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Heim / Albúm / Chicago, Fall 2007 25
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2 CHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION 2 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 [image] [image caption] Disabled demonstrators head north on State Street in the River North area Monday, making their way toward the American Association's headquarters. Tribune photo by Michael Tercha [Headline] Disabled protesters blockade AMA
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[Headline] Seeking doctors' support for housing options other than nursing homes for long-term care, activists close down headquarters' entrances By Mary Owen Tribune staff reporter Larry Lawson says he lost his independence after a stroke and brain aneurysm four years ago. Paralyzed on his left side, the former Cook County employee now must use a wheelchair. His doctor gave him only one choice for long-term living: a nursing home on Chicago's South Side. "I've been a refugee in the nursing-home system," said Lawson, 57. "I am able enough to live in my apartment with the help of social services. I would like to have my own place." Lawson was one of 200 disabled protesters who blocked the entrances to the American Medical Association's headquarters in the River North area Monday for more than three hours in a demonstration over housing options for people with disabilities. The protesters from the advocacy group ADAPT want the AMA, the nation's leading physicians group, to endorse federal legislation that aims to pro-vide more access to community-based services. Under the cur-rent system, which advocates have criticized for more than a decade, seniors and disabled patients are often forced to live in nursing homes to get the services they need, organizers say. "There's a myth that nursing homes are a necessary and important option. But we disagree with that," said Rene David Luna, a wheelchair user who works for Access Living, a Chicago advocacy group for people with disabilities. "It shouldn't be an option at all." Protesters made their way from the Crowne Plaza, 733 W. Madison St., west of the Loop, to the AMA building at Grand Avenue and State Street. Police blocked traffic as protesters traveled in a single-file line along the sides of Madison, La-Salle, Lake and State Streets. When the demonstrators arrived at the AMA building, they blocked four entrances and a lower-level parking garage. About 1:30 p.m., police issued 42 tickets and removed protesters from the building's north entrance to allow for office employees to leave. About 2 p.m., the group ended its blockade of the other three entrances and the garage entrance. The AMA has more than 700 employees on 14 floors in the building. The other half of the building is occupied by other tenants, who also were left standing in the lobby as building officials locked the doors to the entrances. One woman in-side the building was taken away by paramedics when she became "hysterical" at the thought of being trapped inside the building, an AMA official said. Outside, protesters held signs that said "AMA don't lock us away" and "Now you know what it's like to be stuck in a nursing home." Protesters said doctors often refer disabled people to the nursing-home system without exploring possibilities such as home-care services that would allow them to live more independently. They want AMA officials to endorse the Community Choice Act, a bill introduced in Congress earlier this year that would provide more options, including allowing a patient to use Medicaid dollars to live in an apartment rather than a nursing home. "Literally, [doctors] force people into nursing homes with a swipe of a pen," said Randy Alexander, 37, a wheelchair user from Memphis. "It's about dignity. People have a right to decide where they want to live." Organizers acknowledge that doctors are not the sole deci-sion-makers when determining long-term care for patients, but they do provide guidance and outline patients' options. And too often nursing homes are portrayed as the only viable option, they said. "What we're trying to change is the long-term health-care system," said Gary Arnold of Access Living. "The AMA has a lot of influence over that. We feel like their word would carry a lot of clout." In an Aug. 30 letter to ADAPT, AMA Executive Director Michael Mayes told the group that the association "supports home and community-based care, when medically appropriate, as an alternative to institutional care." An AMA official said the organization met with ADAPT this summer. The meeting led to the association's council on legislation to review the proposed act. A council recommendation is expected later this month. At that point, the AMA's board of trustees could decide whether the association will endorse the legislation or put it to a vote by the membership. The protest was part of a biannual national meeting of people with disabilities from across the country. ADAPT held a forum on affordable and accessible housing Sunday, and its planning two more protests this week. The group would not dis-close what or where the other demonstrations would be. mowen@tribune.corn
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[Headline] ADAPT Activists Arrested in Chicago American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) activists were arrested outside the American Medical Association (AMA) headquarters in Chicago following protests and presentation of a list of demands involving Medicaid reform and support of the Community Choice Act (S.799, H.R. 1621). An estimated 500 disability activists converged in front of the AMA building, ready to present a list of demands for the organization, including to endorse the Community Choice Act and actively promote its passage; to assure that people with disabilities and senior citizens get real choice in long term care services and supports and are able to live in the most integrated setting; and to provide medical providers with continuing medical education programs about community-based alternatives to institutionalization. Illinois is considered by ADAPT to be the poster child for this larger national problem. The crisis is directly caused by a record of bad decisions made by Illinois state officials, and the institutional bias built into the way the nation's long term care system is funded. Gov. Blagojevich has plans to reopen a state institution for per-sons with developmental disabilities. He has not shown support for Money Follows the Person legislation. Currently, Illinois ranks 41st in the nation for providing the community-based services that will allow disabled and older citizens to stay in their own homes. "It turns my stomach to know that my state, historically a home of civil rights in America for people of color, is the same state that is one of the worst civil rights performers in regard to people with disabilities," said Chicago native Larry Biondi, an organizer with Chicago ADAPT. "I'm ashamed of Illinois' record of institutionalizing people with dis-abilities. Right now there almost 20,000 people who have said they want to get out of Illinois' nursing homes- nursing homes they never wanted to go into in the first place. But they were forced to go there by the institutional bias in Medicaid funding." While in Chicago, ADAPT also held a national housing forum that was attended by HUD Fair Housing Assistant Secretary Kim Kendrick, and state and local officials. At the forum, ADAPT revealed its national housing agenda, and distributed information on pending visitability legislation, and the redirection of HUD's 811 Supportive Housing Continued on page 21
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ADAPT Continued from page 3 program funds to projects that are integrated. Currently, the 811 program primarily funds segregated housing situations for people with disabilities. Two hours of testimony about the lack of affordable, accessible integrated housing articulated by disability rights activists from across the nation followed. But HUD officials remarks reportedly in-cited the crowd to anger. "We just heard the same old rhetoric, lots of promises, but no action," said Cassie James, ADAPT Organizer from Philadelphia who moderated the Housing Forum. In a May meeting in Washington, D.C., ADAPT con-fronted Secretary Jackson about the 58 percent loss in housing vouchers that the dis-ability community suffered due to a combination of federal budget cuts, and misappropriation of the vouchers by local entities that administer the voucher program. Jackson promised to report to ADAPT before the action in Chicago how many of those housing vouchers for people with dis-abilities he has recovered. Jackson, who had also promised in May to meet with ADAPT three times a year, failed to show in Chicago, sending Kim Kendrick, Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and Paula Blunt, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing in his place. Neither Kendrick nor Blunt provided the numbers promised by their boss in May. "As we have begun to make progress in getting people out of institutions, and prevent-ing people from being forced into institutions, the lack of affordable, accessible, integrated housing in typical neighborhoods has become glaringly apparent," said Beto Berrera, a member of Chicago ADAPT and a Chicago housing expert.
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[Headline] ADAPT Locks Horns With Union [Subheading] 120 Arrested in Chicago When ADAPT Refused to Sign Statement Supporting Institutions By ADAPT Staff [image] [image caption] Roxan Perez, an ADAPT organizer from Wisconsin, being arrested last month in Chicago while protesting AFSCME's stand in support of institutions. Photo by Tim Wheat of ADAPT Chicago-Last month, ADAPT confronted Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on their support of reopening the state's Lincoln Developmental Center institution, and AFSCME's refusal to endorse any legislation supporting home and community-based services for people with disabilities. AFSCME responded by asking ADAPT to sign a statement supporting institutions authored by AFSCME director Henry Bayer, and when that didn't happen, Bayer had over 120 people arrested for blocking the doors, elevators and parking lot of the AFSCME building. "They typed up a statement supporting institutions and asking for money, and then couldn't understand why we didn't want to sign it," said Mike Oxford, Kansas ADAPT organizer. "It's impossible to negotiate human and civil rights issues with people whose only concern is their own pockets...no matter how many people are warehoused and deprived of their liberty as a result." ADAPT has met repeatedly with AFSCME leadership, receiving a commitment from Gerald McEntee, the union's president, to sign on to legislation that supports home and community-based services and supports for people with disabilities and the elderly. That promise was never kept, and was one of the reasons ADAPT visited the Council 31 offices. "For an organization that has its roots in the civil rights movement, their treatment of people with disabilities is even more despicable, said Randy Alexander, Memphis ADAPT Organizer. "The union and its members make a lot of money by advocating to keep people with disabilities and older folks stuck in nursing homes and other institutions instead of being able to live in their own homes like other people. It's unconscionable that the union fights for workers' rights at the expense of our rights. In ADAPT, we know that you can't have one without the other." The arrests at AFSCME concluded a week of ADAPT action in Chicago. The week began with a national forum on affordable, accessible, integrated housing, attended by federal officials who heard testimony from people with disabilities about the lack of adequate housing and the discrimination they have experienced when trying to secure a place to live. The forum was followed by three days of action on the streets that included gaining a commitment from Governor Blagojevich for permanent closure of the Lincoln Developmental Center, and assuring ADAPT a seat at the table as Illinois enacts its Money Follows the Person demonstration. The next ADAPT action will be in Washington, D.C. April 26-May 2, 2008, when ADAPT celebrates its 25th anniversary. This article is a press release issued by ADAPT, and is repainted here with permission.
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[Headline] WANTED ALPHONSO JACKSON SECRETARY OF HUD FOR CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES [ADAPT LOGO]
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[Headline] Disabled protesters strike again By Jim Ritter Health Reporter jritter@suntimes.com For the third day in a row, disabled activists blockaded a downtown office building. On Wednesday, protesters in wheelchairs blocked elevators and doors at 29 N. Wacker, where Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is located. Chicago Police issued 110 citations for failure to disperse, based on complaints from building managers, said Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond. ADAPT, which organized the protest, wants AFSCME to support a federal bill that would enable more disabled people to live in their own homes rather than in institutions. ADAPT had organized similar protests at the Thompson Center on Tuesday and American Medical Association building on Monday.
ADAPT (1683)
[Headline] Disability rights activists storm Chicago [Subheading] ADAPT takes direct action to get its point across BY BETH MASSEY AND BILL MASSEY From Sept. 8 to 13, Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit the nation's largest direct-action disability rights organization took action in Chicago. More than 500 ADAPT activists came from around the country for a series of actions that shed light on Illinois' poor disability rights record. They demanded that the state government and the American Medical Association back several key pieces of legislation that would increase access rights for people with disabilities. Currently, Illinois ranks 41st in the nation for providing the community-based services that allow the elderly and people with disabilities to stay in their own homes. Illinois' long record of being in the bottom 10 states puts it among the worst when it comes to human rights in general and disability rights in particular. This is a national problem, however. It is not confined only to the state of Illinois. ADAPT is a national grassroots dis-ability rights group that works for equality and positive change in policy and programs to include people with disabilities in the United States. The main goal of ADAPT is to end the bias in Medicaid that forces people with disabilities from their home and families into expensive institutions and nursing homes. To further this goal, ADAPT pro-poses legislation, advises decision-makers and suggests constructive solutions on the local, state and national levels. In addition ADAPT uses actions inspired by the civil rights struggles of the past to fight for their demands. ADAPT has been successful in helping thousands of people with disabilities live in their own homes with their own families instead being locked away in institutions. In the city of Chicago, ADAPT protested for the passage of the Community Choice Act and to raise awareness about the institutions to which people with disabilities are unfairly confined. On Sept. 10, ADAPT shut down the massive complex of the American Medical Association for over three hours until the police arrested 55 activists. ADAPT demanded that the AMA endorse the Community Choice Act, divest from financial interests in nursing facilities, develop an ethics policy requiring doctors to disclose if they [image] [image caption] Disability rights activists in the organization ADAPT protest in the streets of Chicago. They targeted Illinois because of its poor record in providing for the elderly and disabled. [text resumes] are financially invested in long-term care institutions and work with ADAPT to get real options for people facing institutionalization. While the police and the mayor's office worked to negotiate with the AMA, the ADAPT activists chanted and sang to keep up their energy. Many ADAPT members wrote colorful messages to the AMA in chalk on the sidewalk and in temporary paint on glass windows. The group unfurled two large banners. One 50 foot banner read "Stop funding institutions." On Sept. 11, ADAPT took its protest to the James R. Thompson Center (State of Illinois Building) and Gov. Blagojevich's office. A long line of ADAPT activists snaked through downtown Chicago. ADAPT reached the state office complex and hundreds of activists rushed across the plaza and flooded the Thompson Center's atrium. After a long difficult struggle to shut down business at the Center, ADAPT activists were successful in meeting with officials and winning concessions. Gov. Blagojevich's office agreed to close down the Lincoln Developmental Center, which was initially closed in 2002 amid allegations of abuse and neglect of its disabled residents. The governor's office also agreed to have ADAPT at the table for the Illinois Money Follows the Person Project and to meet with ADAPT before Oct. 17. On Sept. 12, ADAPT took their struggle to the offices of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. AFSCME has sided with nursing home owners who have a vested interest in keeping people with disabilities con-fined to institutional living. ADAPT targeted AFSCME because it feels the union has a shortsighted perspective. AFSCME members work in these institutions and the union leadership has therefore refused to support any legislation providing community and home-based services. The AFSCME leadership also supported the reopening of the Lincoln Development Center. The union clearly has a policy of sup-porting the institutions where their members work. This is prioritized over the principle of unity with the oppressed, and defending the human dignity of people with disabilities. ADAPT hoped to convince the union to take a better position. One hundred twenty-one ADAPT activists were arrested on Sept. 12 at the offices of AFSCME. Even though they did not succeed in having the union endorse the Community Choice Act, many in the building expressed support for the struggle of ADAPT. ADAPT's bold street actions show with absolute clarity that an oppressed community—regardless of the depths of their oppression and the obstacles in their way—will always find a way to fight back. For more information: ADAPT.org.