Chicago Sun Times
Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Featured Letter

[image]
[image caption] Participants in the "Free Our People March" travel last week along Route 40 in Maryland, about the halfway point between the start in Philadelphia and its destination in Washington. Photo courtesy of Tom Olin

[Headline] Disabled get on the move for freedom

We just celebrated the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Forty years later, people with disabilities still have a dream of escaping nursing homes institutions and going back to the community.

About 150 disabled activists-- many in wheelchairs--convened at 4 to begin a 150 mile march on Philadelphia to Washington. [s] two-week "Free Our People March" will end at Washington [k] in our nation's capital today to [m] the need for more home- and community-based attendant services, and to call attention to the institutional bias that lingers in this country. More than 80 percent of Medicaid long-term care dollars are spent keeping people institutionalized, while less than 20 percent as- people who want to live in their homes and apartments, where they are much happier.

[pulled quote] We have a dream to live independently

[text resumes] There's federal legislation that would address this issue: the Medicaid Community Attendants Service and Supports Act. Introduced by Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), H.R. 2032 would assist people with disabilities--regardless of age--in nursing homes back into the community, using the same Medicaid funding that's used to keep them institutionalized. Statistics show that people are much happier and productive living in their own homes instead of languishing in nursing homes.

The major obstacles of MiCASS's passage in Congress are the nursing home lobbyists in Illinois and around the country. Profit is their bottom line, and they have deep pockets to buy off legislators. They continue to be a threat to the civil rights of people with disabilities. They disregard the quality of life for people stuck in their institutions; they see the almighty dollar sign and don't hear the cries of the people who want out.

About 5,000 people with disablities will descend on Washington Park to rally for justice and the right to live in the mainstream community. We have a dream to live independently, free from segregation, as Dr. King could have related to. It's time to have our dream realized.

Larry Biondi,
independant living advocate,
Progress Center for Independent Living, Forest Park

Khởi tạo vào

Thứ Năm 18 Tháng Bảy 2013

Gởi vào

Thứ Sáu 27 Tháng Mười Một 2020

Đề mục

• Free Our People March, 144 miles Philadelphia to DC, September 2003

Thăm quan

147

Bảng xếp hạng

không có đánh giá

Đánh giá hình này

Dữ liệu EXIF

Make

Canon

Model

Canon EOS 40D

DateTimeOriginal

2013:07:18 15:36:50

ApertureFNumber

f/11.0