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Startseite / Alben / The Rolling Freedom Express & Washington DC, fall 2000 54
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[Headline] Tracking MiCassa MiCASSA began as CASA—Community Attendant Services Act sketched out on a paper nap-kin signed by Speaker Newt Gingrich and ADAPT organizer Mike Auberger on Nov. 3, 1996. Gingrich promised to introduce the bill, and having him as the main sponsor was controversial, according to ADAPT's Bob Kafka. "It's important to remember it was right after the Republicans had taken control of both the House and Senate. Gingrich became the second most powerful person in the United States." The bill was introduced on June 24, 1997, as MiCASA, the Medicaid Community Attendant Services Act. Legislative hearings were held on March 12, 1998, but the bill didn't make it out of committee—it died at the end of the session in December 1998. It took until November 1999 to find new sponsors for MiCASA, in part because ADAPT wanted one Republican and one Democrat as main sponsors. Finally Senators Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, stepped forward and introduced the bill as the Medicaid Community Services and Supports Act, MiCASSA. In addition to adding the word "supports," language was also added to clarify the scope of the bill, which includes people eligible for institutional services through Medicaid. This version of MiCASSA died when the last session ended in December 2000 and has not been reintroduced yet. Most likely it will be reintroduced in 2001 with the same sponsors. MiCASSA is seen by the advocacy community as one tool to create more consumer choice in long-term care programs. Another equally important tool is the Supreme Court ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W. In this case, by a margin of six to three, the Supreme Court affirmed that the ADA requires states to let people with disabilities live in the "most integrated setting appropriate to the individual." The Supreme Court built the Olmstead ruling on the earlier case of Helen L. v. Snider, which the Supreme Court refused to hear on Oct. 2, 1995. In doing so, the court let stand a Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that it is a violation of the ADA to keep a person with a disability "unnecessarily segregated" in an institution if a state offers the same services in the community. Together these rulings comprise a "get out of jail free" card for most disabled people who want to move out of nursing homes and who are lucky enough to know lawyers or advocates will-ing to help them use that card. After the Olmstead ruling, the Department of Justice and the Health Care Financing Administration both released letters making clear their interpretation of the ruling—states must develop "Olmstead plans" that detail how they will support people with disabilities in the "most integrated setting possible?: If each state puts an adequate Olmstead plan in place, a person with a disability will be able to receive adequate personal assistance services in all 50 states. "The Olmstead ruling is a clear recall from exile," says Lucy Gwin, editor of Mouth magazine and creator of the Freedom Clearinghouse (www.freedomclearinghouse.com). Since currently the only states with Olmstead plans are those with well-organized disability advocates, Gwin created the Web site to help connect advocates with each other in states that still need to be organized. This comprehensive Web site is chock full of tools advocates need to start working with their state toward creating a strong Olmstead plan. Another possible ally in the push for full implementation of the Olmstead ruling is President Bush. In his New Freedom Initiative he has committed to an executive order calling for "swift implementation of the Olmstead decision." That would mean a total shift of federal Medicaid long term care services away from institutions, allowing individuals to decide where they want their services delivered. To ADAPT, the push for MiCASSA, implementation of the Olmstead ruling and activism for more community services are all part of what is called the "real choice campaign." The overall goal is personal assistance services for anyone who needs them, regardless of age or kind of disability. ADAPT, 303/733-0324; www.adapt.org, adapt@adapt.org. President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202/456-1414; president@ whitehouse.gov. [continuation of a previous article] bers of the American Health Care Association who are still dining and dancing in the crystalline lobby. "But I'm a good person," a confused social worker stammers to activists, her spaghetti-strapped sequined dress sloshed with her forgotten martini. "I'm a good person. Why are you doing this?" After midnight, Kafka starts asking for names of people willing to be arrested. "OK," he says to them. "Just stay put" At 2 a.m. the arrests begin. Be-fore the protest ends, Speaker Newt Gingrich the second most powerful man in the nation scrawls out the main points of what will become the first MiCASSA bill on a paper napkin (see sidebar), which he then signs. Kafka looks back on this 1996 national ADAPT action in Newt Gingrich's legislative district as the one that forced Gingrich to sponsor the future bill. Gingrich cracked because of the street action, says Kafka. [Subheading] Activism in His Blood Kafka, 54, comes from an activist family. Both his parents, Helen and Milton, were union organizers, as were his maternal grandparents. "My Grandma Sara; a Russian immigrant, was the real hard-core in the family," he says. A seamstress, she also chaired an Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Club. Named after the Jewish writer whose poem is on the Statue of Liberty pedestal, the Emmas organized in the late 1940s to combat the anti-Semitism which had recently destroyed so many Jews and so much of Jewish culture. They could not forget that the United States not only ignored reports of German death camps when diplomatic pressure still might have done some good, but [pulled quote] "The Washington, crowd is always going to be hesitant to really advocate in a way that might piss off somebody." Bob Kafka [text continues] even sent a boatload of desperate Jews away from America's shores. As a boy, Kafka made signs for his Grandma Sara's Emma club in the Bronx. His boyhood ended when he was drafted in 1966. "Com-ing from a progressive family, going to Vietnam was a big discussion issue," he says. "Should I go to Canada? Should I join the National Guard? What were my options? The family decision was for me to go into the service." Specialist Kafka served in the 188th Maintenance Battalion support for the 11th Armored Cavalry. "Vietnam certainly was a shock to the system of a Jewish kid from the Bronx," he says. He returned to the states and earned a bachelor's in economics at the University of Houston in 1971. Then, he says, "like all good hippies, I hung out at a ghost town in Jerome, Ariz., and built homes right down the road in the beautiful red rocks of Sedona which is where I broke my neck, a car wreck after drinking too much beer," he says. Ironically, Feb. 15, the date of his accident in 1973, was the date he was drafted into the Army in 1966. Kafka's neck was broken at the C5-6 level. After his injury he moved back to Houston, earned a master's in education in 1976 and quickly became director of disabled students services at his alma mater. He rose to leadership in every group he joined, from the Texas Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities where he met his wife in 1984—to the Southwest Wheelchair Athletic Association. Kafka calls himself a closet bureaucrat. His hobby is study-ing regs—he takes them apart like an experienced mechanic tinkering with his car—a word change here, a sentence added there—to see if he can make them run smoother. In 1984 he focused on transportation regs. As president of the Texas Paralyzed Veterans Association he pushed for all public transportation to be accessible, not just the vans that drive old ladies to grocery stores. But meetings, memos and tinker-ing with policies weren't putting lifts on buses. He still couldn't catch one down at the corner stop. Frustrated, Kafka signed up for the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit training in Washington, D.C., scheduled at the same time as the American Public Transportation Association's annual conference. This October 1984 "training" was the first ADAPT action outside of Denver. Chanting, "We will ride," the band of 42 activists used their bodies and equipment to block APTA conventioneers from their cordon bleu luncheons and champagne banquets—as they would continuously at each APTA national convention for six years until the ADA passed, mandating lifts on all new buses. "It blew the cobwebs away," says Kafka, about his first pro-test. Freedom would be won on the street, as he was taught as a child, and he wanted to be part of it. [Subheading] Showdown at Cincinnati Later in 1984 Kafka and Thomas co-founded Texas ADAPT to bring to their home state the same changes ADAPT pushed for nationwide. Then in 1985, he spent three days in the Los Angeles County Jail for disrupting APTA's conference. "They put us in L.A. blues and we were on the same floor as the Hillside Strangler," he says. Next came the May 1986 protests in Cincinnati, which Kafka calls one of ADAPT's most intense. Cincinnati Judge Albanese, known for ordering the arrest of a local museum director on obscenity charges the museum displayed Robert Mapplethorpe's controversial photos—told ADAPT if they came to Cincinnati he'd throw them in jail. ADAPT stayed at a no-star Kentucky hotel right across the Ohio River from -•.. Cincinnati. The too-small conference room the activists met in had a window for a wall on one side. Across the way they could see men in suits with a tripod taking pictures of their meeting. Ignoring the plainclothesmen, Wade Blank, one of the found-ing members of ADAPT, and Auberger laid out the Cincinnati situation. Sixty-seven buses ordered under the previous mayor had had their lifts welded shut, rendering them useless to wheelchair users. Reason given: liability and safety. Blank and Auberger were briefly interrupted when three local disability advocates rolled in. They asked ADAPT to please leave before all their good work was undone. "What good work?" they were asked. "At least they're talking to us," the local advocates answered. The activists laughed them out of the room—in ADAPT's view, all talking accomplished for the locals was having their lifts welded shut. But the locals feared ADAPT's "slash-and-burn" tactics might make their situation even worse. True to his word, when ADAPT hit Cincinnati, Judge Albanese threw them in jail. In the end only three actually served the eight-day sentence Kafka, Auberger and George Cooper, who was director of advocacy for the Texas PVA. At the October 1986 ADAPT protests in Detroit, Cooper's picture appeared in the news-paper. One of the national PVA vice presidents saw it, flipped out and quickly push-ed a resolution through the national PVA's executive committee saying there was to be no further association with ADAPT or any other group that uses civil disobedience. Texas PVA, under Kafka's leadership, appealed that deci-sion at a national membership meeting. Kafka's fiery speech defending ADAPT to the national membership included references to great past leaders such as Henry David Thoreau and Gandhi. "Civil disobedience is nothing to be ashamed off!" he cried. This marked the first time he defended ADAPT to an-other national disability advocacy organization—his peers. He failed. That resolution is still on the PVA books. In the end PVA did what even Cincinnati Judge Albanese failed to do—it proved to Kafka how deep his commitment was to activism and ADAPT. "That incident cemented in my mind that a group like ADAPT needed to continue and grow. The well-funded PVA and other Washington, D.C. crowd groups were always going to be hesitant to really advocate in a way that might piss off somebody," he says. [Subheading] Pushing the ADA After his speech to PVA's national membership, Kafka steadily rose through the ranks in national ADAPT, eventually being recognized as one of the top three leaders and commanding a dedicated follow-Ling from advocates like Woody Osburn, executive director of the Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council. Kafka's sincere belief in what he does won Osburn over during the 1989 protests in Atlanta. Nonstop rain was the lead story on the nightly news when ADAPT rolled into the Atlanta federal build-ing and refused to leave. The federal officers drove stakes into the ground outside the heavy doors to keep them from slamming shut each time they pulled an activist out of the lobby and into a puddle. A concerned Blank called disability activist Evan Kemp at his home in Washington, D.C., for help Kemp was chairman of the EEOC at the time. Kemp then called White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray, who made an official White House call to the federal building in Atlanta. "All of sudden," recalls Osburn, "the same cops that threw us out were saying, 'Come on back in."' [image of Kafka on the ground being handcuffed] They spent a damp, clammy night on the lobby floor. Then—victory! Representatives of the Urban Mass Transit Ad-ministration came into the lobby with a letter saying every new fixed-route bus would have a lift. But the protests weren't over yet; Greyhound still didn't agree to lifts. The tired activists dutifully march-ed over to the Greyhound station for more protesting. Os-bum, a quad, says he didn't want to be arrested because he wanted time to sleep and get cleaned up before his flight the next morning. But then he saw Kafka. "He was really serious and shouting at me, 'There's a bus in the lot up there and you have to go stop it because it's getting away!' I gave him my feeble excuse of have a plane to catch.' He swore at me and went down the line to find someone else to shame into doing it. So I went There was just one other person up there, but she and I stopped that bus." Meanwhile Kafka and some others stuffed themselves into luggage compartments. Now Greyhound had to remove all the luggage on each bus to make sure there wasn't a per-son in the compartments. "I was arrested along with Bob and all the other people," says Osburn. "I didn't get out until 3 a.m. and got on the plane smelling the way I did." The bus war climaxed on March 12, 1990, when hundreds of ADAPT activists left their wheelchairs and crawled up the U.S. Capitol building steps. The next day Kafka and over 200 activists refused to leave the Capitol rotunda 104 were later arrested. This was the "Wheels of Justice" action that many think gave the ADA the last push it needed to pass as strongly as it did. [Subheading] ADAPT Changes Focus With the passage of the ADA, which mandated lifts on. every bus, ADAPT changed its name to American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today and went after the nursing home industry, treating the American Health Care Association conventions to the tactics refined in the bus war. Kafka's acumen at understanding policies and regulations came into play as the activists were thrown from the relatively simple world of, "Just put a damn lift on it," into the complex world of Medicaid funding. At first the cry was "Redirect!" Simply put, ADAPT wanted 25 percent of the Medicaid funds currently allocated to nursing homes to go to community-based services instead. Policy wonk Kafka says, "As we started to do the protests against AHCA, it became real clear that we needed to go .to the next level in terms of that demand. We needed something more concrete." Thus came the first draft of the Community Attendant Services Act—CASA, introduced into Congress by Newt Gingrich as the Medicaid Community Attendant Services Act—MiCASA In time, MiCASA was further refined into MiCASSA, the Medicaid Community Services and Supports Act. [boxed quote] Kakfa is the craftsman of the"pitchfork" approach to advocacy. ADAPT and street action is one tine, the ADA is another, rulings like the Olmstead decision constitute another and pushing for MiCASSA is the fourth. Says Kafka about the extra "S" in MiCASSA: "The advocates in the cognitive and aging communities kept saying and kept thinking that the bill only addressed people with physical disabilities. So we sat down with advocacy groups for people with DD, and older people, and we rewrote the bill. Fundamentally, it's the same approach, but stronger." MiCAS-SA was co-sponsored in the latest legislative session by U.S. Senators Specter and Harkin. Kafka is the craftsman of the "pitchfork" approach to advocacy. ADAPT and street action is one tine, the ADA is another, rulings like the Olmstead decision constitute another and pushing for MiCASSA is the fourth. "A pitchfork with one tine would be pretty weak," he says. "You need all of it" Kafka also says that with the new president it's vital that critical mass be reached at the state level through protests like the one he and Thomas led years ago against then-Governor Ann Richards in Texas—they won a nursing home waiver by refusing to leave Richard's office until she agreed to meet with them. After Richards, of course, came Bush. Kafka says that even though state-level advocacy's always been important, now it's more so. "It's clear from Bush's positions and what he did here that there will be every attempt to give states more flexibility to move whatever there can be down to the state level," he says. "So we have to become really, really powerful in our own states." [Subheading] The Face of Freedom A self-described political junkie who has no private life, Kafka doesn't like to talk about anything personal. He'll talk about anything else you want to talk about. Ask about politics—is Bush as dumb as people say? "No, he's not dumb. He's disengaged." Ask him about sports and the former Bronxer will tell you, "I'm still a Knicks and Giants fan, and a Yankee hater." Ask him about his father, and he'll tell you how they got Gingrich to sponsor the first MiCASSA bill. Ask him again, tell him word's out that Kafka's own dad could have ended up in a nursing home but Kafka and his wife, both using wheelchairs themselves, wouldn't let it happen. Eventually he'll tell you that after his mother passed away a few years ago, his dad had a stroke in his Florida home and couldn't live alone. So he moved to a Texas assisted living facility to be closer to his son. It was his dad's choice, Kafka is quick to tell you, and he had his own little apartment. Then his diabetes flared up, he lost both his legs and the assisted living facility told him he couldn't stay there anymore. "He didn't want to stay there either," says Kafka. So Kafka and his wife did what so many other baby boomers won't or can't do for dad. They brought him into their home, helped him get in-home services through the Medicaid nursing home waiver and in the last couple months of his life also helped him get hospice services. Not every state has a nursing home waiver, especially not one that people older than 60 are eligible for. The Texas waiver was fought for, and won, by Texas ADAPT years before Kafka's father became disabled and needed it. Because of ADAPT and Kafka's Willingness to lead, thousands of Texans—including his father now live and die free. For Kafka, that's not enough. All Americans must have that same right to decide their own destinies and choose where they call home before he, and ADAPT, move on to another front. The next national ADAPT action is May 12-17 in Washington, D.C. APRIL 2001 39 - ADAPT (1273)
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A14 YNE Wednesday, October 4, 2000 National Report The New York Times [image] [image caption] Affirming their rights: Demonstrators on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington supported the Americans with Disabilities Act yesterday. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next week on whether states are immune from lawsuits by their public employees for violations of the federal law - ADAPT (1288)
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The Washington Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2000 /PAGE C3 [Headline] Blockading the GOP Hundreds of disabled people protesting outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee last night blocked in staffers and prevented partygoers from attending a reception at the adjacent Capitol Hill Club. Some tuxedo-clad partygoers used ladders to climb through second-story windows at the Capitol Hill Club as the protesters chanted, "Don't be stupid." The protest, which started at 4 p.m., eventually forced cancellation of the fund-raiser. The protesters, who used their wheelchairs to block the Capitol Hill building's entrances, said they are angry at Republican presidential nominee George W Bush for his refusal to say whether he would sign a renewal of the 10-year-old Americans With Disabilities Act, signed originally by his father, President George Bush. "We will stay here until he agrees to sign the pledge" to re-new the bill, said Marcie Roth of Maryland. Police blocked off the streets around the RNC headquarters in the 300 block of First Street SE. The protesters began dispersing after police prepared to make arrests by moving buses up to the building. Democratic nominee Al Gore has signed the pledge to renew the ADA, but protesters said they are unhappy with him as well. The Clinton administration has proposed adding money in the budget for nursing homes and institutional care, but not for home-based care, protesters say. Activists would not rule out a future blockade of the Democratic Party headquarters downtown. Sean Scully contributed to this column, which is based in part on wire service reports. - ADAPT (1276)
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Incitement Incitement Incitement Volume 16 No. 3 A Publication of ADAPT Fall 2000 [image] [image caption] Bell forged from the shackles that used to bind the feet of psychiatric inmates across the nation. A reminder of what Liberty really means and why we must never stop until we are all free. [Headline] ADAPT returned to DC by Stephanie Thomas This fall ADAPT returned to DC. Everyone is sick of that town and all that goes on there. But someone must do the dirty job of making folks account-able. Following up on our issues, ADAPT folks do what needs to be done! [Subheading] THE BILLION DOLLAR BLUNDER To begin our week of actions, ADAPT took on the biggest issue. Just the week before the President had announced a billion dollar give away to the nursing home industry. After all the work and effort that has gone into trying to reverse the institutional bias, the President's action was a slap in the face to the disability community. Not only would this be a trip to the federal candy store for the nursing homes, but it would also require states to kick in the match money, and in all likelihood this would have to come from the states efforts to fund implementation of the Supreme Court Olmstead decision. ADAPT had met with Secretary Shalala about our concerns earlier in the week, but as she could not commit to any solutions at that time, we knew we had to take the issue to the door of the one who caused the problem. So on Monday, 400 strong ADAPT took to the streets of DC to confront President Clinton. At one point the police, for some unknown reason, pulled in two police cars and then a bus to park diagonally across an intersection in an attempt to block our march. But ADAPT would not be stopped, and going around these obstacles, headed up Pennsylvania Ave. to the White House. [boxed text] ADAPT / Incitement 1339 Lamar SQ DR #101 Austin TX 78704 (512) 442-0252 v/TTY (512) 442-0522 FAX Incitement is produced from the offices of Topeka Independent Living Resource Center (TILRC). Articles, letters, compositions, displays and photos are encouraged. Please contact Tessa Goupil for deadlines for submission of materials. The Editor reserves the right to edit or omit any material that is submitted. For more information, contact Tessa Goupil at TILRC or Stephanie Thomas at ADAPT. Topeka Independent Living Resource Center, Inc. 501 SW Jackson St , Suite 100 Topeka, KS 66603-3300 (785) 233-4572 V/TTY (785) 233-1815 TTY (785) 233-1561 FAX [two images] [no captions] [text resumes] Lining up along the fence, those who were willing to be arrested chained themselves with handcuffs and motorcycle chains to the fence. With so many of Ica/ our brothers and sisters locked away in nursing homes, and President Clinton working to block our efforts to free them, a symbolic message needed to be sent. 400 of us who were chained began the chant "I'd rather go to jail than to die in a nursing home." We stretched across the entire fence in front of the White House. Inside the fence the secret service men in black moved out across the grass, onto the roof tops, with submachine guns poorly secreted inside what looked like dry cleaning bags. Through the fence we could see a media event had been prepared, but it seemed the White House was not interested in holding the event with 400 angry disabled people as a back drop. But for once the national media took an interest and came out to cover the issue. White House staff came out after a long while and took our demands. It was hot, not much was happening on the surface of things, but no one wandered off to see the sights. Everyone held firm, chanting as the hours went by. Finally our leadership team was invited to send a delegation inside to negotiate with the Chief of Staff John Podesta. After some tough wrangling, Podesta committed the President to meet with ADAPT before the end of October. [Subheading] GARRETT RALLY [two images] [no image captions] Tuesday was the day of the Rally for the Garrett case. A big logistics question was how to keep our ADAPT folks together enough in the larger crowd at the rally so we would be ready for some "direct action" once the rally was over. C rack troops and crack leadership turned that potential nightmare into a smoothly executed operation. The rally, sponsored by American Association of People with Disabilities, was held at Upper Senate Park and featured an array of speakers: from Jessie Jackson, Martin Luther King III and Ted Kennedy Jr. to Mike Auberger, Mike Oxford and Justin Dart. The Mental Health Association brought a huge eight ton bell forged from the shackles that used to bind the feet of psychiatric inmates across the nation. Gallaudet University turned out in force despite a murder on campus the day before and prob-lems with police investigation of the case. Thousands of advocates from all across the country gathered to send a message to Congress and the Supreme Court "Don't Tread of the ADA!" [Headline] SUPREME FOLLIES After a long hot afternoon of speakers, everyone at the rally lined up and marched to the Supreme Court for a closing ceremony. However, this event was be-smirched when the Capitol Police would not let the interpreters stand on the Supreme Court steps so they would be visible above the crowd. Just as the back of the line was arriving, the interpreters were being threatened with arrest, but were refusing to back down. We began chanting "Let them Interpret, Let them on the Steps" and the police were reminded that there were hundreds of ADAPT folks and others who would, likely, be joining the interpreters on the steps (a highly illegal activity during a rally at the Supreme Court) if they were not Is-allowed to be elevated so they could be seen. Suddenly a solution was found, and almost as quickly as it started the ceremony ended the rally. [Subheading] ADAPT TACKLES SOME ELEPHANTS But ADAPT's work was far from done. We had already hit the Democratic Administration for their failures to promote real choice. However, the Republicans also have a far from stellar record on this issue. Presidential candidate Bush's states' rights stance on ADA could prove a greater threat than the Billion dollars, and he had ignored requests by ADAPT and other groups to meet and discuss the issue of promoting real choice and getting rid of the institutional bias, or ADA civil rights versus states rights. So we simply headed from the Supreme Court down First street a couple of blocks to where the Republican National Headquarters were conveniently located. Our goal was to get the RNC to broker a meeting between Governor Bush and ADAPT representatives. This being the night of the second Presidential debate, there was a flurry of activity going on when we arrived. It seems they had planned a major fundraising party where people were to pay $1,000 to come and watch the debate and sip Champagne or martinis and munch on hors d'euvres. But these plans were adapted. Though we didn't get inside, we shut down the headquarters and the Re-publican Social Club next door. All doors, even the garage were blocked and no one was moving until we got a commitment of a meeting. After a while the police began negotiations and then our negotiation team was let inside to talk with their staff. The usual lines of "he can't be reached," etc. were used and then it seemed we were making some headway and would get a date for a meeting. Meanwhile, a few die-hard Republican staffers and supporters climbed in and out of windows, and party goers began to gather and then, as time passed, to trickle away. [two images] [no image captions] About 9:30 PM, the cops made their brilliant move. Sirens wailed from a squadron of cop cars, and a small fleet of Metro buses came squealing up the street and stopped on the sidewalk by the club. Pull-ing certain people away from the doors on the north side of the building, the police brought everyone out of both buildings and loaded them onto the city buses. Then almost as suddenly all the buses and cop cars pulled away. Though we had not won a meeting, we had flushed out Bush's position. The message was clear: Bush would rather loose a half million dollars than meet with representatives of the disability community! It was almost the witching hour when ADAPT headed back. One more day of actions lay ahead of us. [Subheading] DAVID AND GOLIATH Our last day in DC we had one more message to deliver. MiCASSA is our fall back if the Supreme Court overturns Title II of the ADA, and we have not forgotten this bill. Thought it will not pass in totality this session, included in this years' proposed (but as of this writing not yet passed) bud-get is a section to help states transition from their current institutionally biased system of services to a more community based one. However, we want to see the entire bill pass, and for that we want more supporters. A group, which had remained notably silent on the bill was the infamous AARP, American Association of Retired Persons. Though they had on numerous occasions been asked to take a position, and several letters had requested a meeting, AARP had not bothered to respond. We were taking our third day to rectify that situation. [image] [no image caption] Before we headed to their marbled halls however, we stopped on the national Mall to hold our big meeting. With Washington Monument behind us and the US Capitol as a backdrop ahead we discussed the actions of the day before, and as much as possible in such public location, what still lay ahead. Then we turned and headed up 7th St. AARP is such a big deal they don't just have a headquarters building in DC, they have two buildings which take up literally half a city block. Their brass plated double doors lead into two marble lobbies which connect via an open atrium between the buildings. Most surprising, their security is greater than at most Federal buildings, with a small army of security guards, buzzer systems and locked doors. When entering simply to get a brochure one is given an escort through the building. Despite the Fort Knox quality of the place ADAPT would not be kept out. The first half of the group headed for the farther building, while the second half stopped and entered the nearer building. A tussle at the doors of the further building slowed that group down, but not by much. Soon negotiators in both lobbies were calling for the CEO Horace Deets to meet with ADAPT. Within an hour our negotiation team was meeting with their people to hammer out an agreement on the actual meet-ing, and within another hour ADAPT had completed the final action with another victory. Tentative date for this meeting is November 9th. At the ADAPT final meeting that night new people from across the nation spoke out about how the week had transformed them, and those of us there who were older hands at these actions listened and thought how we too had been rejuvenated by the power of our people together, united and focused on our goals. [Subheading] ROLLING FREEDOM EXPRESS SPREADS CALL FOR JUSTICE With less than two month's notice and planning, members of ADAPT and other disability groups across the United States, pulled off a major campaign for justice and civil and disability rights this fall. The Rolling Freedom Express, RFE as it was called, was an eight day, 10 city bus caravan which travelled from Alabama to the nation's capital. It's purpose: to raise awareness about the latest attacks on the Americans with Dis-abilities Act, ADA, especially the Garrett vs. U of Alabama case which threatens the constitutionality of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, and which went before the Supreme Court on October 11th. Delegations from Colorado, Georgia, Kansas and Texas ADAPT formed the core group and were joined by supporters along the way. RFE Coordinators Babs Johnson, Tony Perrone and Greg Jones, as well as the other road warriors agreed with Jones "it was great to see people come out and be involved. The tenacity of the groups was terrific. This has been an impressive turn out for a very important cause!" Babs added "we were welcomed in each city. It was wonderful." Here are the highlights of this historic event: BIRMINGHAM, AL The origin of the Garrett case seemed the obvious launching point. So on September 22nd, with excellent help from the Birmingham CIL, the RFE began. Patricia Garrett and Milton Ash, the two folks in the Garrett case, were there and extremely appreciative of the over 150 supporters gathered in downtown Birmingham at Ingram Park, a site often used during civil rights campaigns. They had thought they were alone in their fight, they said, but now knew better! The Mayor of Birmingham, wearing a "Rolling Freedom Express - Don't Tread on the ADA" T-Shirt, also spoke to those assembled and promised his complete support for the ADA. The event, covered by National Public Radio, NPR, and lots of other media, ended with supporters riding the bus (beautifully wrapped in its Rolling Freedom Express message of support for the ADA) out of town with the procession on it's way to Atlanta. ATLANTA, GA — The King Center was the next site for the RFE, Don't Tread on the ADA rally. Kate Gainer, of the Multicultural Coalition and long time [image] [no image caption] [image] [no image caption] ADAPT member, delivered the opening and closing remarks. The President of People First of Georgia, a representative of the Multicultural Coalition on Disability & Diversity, and Daniel Levitas Executive Director of GARUS spoke powerfully about this case's importance for civil rights. As a symbolic connection with the mental health bell (created from the iron shackles in which patients at psychiatric institutions used to be chained not so long ago) a bell was rung for freedom. After the rally the RFE caravan took off, first from the King Center to the State Capitol and Attorney General's office, then on to site number three. [Subheading] NASHVILLE, TN Gray and rainy weather did not daunt the spirit of the crowds which came from across the volunteer state, from Memphis to Knoxville. At the Capitol's Bicentennial Mall, speakers from the Memphis Center for Independent Living (Deborah Cunningham), ADAPT of Memphis (Tim Wheat) and of Nashville (Paul Ford), as well as the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities called for justice and an end to the attacks on our civil rights. "This case, the Garrett case, is much more than a employment case. A negative ruling could end our equal opportunity" Wheat said. [Subheading] LOUISVILLE, KY — Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark... kept the ZFE from its fourth event. Plans to move the press conference and rally onto the bus proved unnecessary as the weather broke! Despite a desolate morning, about 100 people turned out along with local media, to cheer support. The Governor's representative Pam Wallace read a letter from the Governor supporting the ADA, and the Mayor's representative Saundra Williams delivered a proclamation from the Mayor also sup-porting the ADA. Louisville ADAPT's Laura Evanoff told the crowd "the ADA signaled equal opportunity and equal rights for all persons with disabilities. We finally felt the day had come when we could honestly say 'America for All!'.... But now a decade later our rights are under massive attack from all sectors." She added, "I am not a lawyer, but I've been told that losing the Garret case could be the domino that topples the whole ADA." Afterward local supporters joined the RFE caravan as it headed north to Ohio. [Subheading] COLUMBUS, OH The sun shone, for a change, and the beautiful day welcomed the caravan and 200 local supporters gathered at Ohio's Capitol building. Three TV stations, two local radio stations, the newspaper and both NPR and the Associated Press were there. Mary Butler and other speakers from the Center on Deafness, Mid-Ohio center for independent living (MOBIL), and the Arc, all expressed their concerns regarding the Garrett case now in the Supreme Court and the attempts to whittle away at the rights of disabled people. Roland Sykes, who kicked off the event, said "Passage of the ADA was a struggle and protecting it will be one too. Let me be more adamant it will be a war with many fronts, a war we must not lose! Many of us may have started to take these positive changes for granted. We advocated for many years and now we wanted to just get on with our lives. Well the Garrett case is a wake up call. A wake up call that says the ADA is under attack and could be weakened or lost! We must be united!" [Subheading] PITTSBURGH, PA — With a band playing and folks lunching at tables and restaurants around the bustling Market Square, plenty of members of the public heard the RFE message in downtown Pittsburgh. Mayor Tom Murphy and City Councilmember Alan Hetzberg joined the RFE crowd of 200 to declare their support for the ADA, welcoming this important event to their city. Bill Crisner, Executive Director of the Three Rivers Center for Independent Living, Kathleen Kleinmann of ADAPT and Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living Director, Mark Murphy from the Disability Law Project, Kyle Glozier of ADAPT and Lucy Spruill former ADA Coordinator for the City were among the disability advocates who spoke out against the attacks on the ADA and the importance of civil rights protections for all. Another victorious advocate who spoke at the event was Diana Lesmeski, the famous "flagpole mom" who chained herself to a flagpole to dramatize her fight for educational services for her disabled son. Several van loads of locals joined the caravan as the beautifully decorated RFE bus led the way out of town. [Subheading] HARRISBURG, PA --- At the state Capitol building droves of advocates called for an end to the attacks on the ADA. Linda Anthony of Keystone ADAPT and Executive Director of Pennsylvania Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, PCCD, rousingly opened the event. Glenn Niman of PCCD; Kevin Casey of the Protection and Advocacy agency; Statewide Independent Living Council Executive Director Sandi Webber, and Vince Portzline of ACT, all spoke eloquently about the importance of the ADA and what loosing it would mean to the disability community. Chico Ross, of PCCD and ADAPT, told of being institutionalized and fighting to get out, and how a loss in the Garrett case could mean our fight to get folks out of nursing homes and other institutions could go down the toilet. The Disability Law Project's Tom Earle addressed the legal threats and the current court battles. Doris Washington, mother of a son with autism, talked about her son's discrimination and fear of lack of protections if the ADA were to be erased. Ending with a march across the bridge which spans the Susquehanna river, the caravan then rolled on to the City of Brotherly Love. [Subheading] PHILADELPHIA, PA — where the Constitution of the United States was drafted, where states' rights versus federal protections were first debated, hosted Friday's Rally. Over 200 people gathered to hear speakers decry the states' rights threats to the ADA. With the Liberty Bell as their backdrop, disability rights advocates spoke out. A man from Speaking for Ourselves sang "We Shall Over-come." Philadelphia ADAPT's Erik von Schmetterling called for justice for all, pointing out that when rights of some are denied, the rights of all are threatened. Larry Bricks, a deaf advocate, Dorothy Ruffin of Philly ADAPT, and Connie Schuster of Artists for Recovery, talked about the importance of the ADA's guarantees in their lives. [image] [no image caption] [paragraph continues] Tom Earl of the Disabilities Law Project, and Fran Fulton of Liberty Resources (which shut down their office for several hours so that all the staff and consumers could participate in the rally) warned of the real threat this case and others in the pipe-line to the Supreme Court. Three TV stations and NPR were there. [Subheading] BALTIMORE, MD — The last day of the RFE began in Baltimore's Fort McHenry, site of a critical Civil War battle. There Bernie Fitzpatrick told the gathered crowd that recent burns to his legs and trouble finding home care to change his dressings had put him at risk of being admitted to a nursing home. He implored the crowd to "...keep fighting for me, and I'll be there to fight with you. ADA Today, ADA Tomorrow, ADA Forever." [Subheading] WASHINGTON, D.C. — After 10 cities in 6 states over 8 days, the Rolling Freedom Express rolled to a stop in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. With horns blaring, the caravan was led to the court by Bobbie Coward, Jr. and Mwenea Ajanaka who rode out front in their electric wheelchairs. As the freedom riders disem-barked from a long line of vehicles follow-ing the official Rolling Freedom bus, they looked straight ahead to see "Don't Tread on the ADA" and "Civil Rights not State's Rights" banners framed by the words carved into the stone above the Supreme Court door-" EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW." Speakers included: Justin Dart, Chair of the DC Statewide Independent Living Council Don Galloway, Jorge Pineda of Capitol Area ADAPT, Kyle Glozier of PA ADAPT; American Association of Persons with Disabilities' Director Andy Imparato, and Jacquida Patrick, the 2000 Ms. Washington, D.C. Senior Division. Coward concluded "the disability civil rights movement is my watch, and though threats may occur I am committed to our hard won rights not being lost-not on my watch!" [Subheading] THANK YOU, FROM A MOM TO ADAPT I have been a nurse for over 20 years and the adoptive mother of a beautiful boy with special needs for 12 years. When I returned from the capitol security briefing on Monday and found many of the ADAPT people cuffed to the White House I stopped long enough to determine "what's wrong." One of the gentleman explained the ADAPT group and reason for being in DC. I thanked him and crossed the street, found a tree and sat down and cried. My heart is so thankful that there is an organized group of people that fight daily for my child and our life. Many times I have wanted to curse the darkness. I didn't know there was more like me. Now, my heart if full of light. Thank you. During my meetings with senators and representatives on Wednesday and Thursday I heard little musings about the "ADAPT group." My heart swelled with pride. Although I do not see myself as being an "activist," I have learned to fight for my child. I will not succumb to his demise due to systematic inconsistencies and red tape. 12 years ago I brought him home from the hospital, 8 years moved with him across state lines in foster care, 7 years ago adopted him, and broke him out of a children's home 6 years ago. I guess that is a bit of "action." Whatever I can do to help, I will and I will contact the people here in Illinois. I could get food, wipe brows, offer a cool spray or a drink of water, instead of being cuffed to the fence. If you need that help, I will help you and enlist my friends. Thanks for your work, Chrissy L. Nelson PS: My eyes still fill with tears at the thought of you being cuffed to the fence and blocking the doors. Be well my friends, I honor you with my life. - ADAPT (1291)
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Chief of Staff to the President The White House October 2, 2000 Dear Ms. Toomer: The Clinton Administration shares your commitment to providing increased choice for home and community based services and supports. We have received your policy recommendations and we are reviewing them with Secretary Shalala. As we discussed in today's meeting, the President will convene a meeting with Administration officials, members of ADAPT, and leaders of other disability groups in October. My office will contact you to arrange the date and time of this meeting. I look forward to a discussion of these issues. Sincerely, [signed] John Podesta [typed] John Podesta - ADAPT (1287)
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Wednesday, September 27, 2000 The Columbus Dispatch [Headline] SUPREME COURT CASE [Subheading] Disabilities act in danger, advocates say By Malt Ferenchik Dispatch City Hall Reporter Advocates of the Americans with Disabilities Act from Ohio are on their way to Washington, where the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear arguments next month in a case the advocates say could weaken the act. About 100 people chanting "Don't tread on the ADA" rallied at noon yesterday outside the State, house, including a busload of 40 activists traveling to nine cities on their way to Washington Ohio is one of seven states that have filed a "states' rights" brief in support of Alabama in its case against two state employees. In the case, University of Alabama v. Garrett, Alabama is arguing that plaintiffs suing states for money under the 'disabilities act should have to sue in state courts rather than federal courts. The Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council and other groups say the case challenges the constitutionality of the disabilities act. "The Garrett case is a wake-up call that says • the ADA is under attack and could be weakened or, lost," said Kimberly Harper, 30, of Columbus. Harper, who works for Mobile Independent Living, is hearing-impaired and used sign language to deliver her comments. "What's going to come out of this," said Woody Osburn, executive director of the Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council, "is whether the states' rights supersede the ADA." He said advocates worry that if Alabama wins, a private-sector case could come along "that renders the act useless to us." But the Ohio attorney general's office says the [text cut off.] [image] [image caption] Kimberly Harper of Columbus signs her message at a Statehouse rally in support of the Americans with Disabilities Act Activists say a pending Supreme Court case could weaken the law. Neal C. Laurim/Dispatch [text resumes] "This whole case is about proper jurisdiction," said Joe Case, a spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery. "WI not about dismantling or chipping away at the ADA." Montgomery wrote Osburn that the states' brief to the Supreme Court "stresses that the states must still follow every single substantive requirement of the ADA, and it stresses that the. states can still 'be sued by citizens who feel that their state is not doing enough under the law." Osburn said any Supreme Court ruling should not affect the federal consent decree Columbus entered into last year in which it promised to build wheelchair Curb ramps. The cost to the city now stands at $27.8 million, and city attorneys are negotiating with Osburn's group and the Equal Justice Foundation to extend a Jan. 1 deadline to build 10,853 ramps. The question before the Supreme Court is, "Does the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution [text cuts off] [text resumes] under the Americans with Disabilities Act against nonconsenting, states?" Nonconsenting states are states that are not complying with the ac the 11th Amendment limits federal-court jurisdiction. The other states filing, the brief supporting Altanta are Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada and Tennessee. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Oct. 11 in the case — actually two cases combined in a lower court. Patricia Garrett sued the University of Alabama's Birmingham medical center for demoting her and then transferring her from her job as a supervisory nurse after she was treated for breast cancer. In the other case, Milton Ash, a corrections officer with asthma, sued Alabama's youth corrections agency for not enforcing no-smoking rules and not servicing state cars that emit noxious fumes. Disability advocates. will hold a March for Justice in Washington on Tuesday. The bus tour [text cuts off] - ADAPT (1270)
AARP October 4, 2000 Mr. Bob Kafka ADAPT 201 S. Cherokee Denver, CO 80223 Dear Mr. Kafka: AARP agrees to meet with representatives of ADAPT within the next thirty days as per our discussion today to discuss issues related to aging and disability. The meeting will include Horace B. Deets and other staff with appropriate legislative responsibilities. Sincerely, [signed] John Rother [typed] John Rother Director Legislation and Public Policy