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Heim / Albúm / Washington DC, Spring 1993 26
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ADAPT MEETS WITH CLINTON Thirty national disability rights `groups`, among them ADAPT, met with President Clinton on Tuesday, July 27 to discuss Clinton's agenda on disability issues. Clinton and the disability `groups` agreed the three main issues at this point are ADA, Health Care and Personal Assistance Services. The President confirmed his strong commitment to enforcement of the ADA and opposition to weakening of the law, something that has been rumored to be in the wings. He also affirmed his commitment to including people with disabilities in health care reform. Mike Auberger, national organizer for ADAPT, presented the piece on personal assistance services. Auberger outlined the concern of ADAPT, and the disability community generally, with the current promotion of a states rights approach to community based services. Right now our nation warehouses over two and a half Million people with disabilities in nursing homes and other in stitutions at a national cost of approximately $140 Billion each year. Over half our states have chosen not to provide attendant services at any real level, while all have significant nursing home programs. A national attendant services program MUST: (1) be mandated, and (2) have minimum standards below which a state cannot fall. Challenging the President to stop the warehousing of people with disabilities in these institutions, Auberger said "you have the ability, and hopefully the desire. ADAPT challenges you to free people." Though the meeting was scheduled for 20 minutes, it went on for an hour. Clinton began the meeting with a relay call to Senator Harkin’s brother (who is deaf) in honor of Monday's deadline for a national relay service. As Auberger left the White House he thought of the irony that ten years ago he and other ADAPT members had lain in that very street (Pennsylvania Ave.) blocking buses with their bodies for the right to ride. Protests got ADAPT into this meeting and clearly protest will bring us victory.
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[This page continues the article from image 781. Please see Image 781 for the full text]
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The entire text of the article is included here for easier reading Article Title: ADDRESS BY MIKE AUBERGER D.C. -- MAY 9, 1993 We have gathered here today to honor a leader a friend, a father, and a brother in the struggle for liberty, equality, and justice for people with disabilities. We have gathered here today to remember our fallen sisters and brothers who have not seen the end of our struggle. On this Mother's Day we must not forget our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends who have died in nursing homes and institutions across America. On this day we shall honor the mothers, fathers, families and friends who are incarcerated and warehoused in nursing homes and institutions in the land of the not so free. We must never forget as the struggle continues more of our sisters and brothers will die before victory is ours. Martin Luther King had a dream. We have a destiny, not a dream, a destiny, to realize. We shall have the right to choose how we live, and where we live. That destiny will include a national attendant service program for people with disabilities. That destiny will be realized. We have come from the shores, the mountains, and the plains of America to Washington, DC to pave the road to realizing our destiny. We are here to make our voices and demands heard by the Clinton Administration, the lO3rd Congress, the American Health Care Association, and the public. America's business can not go on as usual as long as younger and elderly Americans with disabilities are incarcerated in nursing homes to die. Our brothers and sisters must be freed from the bondage of the nursing home industry and government inability to provide a moral and economical solution. We must not permit the nursing home industry to continue to profit from our enslavement and oppression. Government must redirect the funds that pay for our enslavement. We shall not permit the nursing home industry to continue to use our bodies and our lives as commodities. We are not cattle. We are people. We must be free people. As the Clinton Administration finalizes its plan to reform health care in America it is imperative that a mandatory National Attendant Service Program be an integral pa.rt of that reform. We must make it very clear to the powers that be that no matter what form health care takes, it must include a mandatory National Attendant Service Program. We will not accept any health care package that excludes or limits mandatory attendant services. We will not permit government to continue to fund our incarceration in nursing homes at the expense of our lives. In the last 28 years 9.520.000 young and elderly people with disabilities have died in nursing homes. How many more of our sisters and brothers must die before true health care reform takes place? How much longer will government bow to the pressures of the American Health Care Association and its cronies within the nursing home industry? We must seize our destiny from the hands of the nursing home industry and governments oppressive regulations. We must and shall be the masters of our destiny. We must make our presence in Washington not just known, but more importantly felt — by the Administration, the Senate, the House of Representatives. the American Health Care Association, and the public. We must present one unified voice with the same message: Attendant Services Now. We shall not accept less than what is rightfully ours. We shall not permit anyone to accept less on our behalf. We shall not permit any organization to mortgage our future for empty promises and self gain. The Clinton Administration speaks the right rhetoric and is attempting to open a dialog as well as meeting with ADAPT. However, rhetoric, dialog and meetings do not necessarily mean change. ADAPT will continue its struggle in the streets until real change occurs. As the struggle continues, we must never forget our sisters and brothers held hostages in nursing homes across America. We must never forget that a sixty billion dollar industry has been created by incarcerating young and elderly Americans with disabilities. Remember in a different time and a different country people with disabilities were incarcerated in camps with other "undesirable" people. That was Germany this is America. Freedom was deprived then and freedom is deprived now - from people with disabilities. As long as one person with a disability is still incarcerated in a nursing home, we as a people will never be free. Every person with a disability must commit themselves today to the struggle to liberate our sisters and brothers from the profiteers who enslave them. We must free our people. We will free our people.
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Photo by Tom Olin: Justin Dart sits speaking into a microphone. A thin older man in an old-fashioned E&J type manual wheelchair. he wears a gray felt cowboy hat, reading glasses, and a dark suit and red tie. He is in profile, mouth open as he speaks. Beside him, kneeling down, is his wife and partner, Yoshiko Dart, and behind them is an out-of-focus crowd.
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Photo by Tom Olin: Black and white photo. A row of people sitting at one side of a table. Closest to the camera is a man, Rick James, in a wheelchair with a scruffy beard, an ADAPT shirt and a black mountain man felt hat with political buttons on it. He has a very intense expression on his face, not happy. He has a small bag hanging around his neck. Beside him is HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, a small woman in a suit dress with short dark hair and buckle type earrings. She is holding some papers and a pair of reading glasses in front of her and has a thoughtful experssion on her face. On her other side is a woman in a wheelchair (Lupe Vasquez?) also with short dark hair and she is wearing glasses. She too looks thoughtful. On her other side, mostly obscured is a man in a suit and beside him is another person in a wheelchair.
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The Washington Times LOCAL ROUND UP TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1993 [Headline] Disabled demonstrators arrested at Capitol More than 100 disabled demonstrators were arrested yesterday in the second day of their protest at the Capitol to gain more federal dollars for in-home health care. A total of 114 demonstrators were charged with unlawful entry and demonstrating in the Capitol — both misdemeanors, said Capitol Police spokesman Sgt. Dan Nichols. Most would be issued citations for later court appearances in D.C. Superior Court, he said. About 500 protesters began what was scheduled to be the three-day demonstration Sunday. Rally organizer Mike Auberger said the group wanted federal funds shifted from nursing homes to in-home care, which is less expensive.
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[Headline] Disabled Protesters Disrupt Capitol [Subheading] 114 Arrested After Bailing Out of Wheelchairs, Blocking Halls by Liz Spayd Washington Post Staff Writer More than 200 chanting protesters in Wheelchairs swarmed into the U.S. Capitol yesterday, throwing themselves on the floor and blocking hallways to demand federal programs that would allow the disabled to live on their own. Several of the demonstrators chained their wheelchairs together and spread sleeping bags across the tiled ‘Corridors, saying they were prepared to camp out until congressional leaders agreed to address their concerns. Capitol Police closed off parts of the Capitol and, with the assistance of physicians and of translators for the hearing-impaired, arrested 114 protesters. "Anyone's allowed in the building. But they were [lying] in the hallways and chanting," said Sgt. Dan R, Nichols. “They were asked to leave several times, and when they refused, we arrested them.” The group is in Washington for three days of demonstrations to urge changes in federal policies that would allow greater numbers of disabled people to live independently instead of in nursing homes. Specifically; the activists are asking that 25 percent of Medicaid funds spent on nursing homes be shifted to in-home care programs. "We have no intention of stopping until we get what we want," said Terrance Turner, a Detroit resident who was among the protesters. "If it's not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the next day." Shouting, "Down with nursing homes," and, “Free our people," the demonstrators formed a human blockade around the double-doors leading into the office of House Majority Whip David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) for more than two hours. Bonior’s press secretary, John Schelble, said the congressman was at a doctor's appointment when the demonstrators made their surprise visit and didn't return until after they had left. Bonior was targeted, in part, because of his leadership position in the House, but also because his office is on the first floor and therefore more accessible to the disabled. Earlier in the day, the activists met with Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala, who told them long-term care for the disabled is a key component of the Clinton administration's health care proposals. "The secretary is very sensitive to their concerns," said Avis LaVelle, spokeswoman for Shalala’s office. “Much of what they're asking for is being addressed by the health care task force." Using civil disobedience to make their point, the organizers of yesterday's protest, members of a group called ADAPT, have been advocating rights for disabled people since the late 1970s. Their first protest was in Denver, when 19 activists illegally detained a public bus that was inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. Since then, ADAPT—which stands for American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today—has become an increasingly militant group. It uses wheelchairs to barricade buildings, and members crawl across dirty streets to dramatize the helplessness of people in nursing homes. One of ADAPT's favorite targets is the American Health Care Association, a Washington-based trade group that represents 11,000 nursing homes nationwide. But making nursing homes the villain is unfair, association spokeswoman Clauda Askew said. Nursing homes, she said, have been wrongly portrayed as malicious institutions that hold people against their will and deny them basic human freedoms. "No one is forced to live in a nursing home,” Askew said. “What ADAPT is advocating is taking funds away from nursing home residents. They're robbing Peter to pay Paul, and that's not the answer." Members of ADAPT exchange power salutes as Capitol Police arrest them during a protest outside a congressional office
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Photo by Tom Olin: Three police officers in white shirts with badges and patches on them and dark hats with badges on the front lift Frank McCoy. Frank is reclined, lying in their hands and looking to one side. They seem to be lifting him out of his wheelchair. Two other officers look on from the side. Everyone has gentle concerned looks on their faces. They are in some kind of room with a curtain against one wall, partially obscured by folding tables set on their sides. In the bottom right corner of the photo, you can see just the face of someone sitting on the ground behind one of the officers.
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Photo by Gary Bosworth: This is a close up of an ADAPT protester in a denim jacket with black ADAPT armband. The person is pressed up against the fence and reaching through holding a one foot by 9 inch white cross. There are a couple of other crosses like this sticking in the lawn on the other side of the fence Clipped from a newsletter it has the title "NEWS" and a caption: ADAPT protester plants cross on White House lawn.
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Photo by Tom Olin: A man in a white polo shirt and dark glasses stands at a microphone reading from some papers in his hand. Behind him you can see a blurred crowd facing him.
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[Headline] SHALALA RESPONDS TO ADAPT: A States’ Rights Approach By Bob Kafka At ADAPT’s May 10th meeting in D.C. with Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, she committed to respond to the five ADAPT demands within 30 days She kept that promise with a letter dated June 10th. However, the Secretary’s response was disappointing! ADAPT's Demands 1) Create a National Attendant Services Program; 2) Redirect Medicaid nursing home funds for a National Attendant Services Program; 3) Appoint a HHS liaison to ADAPT; 4) Include ADAPT in all future Clinton Administrations discussions on Long Term Care; 5) Hold 10 Regional Forums, coordinated with ADAPT, on Attendant Services. Shalala meets with ADAPT in DC Photo by Tom Olin
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Photo: Looking down on two police officers standing in the dark with some ADAPT protesters. They appear to be outside a building with a white column on one side. The ADAPT folks are sitting in their chairs and on the steps of the building, but they are barely visable in the darkness. The floor appears to be marble. This may be the Russell House office building or some similar building.
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Rocky Mountain News, Mon. May 10, 1993 [Headline] Disabled seek in-home care Hundreds of disabled Americans rallied near the Capitol on Sunday to launch a three-day lobbying drive to shift federal dollars from nursing homes to in-home care. "For every dollar we spend in nursing home care, we can provide services for two people in the community," rally organizer Mike Auberger said. "Our homes, not nursing homes," said a placard attached to Sharon Sutow's wheelchair as speakers denounced requiring many elderly persons to be confinced to nursing homes if they are to get affordable health care. ADAPT, a Denver-based group that organized the lobbying drive, wants $5.5 billion in Medicaid funds for in-home care for the elderly and disabled.
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NEWS [This page continues the article from Image 793. The full article is available under Image 793 for easier reading] [Headline] NOMINEES SOUGHT FOR NATIONAL WHEELCHAIR HALL OF FAME The National Hall of Fame for Persons with Disabilities is seeking nominees for 1993. The Tenth Annual Induction Ceremony will be Thursday, October 21, 1993. The deadline for nominations is August 1, 1993. The NHF was founded in 1981 to honor outstanding disabled Americans for their personal achievements and contributions to humanity. The major objectives of the organization are to inspire persons with disabilities, to enlighten the public about the disabled community and to encourage employers to hire the disabled. For more information, call (614) 878-3390 or write to the National Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 1S 1 053, Columbus, Ohio 4321 S .
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[This page contains the continuation of the article from Image 794. Please see 794 for the full article] [Headline] A county bids farewell: Wade Blank remembered at ceremony It was a sunny day, Mother's Day, Sunday, May 9, 1993. Over 2,000 disability activists from around the country came to the steps of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., to honor Wade Blank's life. Blank, who drowned, tragically, with his son Lincoln in February, was one of the shining lights in the disability rights movement. He was being remembered for his history breaking life. Emotions ran high as eulogies were read. Justin Dart, chair of the President's Commission on Employment of Persons with Disabilities, read a moving speech and spoke about Wade's unending devotion to what he believed. He continued that Wade saw every life as important, with the right to live free. He built his life around this premise, and from those ideals, he guided the formation of Atlantis and ADAPT, to the position they have today. All people with disabilities owe a debt to the life of Wade Blank. Against his doctor's advice, Evan Kemp, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, came to read an extremely moving tribute. Kemp, wearing an "ADAPT - Free Our People" shirt, had special words for Wade on how he came to Kemp's aid when Kemp's position at the EEOC was in “a sticky situation". Kemp got into trouble for speaking out against the pity approach of Jerry Lewis's MDA telethon. Kemp stated that Wade pledged to personally walk from Denver to Las Vegas, if necessary, to save Kemp's job at the EEOC. The ceremony started at 11 :30 am with a series of disability rights songs, sung by Elaine Kolb, in tribute to Wade. They noted how the disability movement has changed over the past dozen years. Later, an international flavor was added when Johnny Crescendo, from Great Britain, sang a selection of is disability rights songs. Crescendo dedicated his latest album to the memory of Wade. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa sent a representative to read a copy of the tribute to Wade that Harkin read into the Congressional Record from the floor of Congress. This was followed by Congresswoman Patricia Schroder, who remembered how she met Wade at the historic seizure of two inaccessible buses in Denver, July 5 & 6 in 1978. The Clinton White House sent over Paul Miller, Disability Policy & Outreach, to read a prepared statement on the administration's dedication to the goals Wade Blank and ADAPT have for independence for persons with disabilities. Several speakers from ADAPT including Wade's co-director, Mike Auberger gave tearful expressions of love for the memory of the historic accomplishments of Wade. They remembered working towards the independence of persons with severe disabilities. They are dedicated to see Wade's work continue until there is no need for institutions, like nursing homes, in our society. After more than two hours in the hot sun, the assembled activists then solemnly marched to the White House. For two hours they ringed the White House grounds in memory of Wade Blank and the 1 1/2 million persons in nursing homes, Wade had- been working to free, so they could live independent lives. After two hours, they planted 300 crosses cm the White House lawn in memory of the 9 1/2 million people that have died in nursing homes. They pledged never to give up the struggle, no matter where it took them.