Nevada
Review-Journal/5B
Friday, September 30, 1994

[Headline] Activists to protest for the disabled

[Subheading] A group called ADAPT wants to focus attention on the issue of independent living for the disabled.

By Jan Greene
Review-Journal

A debate over how federal money is spent on the disabled could spill into Las Vegas' streets next week, when an estimated 500 disabled activists demonstrate at the national convention of a nursing home group.

The activists' group, called ADAPT, has held high-profile demonstrations n the last four cities where the National Health Care Association has met, shutting down a major thoroughfare in San Francisco in 1992 and prompting 107 arrests last year in Nashville.

Metropolitan Police Department officials are taking the group's appearance in Las Vegas seriously enough to train 120 officers in techniques to arrest people in wheelchairs.

The Police Department held a news conference Thursday to alert the public that there may be traffic problems near the Las Ve- gas Convention Center and Las Vegas Hilton next week.

Police spokesman Lt Carl Fruge said police met with ADAPT leaders Wednesday but were told few details of what the group plans.

Fruge said the activists had canceled plans for a march from the Plaza Hotel downtown to the convention center, a 21/2-mile trip. Still, Fruge said police are preparing in case ADAPT stages an impromptu parade.

As for the potential for arrests, Fruge was circumspect, saying that police would "be patient" and act only if public safety is threatened.

"We're not going to rush in there," Fruge said. "We would be very reluctant to make arrests. It's when they leave us no choice."

Fruge said protesters' previous tactics have included blocking building entrances, chaining themselves to buildings, closing streets and flinging themselves from wheelchairs to the ground.

Mike Auberger, national organizer for ADAPT, offered no specifics about tactics for this year's protest.

"It's hard to say exactly what we'll be doing," Auberger said. "We'll be focusing on the convention center and hotel."

Auberger said the group wants to focus attention on the issue of independent living for the disabled, not disrupt life for Las Vegans.

"Our intention certainly isn't to screw with the Vegas public at large," he said.

Asked about disruption caused by the closure of a major street in San Francisco for several hours during a previous protest, Auberger said it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if traffic had to be rerouted from Paradise Road for a few hours.

"From an inconvenience level it's unfortunate, but it's not nearly as bad as being forced into a nursing home for the rest of your life," he said.

ADAPT wants 25 percent of the Medicaid and Medicare budgets for nursing home care shifted to programs that would allow the disabled to move into independent-living arrangements.

The group argues that powerful lobbyists for nursing homes have stalled efforts to move funds to home nursing care and personal attendants, which Auberger said would save money.

"Morally we have an obligation to elderly adults and young disabled adults ... to provide as much freedom as we can," he said.

Dave Kyllo, a spokesman for the American Health Care Association, said his organization supports more money for independent living, but not at the
expense of nursing homes. He said already too little money is spent caring for an ever-increasing number of elderly people who need long-term care.

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Friday 13 September 2019

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