley, who works for an independent-living center in Hyannis. "I would be back in an institution," said Lucas, who said he was able to "break out" of such care because he received aid from a personal-care attendant. Other marchers, including Michael Muehe of Boston, expressed concern over the prospect of a health bill that limited care for people with "pre-existing conditions." "That would legalize discrimination," said Muehe, executive director of Cambridge's disability commission. Muehe, who uses a wheelchair, said he hoped health-care reform also would lead to broad coverage to replace wheelchairs and other durable equipment. "As it is now," he said, "we constantly have to ask, 'What's covered this week?' Sen. Torn Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chief sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, urged the crowd to march on Congress and demand that comprehensive health care for people with disabilities not be negotiable. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pledged his support in a statement that was read to the crowd. "Many of you have had to leave successful careers, spend your families into poverty or be told to place a loved one in an institution because that is what the insurance rules dictate," said Kennedy's statement, which described such rules as "unacceptable." - ADAPT (874)
Photo: A group of protesters standing and in wheelchairs are bunched together in front of a white building (the National Republican Headquarters). Several have raised power fists held above their heads. The doors of the headquarters are blocked open and a window to the side of the door is open as well. - ADAPT (875)
Heath Care Package Might Include In-Home Care By EDWIN CHEN TIMES STAFF WRITER WASHINGTON—In a major new health care initiative, President: Clinton has tentatively decided that every severely disabled American, regardless of age or financial means, should have insurance coverage for long- term care at home, sources said Tuesday. The new $15.4-billion annual benefit is to be included in the core package of medical insurance benefits being designed by the Administration as a nationwide standard for all Americans, especially the estimated 37 million without insurance, sources said. The long-term care coverage would provide all eligible Americans assistance with at-home activities of daily living, such as meal preparation, cleaning and dressing. Many details of the program remain unclear, such as how White House Task Force on National Health Care Reform, chaired by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, arrived at the cost figural and how specifically the program to be paid for. Health care analysts say that as much as 89% of long-term horn care is now provided for free by relatives and friends. "It's very easy to spend $30. to $40,000 a year on intensive home care, but the average figures are a lot lower than that—in part because people don't get enough. That's why all the numbers are so soft," said Edward F. Howard, executive vice president of the Alliance for Health Reform, a non-partisan, note-for-profit Washington organization. Please see INSURE, A19 (unavailable at this time) - ADAPT (876)
Photo: A man [Justin Dart] in a gray cowboy hat and blue blazer sits in an old fashioned manual wheelchair in front of a cluster of microphones. He is wearing a Health Care For ALL button. Behind him are some white steps with people sitting on them. - ADAPT (877)
Photo: From across a pool of water you can see a very large crowd of people is gathered in a plaza and on some steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial. - ADAPT (878)
Nashville Banner FROM PAGE ONE Tuesday, May 3, 1994 A-2 [Headline] Midstate woman with MD marches for health reform By Judy Holland Banner/States News Writer WASHINGTON — As she guides her electric wheelchair in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, it's clear Wynelle Carson is a woman set on independence. Her wish to live free of a nursing home prompted this 34-year-old Mount Pleasant woman with muscular dystrophy to join more than 2,000 people with disabilities in a march on the U.S. Capitol. Carson was part of a contingent from Middle Tennessee who joined other activists from across the country Monday in lobbying lawmakers and President Clinton for health care reform that includes payment for attendants who can help them live at home. It wasn't the first time members from ADAPT — Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today — picketed to draw attention to their plight. Last fall in Nashville, the group disrupted operations at the Opryland Hotel and the state Capitol while the American Health Care Association—which represents most of the nation's nursing homes — was in town for its annual convention. The protest which threatened to disrupt the Country Music Awards, erupted into a melee with overturned wheelchairs that ended in the arrests of 97 activists. Monday's rally, which included speeches and songs, was one of the mellower protests for the group, which has occupied offices, blockaded buildings and forced mass ar rests to draw the spotlight to their cause. Disabled rights activists, who want 25 percent of all Medicaid dollars diverted from nursing homes to home health care, say civil disobedience is the only way they can combat the powerful nursing home lobby. "People like me are being forced into nursing homes if we can't pay someone out of our pocket," Maury County's Carson said. "It's horrible." Carson said her father, a retired machine operator, shells out $900 a month for an attendant who helps her dress, bathe and prepare meals in her own apartment. Her mother also comes over often to lend a hand. "I feel really guilty all the time because I'm taking away from them," said Carson, who works part-time at the Technology Access Center in Nashville. "I worry if something happens to them and they've spent all their money on me, what are they going to do?" Carson joined others on scooters and in wheelchairs who waived signs such as "I don't want a handout, just a hand," or "Would you like to live in a nursing home? Not." While Canon prepared for the "Bridge to Freedom" march from Arlington Memorial Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial, Diane Coleman of Cumberland Furnace in Dickson County joined disabled rights activists in a visit with the president. Clinton, whose health care plan would phase in $65 billion to $70 billion for community and home-based care, urged the activists to lobby for his proposal in Congress. "A lot of disabled people spend their entire lives with their parents the and then go into a nursing home when the parents die," said Coleman, Tennessee organizer for ADAPT. "In Tennessee, it's very difficult to get any in-home services if you are disabled. In that regard, it's one of the worst states in the country." - ADAPT (879)
USA TODAY TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1994 [Headline] Clinton takes healthcare pitch to disabled By Judi Hasson and Judy Keen President Clinton discussed his campaign for health-care reform Monday with some of the people who may need it most, the disabled. Even though his plan would not immediately give the dis-abled as much long-term care as they want, the president told 125 people, many of them in wheelchairs, his proposal must be passed now. "Otherwise, the forces of disinformation organized disinformation will think that the American people actually prefer to have the most expensive, wasteful, bureaucratically cumbersome health-care financing system on the entire face of the Earth," he said. Clinton lashed out at radio and TV ads criticizing his plan. "What do our adversaries say: We're trying to have the government take over the health-care system. False." He said his plan would provide "private insurance, private providers, empowerment for this man, this woman, these children, their families and their future." Clinton's plan would phase in community-based alternatives to nursing homes and provide a tax credit for 50% of care services, up to $15,000 a year. Disabled groups want, but probably won't get, immediate coverage for care-givers who go to their homes. Disabled groups from 26 states were in Washington to protest insurers' limits on their benefits. "Free our people! Free our people!" the crowd yelled after Clinton spoke. After their stop at the White House, the disabled activists led a procession to the Lincoln Memorial for a rally. Clinton's pitch was the start of another week of campaigning for his reform bill. Also Monday, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visited a supermarket that provides insurance for its workers. "Other people who are competing with you have not paid for health insurance," she said. "It is time everybody paid." Today, small-business owners will be at the White House supporting Clinton's controversial proposal requiring all businesses to Trey 80% of the cost of their workers insurance. Meanwhile, a coalition sup-porting a major switch to a gov-ernment-financed health-care system Monday unveiled its own version of "Harry and Louise" TV ads. The characters, a creation of the insurance industry, are be-coming two of the most imitat-ed people on the air. Advocates of a "single-pay-er" health system like Canada's — where the government collects taxes and pays negotiated fees to cover all the doctor and hospital bills — launched a campaign parodying the yup-pie couple scared about what reform will mean. The president and first lady did their own video spoof of "Harry and Louise" last month for a Washington press dinner. In the new version, comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Mean play husband and wife as they are in real life. In one ad, Mears recalls Harry and Louise's theme— "There's got to be a better way." And Stiller answers: "There is. The single-payer sys-tern where everyone's covered, you get full benefits and you choose your doctor." [Headline] First lady picks a pepper, rice, mango and support First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton turned first grocery shopper Monday and revealed herself to be an average, if health-conscious, consumer. Defending her husband's health-team plan and its reliance on employer-paid Insurance at a Safeway supermarket in Washington, Clinton paused to pick up a few things. 'This sounds funny, but even when my husband was governor, I'd go to the store, and I felt like a normal person," she told late-morning shoppers and store worker's, "My daughter and I would go up and down the aisles, and we'd buy things, and we'd take it home and cook it... "I know this sounds funny, especially for the women in the audience, that you would ever miss going to the store, buying things, and taking them home and cooking them. But trust me, you would." [Image caption:] By J. Scott Appiesvhite, AP. In Washington, D.C.: First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton shops at a grocery store. So after remarks on the benefits of requiring employer-paid insurance, Clinton picked up a red handbasket and made like a regular shopper -- with a dozen cameras trailing. She picked out a mango, a jicama root she planned to use in a dip and a pasilla pepper. Then she grabbed a bagel, brown rice, two cans of tuna, some non-fat sour cream, two biscotti and a small container of fiesta salad. At the checkout, Clinton grabbed three magazines Woman's Day, Family Circle and Reader's Digest — and paid the $15.50 tab with a $20 bill from her pocketbook. --Richard Wolf - ADAPT (88)
Rocky Mountain News 7/6/78 [This story continues in ADAPT 91 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] NEWS Photo by Dick Davis: A city bus is parked at an angle to the street across 2 or 3 lanes. In front, a small woman in a power chair and dark sunglasses, sits holding a very large sign that reads "Taxation without Transportation" and has a wheelchair symbol of access. Two other people in wheelchairs are backed up to the side of the bus and a small group of other people in wheelchairs are in the street by the blockers. Mel Conrardy is in the wheelchair closest to the camera. Caption reads: A group of handicapped persons "seized" two RTD buses Wednesday, protesting what they called the firm's insensitivity to handicapped. [Headline] Buses seized, police decline to make arrests [Subheading] DISABLED SNARL TRAFFIC IN PROTEST By GARY DELSOHN News Staff Protesting what they said was the Regional Transportation District's insensitivity to Denver's handicapped, about 25 disabled persons "seized" two buses during Wednesday morning's downtown rush hour, snarling traffic and daring police to make arrests. While supporters helped them board two eastbound buses on Colfax Avenue at Broadway, several persons in wheelchairs surrounded the crowded vehicles. Early morning commuters had to walk two blocks to catch other buses while RTD drivers radioed their headquarters for assistance. Shortly after the 8:30 takeover, police arrived, admitting they weren't sure what to do. As commanders came to assist, police decided not to arrest any handicapped protesters because, as one sergeant said, “We don't want to be the fall guys on this.“ Police said they didn't want to risk injuring any of the severely disabled persons by loading them into police vans, nor did they wish to be pictured in television newscasts or newspapers arresting persons in wheelchairs. TWO PERSONS WERE arrested for refusing to obey police orders, but they were local counselors - not in wheelchairs - who work with many of Denver's approximately 8,000 handicapped. John Simpson, RTD executive director, arrived at the scene about 10 a.m. and talked with the demonstrators, asking them to leave the street and explain their grievances away from traffic. The protesters refused to move, saying Simpson and RTD have been meeting with the handicapped for years and done little to solve their transportation problems. "Handicapped people have a right to ride the bus just like everyone else," said Lin Chism, a disabled University of Colorado at Denver student studying rehabilitation counseling. “Today is the first of many times we will have to do this to get RTD to come to some agreement with us.“ Calling themselves the Colorado Coalition of Disabled Citizens, the protesters, organized and led by Denver's privately owned Atlantis Community for the handicapped, said the demonstration was a response to last week's federal court ruling that RTD was not violating the constitutional rights of the city's handicapped by not providing them access to RTD buses. ATLANTIS AND OTHER groups representing the handicapped and elderly last year sued RTD to require installation on all new buses of devices providing access to persons in wheelchairs. Wade Blank, director of Atlantis, which helps handicapped persons adjust to non-institutional life, said demonstrators hoped to get the attention of U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Matsch, who made last week's ruling, and "others in the judicial system so they know what we‘re up against. “Like Martin Luther King. we have tried to go through the system," Blank said. "Now, like Dr. King, we must practice civil disobedience until the judges change their minds or Congress makes new laws." A clerk for Judge Matsch said, “The judge does not respond to reporters‘ questions and makes no comment on a ruling he has made." Blank said Atlantis lawyers will appeal Matsch's decision. He said the group also plans additional disruptive protests. “These people have no place else to go," he said, adding that they would not even be able to attend meetings on the subject proposed by Simpson because they could not find transportation. Simpson, talking with protesters, police and reporters throughout the morning, said RTD is trying to help disabled persons get around town and is one of the most progressive agencies in the nation in that area. RTD HAS I2 BUSES equipped with hydraulic lifts and locking safety clamps for persons in wheelchairs. Simpson said. Transporting several hundred persons to and from work and school daily, the "special service", buses appear to be the best way to move handicapped persons, he said. Equipping other buses with elevator lifts wouldn't be feasible, according to Simpson, because many handicapped persons can't get to bus stops located throughout town. Simpson pleaded with the demonstrators to move and let the two stalled buses continue down Colfax Avenue, even ordering one of the special buses into the area to handle the crowd. He also took reporters through the bus, demonstrating its features. But the protesters refused to move, saying their problem wasn't one of immediate transportation but rather a long-term dilemma exacerbated by the fact that only nine of the 12 special buses are in use. The other three, they said, are in storage at RTD garages. Simpson said RTD will have another 28 buses designed to carry handicapped persons in operation by September but their use has been delayed by mechanical problems. POLICE COMMANDERS repeatedly tried to mediate an immediate solution to the the traffic jam created by the protesters, but demonstrators said they would not leave unless Simpson gave them a written promise that all RTD buses would be made accessible to the handicapped. Simpson, declining this offer, said he would meet "with anyone, any time" on the issue. "We have been sensitive," Simpson said. "But some of these problems Congress will have to address." Demonstrators also expressed concern that the waiting list to get on the special buses is 1,000 persons long and the only alternative for persons without friends or relatives to drive them around is a private cab service that charges about $16 per round trip. Many city and state officials were on the scene, watching and talking to police and demonstrators. Mary Krane, a supervisor in the city's social services department, said she quit RTD advisory committee on the handicapped and elderly last year in frustration. "I resigned because it was so hard to get anything done, " she said. "We messed around with a few things but nothing really happened. No one has been willing to make the capital investment necessary to make buses accessible to the handicapped." JEROME SPRIGS, A member of the Governor's Council on the Handicapped, said disabled persons "know they're getting the run-around from the RTD because many of these special buses are being used in rural areas." Lisa Wheeler, 20, an Atlantis counselor, and Bill Roem, who runs a Lakewood home for the physically handicapped, were arrested about 11 am after they ignored a police order to leave the street. "Police are doing their jobs, " Roem said from inside a squad car. "But there has to be some awareness of the problem." Ms. Wheeler and Roem were book at police headquarters and released on $100 bond. Police blocked traffic on Colfax Avenue from Delaware on the west to Lincoln on the east. Traffic during the evening rush hour didn't seem to move any slower than usual, as protesters said they probably would continue their vigil throughout the night. - ADAPT (880)
[Headline] Demonstrations cost taxpayers $100,000 [Subheading] Police ring up overtime patrolling the convention center, where the disabled have held several protests. By Jan Greene Review-Journal 6B Las Vegas Review-Journal/Friday, October 7, 1994 [Image] PHOTO by Jeff Scheld/Review-Journal: A police officer in a tan uniform wearing medical exam gloves and large belt with radio, plastic handcuff-ties, regular hand-cuffs, and other equipment, pushes a man in a manual wheelchair down the street in a long line of single file wheelchairs. Behind them is a long line of cars driving in the opposite direction. [Image caption] A Las Vegas police officer escorts one of about 165 disability rights activists arrested Thursday for blocking entrances to the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the protesters demonstrated against a nursing home trade group. Jeff Scheid/Review-Journal While disabled protesters spent a third day being taken away by police this time for blocking entrances to the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot on Thursday — officials were tallying the cost to taxpayers of their demonstrations at $100,000. Thursday's protest resulted in about 165 demonstrators being removed and cited for creating a public nuisance by having an unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor. The group, Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, or ADAPT, has been protesting the annual convention of the American Health Care Association, a nursing home group. ADAPT wants a quarter of the federal funds that go toward nursing homes shifted to independent living arrangements for the disabled. Part of ADAPT's strategy for gaining attention to the cause is appearing at the nursing home group's meetings, making a lot of noise and getting its members arrested. Local taxpayers will pay for that strategy to the tune of about $100,000, according to Las Vegas police Lt Carl Fruge. He said most of that cost is from overtime for officers called in to keep the peace and cite dozens of people in wheelchairs. About half the approximately 120 officers involved were pulled from regular duty elsewhere in the valley. The Metropolitan Police Department also spent taxpayer money to rent specially equipped buses, to get special equipment, to train officers and to have? a helicopter circle overhead for surveillance. The Nevada Highway Patrol also assigned 10 troopers to help divert traffic but didn't incur any overtime because the officers were switched from high-accident risk areas they normally patrol, said trooper Steve Harney. ADAPT organizers said the cost was minimal compared with the money spent on nursing homes, some of whose residents could live more cheaply with some help on their own. National organizer Mike Auberger said people wouldn't question the cost if the group were protesting, for example, the Ku Klux Klan. "We didn't come here because we wanted to raise hell for Las Vegans," Auberger said. "The reason we're here is the AHCA. Let them pay for it." Fruge noted the Culinary union has voluntarily paid the overtime costs for police officers responding to union protests at, for example, the Frontier and MGM Grand hotels. Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Jim Arnold confirmed the union pays those costs to avoid being "a burden on the community." Still, Arnold didn't want to criticize ADAPT. "They've got to do what they feel is right to get their point across," Arnold said. Everyone has a right to demonstrate." Overall, Fruge said the experience has been a good one for Las Vegas police officers, 120 of whom received special training in dealing with the disabled. Similar training will be made a part of the department's police academy curriculum, he said. Also, he said, the Police Department was able to prove it can handle a disturbance at the convention center. "The message is, 'This is a safe place to hold your convention,'" Fruge said. ADAPT leaders were also happy with the week. "Now people in Las Vegas understand the issue," Auberger said. "The value of that is very important." - ADAPT (881)
[Headline] Protesters stick Metro with expense Bob Shemeligian LAS VEGAS SUN [Image] PHOTO by Benjamin Rusnak/Special to the Sun: A line of protesters span a broad street with palm trees on one side and large white buildings on the other. You can see signs for the Sahara and Cesar's Palace. The protesters, mostly in wheelchairs, have their fists raised and two have posters that read "Don't make me leave my home" and "my life is not for sale." Wynelle Carson, Kirstin ___ and Laura ____ are the three women on the right side of the line. Behind the protesters you can see a cluster of police officers. Two other PHOTOS by Benjamin Rusnak/Special to the Sun: One is the head of a man [AHCA's Willging] and the other is of the back of a manual wheelchair with a pink poster taped on it that reads "Are You Next?" Down the street a little from the wheelchair is a large group of police officers walking toward the wheelchair. Caption reads: Dr. Paul Willging, left, -executive vice president of AHCA, speaks Wednesday. Metro officers arrest ADAPT protesters while the sign on Billy "the Kid" Montalbo's [sic, should be Montalvo] wheelchair asks who will be next to have to move into a nursing home. Ironically, Montalbo [sic] was next to be arrested. One hundred thousand dollars. That's what Metro Police Lt. Fruge estimates it will the taxpayers for police officers to curtail illegal actions of disabled demonstrators who were protesting this week against nursing homes. At the latest protest Wednesday afternoon, nearly 300 members of American Disabled Attendant Program Today, in wheelchairs, blocked Paradise Road at Riviera Boulevard for three hours. The demonstrators staged protest in front of the Las Vegas Hilton, where more than 4,000 representatives of American Health Care Association, a nursing home group, are staying this week. The association, which represents 11,000 nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, is conducting its annual convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center. [Article continues] Metro officers arrested 108 demonstrators and transported them to a temporary detention center for processing. They were charged with unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor. In addition, 72 demonstrators were cited at the scene. Fruge estimated that over- [text cuts off] -strations and to charter six vehicles with wheelchair lifts to transport demonstrators who have been placed under arrest will top $100,000. "We try to be as fiscally responsible as possible, but we're in a Catch-22," Fruge said. "We cannot strip the field of demonstrations and be able to respond to emergency and trouble calls every day of the week, every hour of the day." Fruge said the department doesn't have contingency funds to cover the costs of policing the demonstrations. Questions about funding, he said, are "going to have to be decided by the city, county and the Metro Police Fiscal Affairs Committee." Police officials were happy about one thing Wednesday: There were no reported injuries or violent incidents at the protest. "I know we left a wake of frustrated motorists in our path, but what else could we have done?" Fruge asked. A few Metro officers suffered bruised shins during protests Tuesday. Some law officers, including federal ones, have said ADAPT members sharpen parts of their wheelchairs to inflict injuries. But Carolyn Long, ADAPT's Dallas organizer, said the group subscribes to nonviolent protest and that members do not sharpen parts of their wheelchairs. She said members do not intentionally throw themselves from their chairs. At the Las Vegas Hilton, ADAPT members taped to poles several signs stating "Fort Hilton." "We've renamed the hotel 'Fort Hilton,' " said Mike Auberger, founder of the Denver-based disabled rights group. "This is an appropriate place to hold our protest. AHCA can't travel through, and it's no different than the plight of a disabled person who is confined to a nursing home." Quinn Brisben, an ADAPT member from Chicago, said he walks with difficulty every day, and so he decided to help make it more difficult for AHCA members to walk on the day of the protest. "They make it inconvenient for us and we're making it inconvenient for them," he said. Brisben also has a bone to pick with the Las Vegas community "Las Vegas has absolutely no public benches, which afford people who walk with difficulty, as I do, a place to rest." ADAPT wants Congress to redirect 25 percent of $23 billion in nursing home funds to home care for the disabled. Sam Ackerman, a Chicago resident who volunteers his time to attend to the needs of disabled people in wheelchairs, said the issue behind the protest is dignity. "For me, this is part of the human rights struggle across the planet," Ackerman said. Diana Webster of Austin, Texas, asked, "I don't understand why AHCA doesn't let people with disabilities live in their own homes." Standing in front of the Hilton watching the protest was Paul Willging, AHCA executive vice president. Willging said AHCA does not prevent disabled people from living at home. Regarding the ADAPT charge that many disabled people across the nation are being cared for in nursing homes against their will. Willging said: "We would call that statement a lie. Federal and state laws are fairly explicit. You can't hold a person in a nursing home against his will." Winging said AHCA has been trying to negotiate with ADAPT to prevent the demonstrations, but the negotiations broke down Monday when ADAPT officials refused to budge on their demand that AHCA support a resolution calling for the redirection of 25 percent of nursing home funds to home care. "I think the leaders of ADAPT are doing a disservice to the disabled," Winging said. "Instead of being here, pushing a cause that's not achievable, we could be together in Congress lobbying for adequate funds to support long-term care (at home and in nursing homes)." But Auberger, as he was being arrested, shouted that Willging is being unrealistic when he talks about lobbying Congress: for more money for long-tern care. And Cassie James, a 38-year old ADAPT member who is forced to straddle a wheelchair facing downward because of scoliosis, said she understands why AHCA doesn't want to support ADAPT's resolution to voluntarily give up 25 percent of nursing home funds. [Headline] Groups agree on problem, not solution By Bob Shemeligian LAS VEGAS SUN Ironically, the American Health Care Association and the disabled rights group demonstrating at the AHCA convention here say they support the same thing: more funding for home care for the disabled. But it is the means to achieve this goal that AHCA and American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today do not agree on. ADAPT wants Congress to redirect 25 percent of $23 billion in nursing home funds to home care for the disabled. Activists argue that more than 1.6 million disabled Americans are being cared for in nursing homes against their will, and that this shift in funding is more practical and more humane. But officials of AHCA, a trade organization representing nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, argue that most nursing homes don't have enough money as it is to make ends meet. "We believe it's wrong to take money from one needy group and give it to another," Dave Kyllo, spokesman for AHCA, said this week. "We believe the resources are available to take care of the needs of the elderly and the disabled." Kyllo and Paul Winging, AHCA executive vice president, said AHCA supports national health-care reform, and so should members of ADAPT. But ADAPT members charge it's unrealistic to expect Congress to come up with more money for long-term health care. "We know and they (AHCA) know that new tax dollars to support health care is not going to happen," said Mike Auberger ADAPT national organizer. Auberger also said the profit margin it the majority of nursing homes in the nation increased by at least 10 percent from 1994 to 1993. ADAPT members say it's more cost-efficient and more dignified to care foi the disabled in their homes. They point out that trained attendants rather than more expensive nurses, car assist the disabled with many of the thing those who are not handicapped take foi granted. "If we stay at home, and receive visit: from attendants, they help us with feeding dressing and toilet," said Bob Kafka, as ADAPT member who lives in Houston. VOL 45 / NO. 109 LAS VEGAS SUN P.M. STREET THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1994 / 50 CENTS - ADAPT (882)
PHOTO 1 by Jeff Scheid, Review Journal: Two police officers in a group of five lift a small woman [Spitfire] in pink sweatpants and a headband up from the street to her wheelchair. Someone with a camera is filming in the background. Caption reads: Las Vegas police carry away Eileen "Spitfire" Sabel of Philiadelphia, one of 180 protesters cited Wednesday for blocking Paradise Road. PHOTO 2 by Clint Karlsen, Review Journal: A man [John Hoffman] with no legs and only a short arm and finger, in a motorized wheelchair, lifts his arm in front of the ADAPT flag. This is like an American flag with stars arranged as a person in a wheelchair. Two people are holding the flag so it is fully spread out and a woman in a wheelchair is carrying it. Hoffman is wearing an ADAPT or Perish tshirt, goggles and a camo hat. Caption reads: John Hoffman of Austin, Texas, takes part in the demonstration to urge that more money be directed to help disabled people live on their own. [Headline] Disabled-rights group protest blocks Paradise Road travel [Subheading] Police cite 180 people near the convention center while a district judge issues a restraining order. By Jan Greene Review-Journal In a second day of high-profile protesting, a disabled-rights group Wednesday closed down Paradise Road near the Las Vegas Hilton for a few hours, prompting police to cite 180 demonstrators for assembling unlawfully. The protesters, many being arrested for the second time in two days, went along peacefully with Metropolitan Police Department officers specially trained to deal with people in wheelchairs. Meanwhile, a District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order barring the protesters from repeating Tuesday's actions at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where 76 people were cited for trespassing after they stormed the doors of an American Health Care Association meeting. That association, which represents nursing homes, is regularly the target of protests by ADAPT, Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. ADAPT wants 25 percent of the federal funding that now goes to nursing homes for long-term care of the elderly and disabled to go toward services such as personal attendants that would allow those people to live on their own. The nursing home association agrees there should be more money for home care, but that it shouldn't be shifted from nursing homes. This is the fifth annual confrontation between the two groups, but the first time the health care association has sought a court order restricting the protests. Wednesday's temporary order, signed by District Judge Nancy Becker, is a civil order prohibiting demonstrators from trespassing on the convention center areas being leased by the association, or from banging on doors or obstructing access to the convention. Today is the last day of the meeting. Association Vice President Linda Keegan said the order was obtained to ensure conventioneers' safety and avoid disruption, but allows ADAPT to demonstrate in a special area set aside in the convention center parking lot. Asked how the order could actually be used to stop or punish protesters, Keegan said she wasn't sure. The order says anyone violating it can be found in contempt of court. ADAPT regularly uses tactics that result in their members' citation or arrest to draw attention to their cause, which is to give people the opportunity to live away from nursing homes if they want. In Wednesday's protest, about 250 people, many in wheelchairs, assembled at the intersection of Paradise Road and Riviera Boulevard. Around noon, they moved into the street and blocked it. After about an hour of chanting and noisemaking, the Nevada Highway Patrol gave the word that the assembly was illegal because it was blocking a state thoroughfare. They gave people five minutes to disperse and then Las Vegas police moved in and methodically began arresting people. A total of 180 people were cited. Of those, 72 were cited in the street and 108 were actually arrested and taken to a temporary detention center before being processed and released. The event closed Paradise Road until about 3 p.m. - ADAPT (883)
MM REPORT PHOTOS by Alex Reininger: PHOTO 1 (background for the print article) shows two police officers holding back a black wheelchair activist's [George Roberts] motorized wheelchair. Roberts' face is grimacing behind his sunglasses and his arm is clenched on his joystick. His front end is tipped in the air and he has a poster across his legs that reads "Nursing homes = Jail." Behind him to the right is a group of two other police officers holding back in a wheelie another motorized wheelchair near some cars. Behind to the left, disability photographer Tom Olin is raising his camera. PHOTO 2: (inset next to the text) a photograph of a man (Clayton Jones) in a manual wheelchair with his neck kriptonite locked to a door. There are two posters taped to the glass door, above his head. One reads "Cadillac Care? NO! Independence YES!!" The other reads "$30,000/yr in a nursing home vs. $8,000/yr for at-home services." [Image] [Headline] The New Civil Rights [Subheading] The Americans With Disabilities Act has unlocked the door, now it's time to open it By Joseph P. Shapiro Photos by Alon Reininger The California breeze blew exceptionally warm that fall day in 1962 as Ed Roberts, as postpolio quadriplegic, was lifted out of his wheelchair, carried up a mountain of steps, and situated in Room 201 of Cal Hall at the University of California Berkeley. "It was a perfect day, a wonderful day, and exceptional day," says Roberts. "It was the first day of class, the first day of my freedom, and the first day of my life as a self-sufficient person." That same school semester Jame Meredith, escorted to class by U.S. marshals, integrated the University of Mississippi. "We both had to sue to get into school," notes Roberts. "The only difference: I didn't need soldiers - ADAPT (884)
PHOTO: A mass of ADAPT people in a parking lot with many vans behind them. A line of people is emerging from the group and heading off, single file, to an action. - ADAPT (885)
[Headline] Protesters test mettle of conference-goers By Bob Shemeligian LAS VEGAS SUN [Image] [Image caption] The first protesters break through barricades Tuesday and into the Las Vegas Convention Center. Frank McNeal, left, of Denver carries a sign which sums up many of the protesters' desires. BY BRAD TALBUTT / STAFF Organizers of a national disabled rights group planned more local demonstrations against nursing homes today. But it will be hard for them to top their Tuesday afternoon actions at the Las Vegas Convention Center. More than 300 members of American Disabled for Attendant Program, many in wheelchairs, shouted at nursing home representatives from behind barricades and 44 were arrested as they tried to enter the convention center to press their demands. The demonstrators also hung a wheelchair from a cross in front of the convention center. "We're being crucified daily by AHCA," demonstrator George Zakarewsky of Philadelphia said as he helped raise the wheelchair. Zakarewsky was referring to the American Health Care Association, a trade association representing 11,000 nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. More than 4,000 AHCA representatives are attending meetings and seminars at the convention center this week. Many of the trade association members are staying at the Las Vegas Hilton. The protesters carried placards that stated: "Don't Gamble with Our Lives," "Nursing Homes - No Dice" and "You Can't Have Sex in a Nursing Home " Many of them chanted: "AHCA, AHCA, cut the crap. Time to face ADAPT." ADAPT members say they bear no grudges against the Hilton, the convention center or the Tag Vegas community. They say they are here to protest the "incarceration" of disabled Americans in nursing homes. ADAPT wants Congress to redirect 25 percent of $23 billion in nursing home funds to home care for the disabled. Activists argue that more than 1.6 million disabled Americans are being cared for in nursing homes, many against their will, and that this shift in funding is more practical and more humane. "AHCA would like you to believe that the nursing home industry is a 'care' industry," said ADAPT member Mark Johnson of Atlanta. "In reality, they represent corporate giants that profit off the needs of people with disabilities and their families at the expense of lives." Johnson said if AHCA would support the demonstrators' position on the reallocation of nursing home funds, the protests would stop. But Dave Kyllo, AHCA spokesman, said the association cannot and will not support that position. "We believe the issue of expanded home care for the disabled should be addressed through national health-care reform," Kyllo said. Kyllo said the demonstrators delayed some AHCA members on their way to seminars and caused other disruptions, but most trade members carried on. "It's been a long day," Kyllo said. The same was true for 120 Metro Police and Nevada Highway Patrol officers who were on the scene to direct traffic and curtail illegal acts by the protesters. Scores of Metro officers escorted protesters from the convention center to buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. The protesters who were arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing were processed at a temporary facility within a quarter mile of the convention center. Metro Lt. Carl Fruge said some officers suffered bruised shins trying to grapple with protesters in electric wheelchairs. "These chairs are so powerful, they could actually break legs," Fruge said. Police officials said they are not happy with the manner in which they are being treated by the protesters. "When we met with ADAPT officials, we pleaded with them to give us an idea of when we would be needed, to handle staff changes on our side, and to keep the costs down for taxpayers, but they have failed to do so," Fruge said. ADAPT officials and members say their cause is a crucial one, and the Las Vegas community should bear with them. "The big issue is that nursing homes have a sugar daddy in Medicaid," ADAPT member Scott Heincman said. "Nursing homes are prison. They tell you when to eat, when to go to bed. They suck dry the human spirit." "I'd rather die than go back to a nursing home," said Monique Alexander, who has spent all but three of her 24 years in one. Lajuina Votaw of ADAPT said she once worked in a nursing home as a private duty nurse. "I've seen things from the other side of the fence," said Votaw, who is confined to a wheelchair. "There are people lying there in their own urine. They need to be changed. They lie there so long, they get chilled and sometimes they die I know what goes on in nursing homes." - ADAPT (886)
ADAPT protesters stand in a parking lot, several are pulled up to the police barricades in the foreground and above their heads the ADAPT flag with the stars arranged as a wheelchair flies overhead. Brian Shea is holding a poster that reads "AHCA can't beat ADAPT's full house."