- LangueAfrikaans Argentina AzÉrbaycanca
á¥áá áá£áá Äesky Ãslenska
áá¶áá¶ááááá à¤à¥à¤à¤à¤£à¥ বাà¦à¦²à¦¾
தமிழ௠à²à²¨à³à²¨à²¡ ภาษาà¹à¸à¸¢
ä¸æ (ç¹é«) ä¸æ (é¦æ¸¯) Bahasa Indonesia
Brasil Brezhoneg CatalÃ
ç®ä½ä¸æ Dansk Deutsch
Dhivehi English English
English Español Esperanto
Estonian Finnish Français
Français Gaeilge Galego
Hrvatski Italiano Îλληνικά
íêµì´ LatvieÅ¡u Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuviu Magyar Malay
Nederlands Norwegian nynorsk Norwegian
Polski Português RomânÄ
Slovenšcina Slovensky Srpski
Svenska Türkçe Tiếng Viá»t
Ù¾Ø§Ø±Ø³Û æ¥æ¬èª ÐÑлгаÑÑки
ÐакедонÑки Ðонгол Ð ÑÑÑкий
СÑпÑки УкÑаÑнÑÑка ×¢×ר×ת
اÙعربÙØ© اÙعربÙØ©
Accueil / Albums / Houston, Spring 1996 17
Date de création / 2013 / Juillet / 16
ADAPT (1014)
[This page continues the article from Image 1017. Full text is available on 1017]
ADAPT (1016)
[This page continues the article from image 1017. Full text is available under image 1017 for easier reading.]
ADAPT (1015)
[This page continues the article from Image 1017. Full text is available on 1017]
ADAPT (1026)
Photo: A large group of ADAPT people in a very sunny plaza. Some are in wheelchairs, others standing. They wear many different colored ADAPT Free Our People t-shirts. Behind the group is a large grey cement and glass office building.
ADAPT (1030)
Houston Center for Independent Living Spectrum July/August 1996 [Headline] ADAPT Action in Houston—The Story By Lee Sanders and Judy Ziegler HCIL and ADAPT of Houston Thanks to all who participated in the National ADAPT action that lasted from May 18th to May 23rd in our fair city. That action was successful! Over 400 people from all over the country participated in workshops and several protests at key places in the area. At the end of our time together, spirits were high. A national action is a time of rejuvenation. A time to recharge weary minds and bodies. All refreshed, advocates return home to add a new spirit into local community issues. ADAPT training had five workshops. U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros came to address critical housing issues for people with disabilities. Mr. Cisneros spent most of the time fielding questions from the audience of disabled consumers and advocates. His final answer was that the government has no money for subsidy and HUD development programs. Everything had been cut to help balance the budget. No one was surprised. The next day we left the hotel by caravan to confront the regional office of the huge nursing home chain, Living Centers of America (the antithesis of Independent). We went to see Edward L. Kuntz, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Van after van brought advocates to the regional office until the police would allow no more to unload. The first advocates to arrive went inside and straight to the office. By the time the second group of vans arrived, the police had insisted that we leave the building. What a sight to see. The whole area in front of that huge building was a sea of wheelchairs, bodies, and faces of people with disabilities who cared enough to confront Living Centers of America. Five people were arrested. Dozens of vans had been used. Despite misinformation in the confusion of traffic, the third group of vans arrived. The advocates in that group continued to put the pressure on local police and fire officials by parking alongside the frontage road of Interstate 10 and in front of roadblocks set up to stop us from entering the grounds of the regional office. Vans came, stopped in front of the roadblock, and then people disembarked. The police became frustrated. We explained that we needed these vans to take overheated people away from the site. [Image] [Image caption] (left to right) Justin Dart & Henry Cisneros. Photo by H. G. Gearhart One unidentified police officer was heard to say, “This doesn’t look like a major exodus to me.” Finally, Living Centers of America invited us to stay in the building, but asked us to leave their private offices and lobby. They refused to agree with ADAPT on its demand for support of the Community Attendant Services Act (CASA) and 25% redirection of medicaid dollars from institutionalized care to community base attendant services. ADAPT surrendered the building. It was the same old story. They didn’t want to lower their profit margin by endorsing CASA. ADAPT wanted to ask for his support of CASA, and the right of a person with a disability to choose where he wanted to live in a nursing home or in his own home. We surrounded the place. Some in wheelchairs were helped up steps, where we “held” the place and waited for Mr. Polland. When Mr. Polland finally arrived, we cleared the driveway for his car. I think he was amazed to find such a large number of people with disabilities ready to do business. He finally agreed to write a letter to Republican candidate for President Bob Dole. ADAPT members helped to compose this letter and it was faxed to Mr. Dole’s office in Washington, D. C. Mr. Polland’s letter supported ADAPT’s belief that a person should should have a choice in his/her life and not be pushed by circumstance into a nursing home. Mr. Polland also extended an invitation to Bob Kakfa and Stephanie Thomas to attend the state Republican Party Convention. While this meeting was going on, others were being transported to another ADAPT action site. They were visiting the Stanford, Texas office of the Republican Party Whip, Tom DeLay. ADAPT carried the same demand: Support of the Community Attendant Services Act (CASA), and right to choose where we want to live. We also wanted a letter of support regarding these issues faxed to Congressman DeLay’s office in Washington, D.C. asking for his support. After much confrontation, the Stanford office reluctantly agreed to contact DeLong’s Washington office. The Washington office refused to cooperate. On the third day, we all rode to a pre-arranged place off Woodway and converged on the CIGNA Corporation. CIGNA is a giant profit making company specializing in managed care. We challenge CIGNA to 1. Support (in writing) ADAPT’s proposed legislation CASA. 2. Set up, within 90 days, a meeting between ADAPT representatives and the CEO and/or President of CIGNA. 3. Begin meeting with regional ADAPT groups around the country to discuss long term care issues and start to reverse the institutional bias in long term care. 4. Develop a training contract between CIGNA and ADAPT to train CIGNA case managers and other personnel on managers on home and continuing long term care needs and options for people with disabilities. CIGNA agreed to demands 2 and 3, mostly because CIGNA wanted us out of their offices, their lobby, their patio, and off their property entirely. The ADAPT Action received local television and newspaper coverage everyday. People with disabilities were not invisible, as we all too often are to those who won’t accept what we want. The ADAPT Action ended with a celebration. We came. We acted. We are strong. Nobody is going to turn us around. See you in Atlanta.
ADAPT (1017)
A real Power Move: get Yourself to an ADAPT Action [Headline] our friend Tom Cagle of Lakeport, New Hampshire tells Dear Diary about his trip to the ADAPT action in Houston Saturday 5/18/96 Dear Diary, it’s plane-to-Houston day. When I bought my plane ticket, I told the nice travel agent I needed 90+ minutes between planes to make a connection. I can walk a bit. But we all did a bit each day, too, if you get my meaning. So of course the first flight had closed it’s doors by the time I was finally wheeled to my plane. Lucky for me m the skycap who had hauled my butt around made it out to be the airline’s fault. This got me a first class ride to Houston. I got at least one semi-human-sized meal thrown in. I figured this is a good beginning. Houston, Hobby airport, 7 hours later—I am ready to curl up in a fetal ball and nap when I am thrown out into the heat. Whatever energy I had just pisses away. I have almost enough to sense to find a bus to the hotel. Friends are bringing my scooter by trailer, and I won’t have it until tomorrow morning at the earliest. I make it (as in walking , as in dying) to my room and back to see the start of the action. Looking for familiar faces, but don’t see y. Restaurant meal, then plushy room with a kitchenette. The camp food I brought has some potential. [Image] [Image caption] no caption Sunday 5/19 You are going to hear me whine about the heat. I will try to keep it to this one digression. Walking out into the air today was like being mugged. Every single overworked muscle cramped. It wasn’t until I tried to pee in the evening that my lack of need for a pee demonstrates how much of me has clamped down in the heat. Thankgod my scooter arrived. I may be able to fake some kind of normalcy. Justin Dart has Henry Cisneros, duke of HUD, in toe. Most of the meeting with Cisneros is civil but skeptical. We put out that closure of the set-asides (Section 8) means that wheelchair-accessible housing will not be built. What there is of it is routinely given to ABs. [Headline] The original crip power holiday…backing the PLODs into corners [Subheading] PLODs-People living off the disabled Plus, the vast preponderance of new construction is going into nursing homes and not into living spaces for disabled people. I bring up the HUD thing: that each HUD fiefdom is entitled to dictate when we must eat, who we may talk to, etc. I am not the only person to use the word ‘peonage.’ Cisneros should know the meaning of that word. The crowd is civil, as I said, but clearly not happy. I think he gets it. Time will tell. Monday 5/20 The size of our group (400 rolling, 150 AB and walking disabled) makes splitting into two groups prudent. The first target is AHC (American Health Care Centers, Inc.), the headquarters and the chairman’s house. ADAPT troops surround both. Our group at the headquarters is initially ignored, as most gimps usually are. Then the horror sets in when we are neither meek nor quiet as good cripples should be. Mr. Director agrees to write a letter to AHCA (the nursing home lobby group) with our demands. One of those demands is to present all the demands to AHCA’s next annual convention. For a director of a billion dollar operation, whose net for Texas alone was $20 million last year, this putz wasn’t a quick study. Before he spoke with us, he needed Houston’s Police Department to explain to him that they couldn’t arrest us all in anything less than three days. The best argument he gave us was the old saw, “You are trying to take from Peter to pay Paul.” [Demanding that 1/4 of the Medicaid nursing home budget be re-directed to home- and community-based service.] I hope the putz has his resume up to date. Five ABs arrested as ringleaders. (Gimps couldn’t have done this by themselves, you know). Tuesday, 5/21 Political target day: my group went to visit Tom DeLay-Majority Whip and #3 man in Congress. DeLay was at first unwilling to talk. His office, however, is in a little town within Houston’s borders. When the chief of police of this hamlet saw how many of us he’d have to contend with, he did most of our negotiating for us. [image with no caption] The chief did this partly so he wouldn’t break his annual budget arresting us. But he also learned that DeLay’s constituents had been asking for the budget changes we want for years. DeLay had delayed them. Once the Chief found out that we would settle for a letter to Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole in support of CASA, he put it to the Congressman, “Either get behind what these people want, or read my news release on the subject.” DeLay’s office air conditioning was turned off (not by us) for the 7 1/2 dreadful hours it took to twist a meaningful letter out of him. We stayed until we got what we came for. An aside: the person most hysterical about our occupation of the building? The building manager. Her demand was shrill and repetitive: get Those People out of my building. I got in my only zinger. "If you don't like the class of visitors to your building, Lady, get better tenants." [Subheading] Houston, Day 3 Wednesday, 5/22 Cigna Insurance [In this business of caring, according to their commercials] is downtown in a huge block-square-building on the twelfth and thirteenth floor of this twenty-floor behemoth. Both ADAPT groups joined up to move on Cigna. Starting our procession a block away, going single file, it took an hour for all of us to arrive. Then we streamed into the building quick. Building security of course ignored us until we'd blocked two entrances. We occupied all floors and all elevators. Business ground to a hault. Office workers were entertained by us singing ad-libbed verses like, "Nursing homes ain't what you think, they really stink...deep in the heart of Texas." [Subheading] Adios, Houston [Image, no caption] The Cigna chief started to get it when we asked him if his health insurance covered attendant services. He replied that his secretary is a paraplegic. When we asked if she had attendant services through Cigna, he said, "No, her family looks after her." We booed loudly. He promptly agreed to write a letter of support. Wednesday evening AB's never see it and probably couldn't believe it if they did: the meeting-greeting-dating-mating social that breaks out at the end of ADAPT adventures. There is nothing more likely to stimulate folks' juices than facing their fears and surviving them. I will say, Dear Diary, that this old wreck will sleep better at night knowing that somebody in this world thought I was manly enough to flirt with and chat with for a bit. God knows I carry too much baggage on this topic. No, I didn't follow my heart or loins. I ran like a greased pig. And she was a beauty, too. I'll keep on fighting. I'll keep on setting myself up to get this close to bliss. I'll keep swinging at our world 'til it's okay for anybody to meet and greet, date and mate. And someday, I will do the mating part, too. It's not like I have anything more important to do this lifetime. Thursday, 5/23 Up at 04:30, not home until 19:30. Hunover from two beers the night before, and just plain pounded flat. Home is cooler, anyway. Was it worthy all I could save for half a year? Oh yah. Did we do any good? Another secure yes. Can ADAPT action change things to the point where people with disabilities aren't routinely killed by institutions or placed by families? I dunno. But like I said, what else have I got to do this lifetime?
ADAPT (1028)
Photo of sign on the wall of the hotel we stayed in. HOLIDAY INN: HOUSTON MEDICAL CENTER Daily Function Wednesday - May 22, 1996 NATIONAL DISABILITY RIGHTS CENTER Ballroom 7 am - 10 pm 1996 OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY San Marcos until - 9 am 1996 OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY Austin 4:30 am - 6 am 9 am - 10 am 1996 OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY El Paso until - 9 am 1996 OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY San Antonio until - 9 am 1996 OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY Room 920, 922 & 924 8 am - 24h [National Disability Rights Center was another name for ADAPT]
ADAPT (1009)
This is part 2 of a story in ADAPT 1013, 1012, 1011, 1010 and 1009. The entire text appears in ADAPT 1013 for easier reading. Photo by Cante Tinza, Inc: Between two gleaming metal walls of elevators ADAPT protesters fill all the available space. Facing in all directions waiting for elevators, the group is packed together. Caption reads: ADAPT filled the lobby and several floors of Cigna. We don't want managed care to manage us out of the picture.
ADAPT (1029)
[This is a continuation of the article on ADAPT 1030 and the entire text is included there for easier reading.]
ADAPT (1027)
A graphic of several sets of handcuffs piled on top of each other.
ADAPT (1019)
Houston Chronicle Tuesday May 21, 1996 photo by: Carlos Antonio Rios / Chronicle: An African American woman with a stern face and an ADAPT T-shirt sits in a manual wheelchair, several other people in wheelchairs and walking are behind her. Over her head she holds poster that reads "I'd rather go to Jail than die in a nursing home!!" The word JAIL has bars drawn over it. [Headline] Building takeover Barbara Hines, 48, who lived in a nursing home for 11 years, was one of about 400 disabled people who took over the Katy Freeway offices of Living Centers of America in a protest Monday morning. The protesters want more federal funds shifted into long-term care at home instead of nursing homes. Five protesters were arrested: Page 21A
ADAPT (1012)
This is part 2 of a story in ADAPT 1013, 1012, 1011, 1010 and 1009. The entire text appears in ADAPT 1013 for easier reading. The photo here: Photo by Cante Tinza Inc.: A tight shot of a crowd of ADAPT protesters in front of Living Centers of America glass building. Folks look hit and one woman is holding a poster over her head that reads: I'd rather go to jail than die in a nursing home!! Caption reads: Barbara Hines, AJ and tons of others gave Living Centers of America a does of their own medicine when their office was turned into a nursing home for the day.
ADAPT (1011)
This is part of a story in ADAPT 1013, 1012, 1011, 1010 and 1009. The entire text appears in ADAPT 1013 for easier reading. Photo by Cante Tinza, Inc.: Protesters are standing and sitting jammed in by the front of a building. Their mouths are open yelling, one person has a bullhorn and several have their arms raised in the air. Caption reads: Outside the Republican Headquarters ADAPT cheered upon hearing the party chairman had arrived and agreed to our demands.
ADAPT (1010)
This is part of a story in ADAPT 1013, 1012, 1011, 1010 and 1009. The entire text appears in ADAPT 1013 for easier reading. Photo by Carolyn Long: Three women in straw cowboy hats stand in a line arms around each other grinning. Caption reads: Free at last, Donna Redfern, Kathleen Sacco and Marita Heyden finally came out of jail. Bill Henning and Mike Butte were released earlier that day.
ADAPT (1031)
Houston Chronicle, Wednesday. May 22. 1996 [p. 22A] [Headline] Disabled protesters take over headquarters of county GOP By JENNIFER C. WANG Houston Chronicle Groups of protesters, most of them in wheelchairs, barricaded two local political offices Tuesday to demand changes in the way disabled people receive care in America. About 100 supporters of the advocacy group American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today took the Harris County Republican Party and denied party Garry Polland access to the building until he agreed to help their cause. A second group of about 150 ADAPT supporters blockaded and occupied U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay’s office in Sugar Land, until DeLay agreed to meet with them. ADAPT is a nonprofit group of activists who want federal funding for disabled and elderly care to be diverted from nursing homes to programs that provide in-home care or community-based care. ADAPT staged a similar demonstration Monday at Living Centers of America, one of the nation's largest operators of nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other facilities. “Politicians in Houston are very important within our government. So, we want to make our case heard,” said Kathleen Kleinmann, an activist who traveled from Washington, Pa, to protest in front of the Republican Party Headquarters. "We are committed to getting attendant care as a national right. It is basically the same type of services as nursing homes - aides would help you get out of bed in the morning, help you get your food... but it keeps you in your own home and it gives you freedom," Kleinmann explained. At the Monday protest at the Living Centers of America, five people were arrested and spent the night in jail. Tuesday's protesters narrowly escaped arrest by Stafford police when DeLay, who is in Washington DC, agreed to meet with them next month. Both groups of protesters declared their demonstrations a success. Polland agreed to write presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and DeLay, urging them to meet with ADAPT at the party's state convention in August. Polland said he disagreed with ADAPT’s proposal to mandate a redistribution of funds, but that the group's demands are in line with Republican initiatives promoting choice, empowerment and health care vouchers. “This is really a Republican agenda," Polland said. “The system mandates certain types of treatment. That‘s their complaint." Mike Oxford, an ADAPT activist from Kansas said because meetings in the past with Dole and Gingrich have yielded no action, the group is cautious about promises for action from Polland and DeLay. “The problem with vouchers is it's like giving somebody a dollar and saying, ‘Here, go to Red Lobster.’ You‘ve got choices, but you've got to have resources to back that choice up, otherwise, it's meaningless," Oxford said. ADAPT, which stages two national protests each year, said it has more activities planned for Houston throughout the week but declined to reveal where or when. “We're going to dog this issue until we get it," Kleinmann said. “We're not going to give up. Never." PHOTO by John Everett / Chronicle Group of at least eight ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs and standing fill a small office with a door and reception desk. They are talking with a man in a white shirt and tie. One protester holds a sign that reads "Too Sexy for your Nursing Homes!" Caption reads: Harris County GOP chairman Gary Polland, standing, talks with members of an advocacy group for disabled rights Tuesday during the group's protest over the way disabled people receive care.