ADAPT
FREE OUR PEOPLE

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:
The long term care policies of this country have unnecessarily segregated people with disabilities, regardless of their age or disability, from the rest of the community by placing us in nursing homes or other institutions. This segregation has a long history, beginning in the mid 1800's when asylums for those with mental and cognitive disabilities began to spring up all over the country. In general, the 19th century was the period when schools and institutions for persons with physical disabilities, deafness, blindness, mental illness and intellectual disabilities took root in the United States as well as the rest of the world. The 20th century continued the repression, discrimination and segregation of people with disabilities with both forced institutionalization and also forced sterilization.

Disabled people have survived through these indignities by relying on our tenacity and resourcefulness and through support from family and friends. In more recent times we have won a community support services network, but it has been underdeveloped and under funded while institutional models continue to be funded at 2-4 times the cost.

In fiscal year 1997, $108.8 billion was allocated for long-term care services and rehabilitation, housing and veterans activities by government in the United States. Over 50% of these funds went to keeping hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities in segregated settings such as nursing homes, sheltered workshops and mental institutions (Braddock, 2000).

Medicaid, the largest funding source for long term care, has had an institutional bias since its beginning in1965. In 2001 $75.3 billion was spent on long term care services. 71% of these funds ($53.1 billion) were spent for nursing home or other institutional services. Only $22.3 billion (29%) were spent for all community long term care services. (MEDSTAT)

While showing the bias in funding, these statistics do nothing to reveal the true devastation that the long term care policies of this country have inflicted on people with disabilities regardless of their age. Millions of people have had a portion of their lives stolen from them because of these long term care policies.

Your administration has begun to address some of the inequities that exist in the long term care system through your Olmstead Executive Order and some of the proposals in the New Freedom Initiatives. These proposals, however, do not address the effects these policies have had years of their lives stolen by being warehoused in nursing homes and other institutions. Nor do they go far enough to prevent present and future generations from similar treatment.

Many of these individuals will be in Washington, DC from May 10th through 15th and would appreciate it if you could do the following during this week:

1. Issue a written public statement, signed by you, apologizing to the people who have lost a portion of their lives because of the long term care policies of the United States; and

2. Meet with 50 representatives of those individuals who have been in nursing homes and other institutions to discuss how the New Freedom Initiatives will assure that no person is forced into a nursing home or other institution because of the lack of community options; and

3. Support for MiCASSA legislation soon to be introduced;

4. Direct HHS to issue a policy directive that there is currently no federal barrier preventing states from transferring the money serving a person in a nursing home or other institution to serve that person in a home and community setting.

This apology would send a powerful message that the long term care policies of the previous eras are a thing of the past, that the US is pursuing a Community First agenda and that the our government respects the people whose lives have been negatively effected by the long care policies of our country.

Would appreciate your response by May 9th.

For an Institution Free America:

The ADAPT Community
1339 Lamar Sq Dr. Suite 101
Austin, Texas 78704
512/431-4085

Created on

Thursday 18 July 2013

Posted on

Sunday 22 November 2020

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