DISCLOSURE 7
JULY-AUGUST 1995

[Image] Man in ADAPT T-shirt [Jim Glozier] walks in line of protesters mostly in wheelchairs. With his left hand he is driving a little boy's [Kyle Glozier] motorized wheelchair. Kyle is wearing a bandana headband and in front of him is a small briefcase sized box [a communication device] attached to his wheelchair. Jim and Kyle are looking ahead with determined expressions. Several others are visible behind them.
[Image caption] Kyle Glozier, right, and his father Jim were part of the ADAPT, Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, march through Washington, D C. as part of the group's national action In May.

[Headline] Health-care industry, Newt, Shalala forced to ADAPT or perish
The national action of the Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today can easily be summarized.

As they have for several years, the hundreds-strong national organization of the disabled went to Washington to pursue their goal of more federal support for home care and other programs instead of massive subsidy of the nursing home business.

Here's how ADAPT leaders summarized it:

Newt saw. Newt ran. Newt slept in a hotel.

Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, saw (Monday). Donna Shalala came (Wednesday). Donna Shalala was impressed. Donna Shalala wrote a letter supporting ADAPT's Community Attendant Services Act.

The Health Care Finance Administration Director saw. HCFA met with more than 30 local ADAPT groups and plans to learn more. HCFA came. HCFA is beginning to understand.

Manor Care corporation saw. Manor Care heard the issues and the demands. Manor Care locked their doors. Manor Care learned what nursing home life is like--Welcome to the nursing home, you can't get out! ADAPT's lawyer is working on the tickets given to 110 arrestees.

The 700 leaders at the ADAPT conference made progress on their goal of a new law to provide a community-based alternative-to nursing homes and institutions for people with developmental dis-abilities. Called CASA, the Community Attendant Services Act, the law they propose would redirect the huge federal subsidies to the nursing home industry toward community-based alternatives that treat people with dignity.

Newt Gingrich's landlords at 110 Maryland Ave., N.E. must be getting tired of seeing activists of every stripe trample their lawn. Just weeks after NPA visited the building on the last Sunday in April, ADAPT showed up twice in two days , barring entrance to the building for most of one day.

Although they won't meet with Newt until September, Shalala did come to the conference, where she read a statement of support for the organization's goals.

"I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for the principles of emphasizing home- and community-based services and offering consumers the maximum amount of choice, control, and flexibility in how those services are organized and delivered," Shalala told the four hundred people gathered at the conference.

Maybe the best summary came from Norbert Holmblad, who wrote in the group's magazine, Incitement: "This is the first time I completely crossed the line on something this large and important....I'm sure they won't forget or easily forget the messages that our pathetic, ragtag, but very powerful group made."

Created on

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Posted on

Friday 13 September 2019

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• Baltimore - Washington DC, Spring 1995

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