[Headline] ADAPT Action, Nashville Tennessee

[Subheading] Sunday, March 19, 2006.
[Subheading] ADAPT's Day of Testimony

NASHVILLE -- Testimony of rape, abuse, neglect and lonely death given by survivors of institutionalization filled the Volunteer Ballroom of the Hilton in downtown Nashville. ADAPT, the nation's largest grassroots direct-action organization of people with disabilities, coordinated witnesses for the first ever National Day of Testimony to document the human impact of the institutional bias in the United States. The Volunteer Ballroom was packed with people from across the nation who had come to bear witness. LaTonya Reeves moved away from her family in Memphis to avoid returning

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[image caption] Rally at Legislative Plaza. Photo by Tim Wheat

[text continues] to a nursing home. Tennessee does not offer alternatives to expensive and undesirable institutions forcing citizens like LaTonya to leave home for a facility.

"One day I had an accident and the nurse made me wash my face in it," Ms. Reeves said about the nursing home where she once lived. "She filled the bathtub with
cold water and made me stay there for two hours. She said: If you don't stop screaming I'll come and drown you.'"

The sixty witnesses were individuals that had been placed in an institution because of a disability and had successfully moved out of the facility into their own home. The national panel was made up of private and government organizations that deal with disability policy: Andrew J. Imparato from the Ticket to Work advisory council, Jim Ward the leader of ADAWatch, John Lancaster the Executive Director of National Council on Independent Living, Gwen Gillenwater of American Association of People with Disabilities and the Medicaid Commission, Dr. Margaret Giannini, Director of the Health and Human Service Office on Disability, and Carol Novak of the National Council on Disability.

"These nightmares are only the tip of the iceberg, they are the voice for so many voices that cannot be heard," said Stephanie Thomas of ADAPT. "The fact of the matter is for that system what people with disabilities really are is the crop. We are the crop. We are there to fill beds, so they are warm beds, so they get paid. That is what it is about, and that is what it's got to stop being about. It's got to be about people's lives, and that is the voice we have got to give the message this week. That is the voice we have to bring out there. Yeah it is a nightmare, but I will tell you something else that you hear when you listen to those stories: The people that told them are damn strong people."

The testimony is intended to put a human face on immoral policy of requiring expensive institutional services while making home and community based services optional. Because of this built-in bias in Medicaid policy, the lion's share of pub-lic funding goes to the nursing home

[boxed text] "These nightmares are only the tip of the iceberg . ."

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[image caption] Danny Saenz of Austin TX, testifies. Photo by Tim Wheat

[text resumes] industry and state institutions. States like Tennessee are tempted to cut home and community-based services to save on the federal Medicaid spending, even though those are the more desirable and cost-effective programs.

The fractured federal policy makes it possible for people like LaTonya to leave a nursing home in Tennessee to live and work in another US state where she can receive home and community-based services. A banner across the back of the auditorium where the testimony was given showed the Colorado and Tennessee state flags on either end of the sign. Between the flags were photos of about a dozen people who had followed the trail LaTonya blazed. The caption: "The Underground Rail Road," comparing escaping institutions to crossing state lines to flee slavery.

The national panelists expressed their shock.

Mr. Jim Ward noted that Robert Kennedy had gone to see the inhuman conditions at Willowbrook forty years ago on this day. Willowbrook later became the impetus for many reforms laws of abusive and neglectful institutions.

Andy Imparteo noted his surprise that about four-out-of-five witnesses spoke of forced medication as an unnoticed form of abuse. "Today I heard your message, a strong message," he said, "that there are ongoing human rights violations inside institutions."

"I am most impressed by the abuse and neglect," said Dr. Margaret Giannini, "I believe you will help to change the system and end this institutional bias."

[Subheading] Monday, March 20, 2006. Just Like a Nursing Home, You Can't Get Out

At 11:00 ADAPT Activists charged out into the rain wearing ponchos, raincoats and trash bags, sometimes all three. Duct tape held the plastic in place most often to protect legs from the cold windy rain and also to cover exposed powerchair controls. It took the group about forty-five minutes to move from the Hilton Hotel to the corner of Union and 6th Street chanting along the way.

"It was wild on the march up to the Capitol," said Bruce Darling of Rochester, "some people along the sidewalk joined in with ADAPT on the chant 'up with attendant care,' they were really getting into it and yelling back: 'down with the nursing homes.'"

At 12:30 ADAPT gathered on Legislative Plaza for a rally. The rain had slacked, but the open plaza was exposed to a bitter wind and the group huddled together. The long line of activists moving on the streets had transformed into a massive clump of people at the plaza steps. The Greek columns at the peak of the Legislative Plaza steps were decorated with ADAPT banners and a sound system helped rally speakers contend with the blustery weather. Bob Kafka started the chant: "Governor Bredesen shame on you."

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[image caption] Activists block Dedrick Street. Photo by Tim Wheat

Deborah Cunningham, the Executive Director of the Memphis Center for Independent Living welcomed everyone to Nashville and told of the serious need for reform in Tennessee. She set the stage for the day's action by calling for support for the Community Choices Act of 2006, which would not cost taxpayers anything, but would give Tennesseans a choice in long term care services and not be forced into a nursing home.

"We must have choices," she said. "We are serious, we will be back and we won't stop."

Following the rally in the cold and rainy wind at Legislative Plaza, ADAPT divided up into smaller groups and suddenly moved into the middle of several major downtown streets. Metro Police and Tennessee State Troopers rerouted traffic away from the blocked intersections making a large impassable area around the Capitol.

"The cops did not know what was coming at them," said Chris Hildebrandt of Rochester, "before they knew, everyone was in place. It became pretty intense at some of the parking places, but our people were great, they held their ground and showed our determination to change the immoral polices in our country."

Over one hundred activists were arrested or cited by Nashville Metro Police as ADAPT blocked six downtown inter-sections, all exit roads from the Capitol, and demanded that Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen support alternatives to expensive and undesirable nursing homes. For seven hours ADAPT blocked traffic to and from the capitol area on /4. Charlotte, Deadrick, Union, 6th, 7th and 8th streets.

At 4:30 the tension level rose as state employees finished work and many found they had no way to get home. Cars pushed on the line of protestors and honked. Heated banter was exchanged as many people got out of their cars and confronted the activists. The state employees could see the Metro Police and State Troopers a block further away rerouting traffic which gave the impression that they were not assisting. Governor Bredesen also fed this misunderstanding and seemed to fault the police for the tension.

The governor obviously does not mind being a leader of a state that segregates people with disabilities," said Randy Alexander of Memphis, "all he wants to do is place blame and say it is somebody else's fault. He is a coward.

[Subheading] Tuesday, March 21, 2006. Governor, Governor hear our shout: 6,700 want to get out!

ADAPT again demonstrated in front of the Tennessee State Capitol and blocked Charlotte Avenue demanding that Governor Bredesen end the immoral and inhuman policies that split families and segregate people with disabilities. The governor ringed the Tennessee Capitol with state troopers and barricaded the entrances to keep the single sheet of paper with the ADAPT demands from reaching his office. Retreating into his sanctuary from the citizens, the governor again refused to support the Community Choices Act or meet with ADAPT.

"We are just asking to be treated like human beings," said Don DeVaul of Tennessee. "The governor wants to put us into a warehouse, I might as well get started now."

Accessible paddy wagons arrived just ten minutes after a group of about 60 returned from an attempt to enter the Capitol Building. The state troopers were obstructing all of the entrances to the public building with vehicles and a line of troopers at the front steps. The ADAPT group, unable to enter the building, headed out to the street and blocked traffic along Charlotte Avenue in front of the capitol.

"I am going to jail because people are dying without the option to get out of nursing homes," said Ken Walla of ADAPT. "I am going to jail for freedom."

Activists using wheelchairs were handcuffed in the street and Metro Police carried off those not using wheelchairs. Hundreds of ADAPT activists lined the sidewalk nearby in the cold wind, chanting support for those being arrested.

"The Nashville Chief of Police noted that locking people with disabilities away is costly to the taxpayers," said Dawn Russell of ADAPT. "Why are nursing homes any different than jails? The Chief sadly implies that docile incarceration in a nursing home is acceptable. For people with disabilities to be angry at their jailors is shameful and a waste of tax money."

Following up a demonstration yesterday, ADAPT continued to demand that Tennessee change state policies that force citizens from their homes and families into expensive and un-desirable institutions. Around one hundred activists were cited on Monday in the downtown streets of Nashville as ADAPT blocked six intersections and detained thousands of state employees. State money currently is paid to facilities that ware

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[image caption] Dawn Russell in handcuffs. Photo by Tim Wheat

[text resumes] house people, but the Community Choices Act would allow that money to follow the person into the community and get the services they may need in their own home.

"Bredesen does not like the light being shown on what living in a nursing home is really like," said Bob Kafka over the public address system outside the Capitol. "Tennessee spends $160 on nursing homes for every dollar the state spends on home and community based services. If Bredesen thinks that nursing homes are one-hundred-and-sixty times better than your own home, we challenge him to leave his home on Chickering Road and stay in the nursing home of his choice for a few days."

The day began for the ADAPT activists with a march to the Capitol Building through the streets of Nashville. The group of 500 activists stretched several blocks as they made their way in the streets rather than use the sidewalks with Metro Police blocking traffic along the route. At the conclusion of the march, ADAPT held a press conference along Charlotte Ave. in view of Governor Bredesen's office. The day was windy and cold with only a slight bit of rain.

[Subheading] Wednesday, March 22, 2006. Our Homes, Not Nursing Homes

ADAPT delivered a message to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) office in Tennessee that ADAPT demands the federal housing department make housing vouchers available to get people out of Nursing Homes. Gathering two miles north, however, ADAPT's presence in the city caused the Capitol to be closed to the public.

"We are going to pursue Alphonso Jackson everyplace he goes and find him wherever he is," said Cassie James of ADAPT. "For sixty-seven hundred in Tennessee and thousands upon thousands around the country who cannot get out of institutions, let's make April a month that Alphonso Jackson will never forget."

Before gathering at the HUD office, the ADAPT activists marched to the front door of the TennCare Bureau on Great Circle Road and were greeted at the en-trance by a line of state troopers. Activists from Tennessee led the group up to the officers but stopped short of passing through the line. The ADAPT line continued past the entrance, leaving the Tennessee group facing off with the State Troopers.

A large cardboard sign pushed right up to the officers read: "Dear Steve Hopper: 6,700 disabled people want out of nursing homes. Support Money Follows the Person, -ADAPT." The Tennessee group that led the procession confronted the officers for about ten minutes as the long line of activists passed, rejoining the end of the column and leaving the note at the State Troopers feet.

Although ADAPT was no-where near the Tennessee State Capitol today, the complex was shutdown to all but scheduled

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[image caption] Note is left at State Troopers' feet. Photo by Tim Wheat

business. The move was likely to make the offices less of a target for ADAPT but the extreme measure shows the extent of the governor’s fear of light being shined on the typically veiled plight of people in institutions. The state of Tennessee has chosen to fund almost exclusively expensive and undesirable facilities to provide long—term care. The costly state dependence on inefficient and immoral long—term service delivery clashes with Governor Bredesen's self-proclaimed reformer status.

"For the safety of the people who are there and safety of the public in general, we've got it closed at this time," said Col. Mike Walker, commander of the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

At the HUD office ADAPT gathered at the entrance but did not block access. The group packed the small concrete apron outside the door and chanted “our homes not nursing homes.” Just before 2:00 PM, Cassie James spoke to the crowd, and asked to speak with the Director of the HUD office.

"For the people of Tennessee it has taken a long time," said Deborah Cunningham, Executive Director of the Memphis Center for Independent Living. "For the past twenty-years we have been working to get people out of nursing homes and into affordable, accessible, integrated housing. Today proves we are serious and that we are committed to this struggle for however long it may take.”

Following the speeches and a MacDonald's lunch, Deborah Cunningham, Cassie James and Sher Stewart of ADAPT, went into the office to speak with the local HUD director. In less than ten minutes they returned and announced that William H. Dirl had agreed to all the demands and would like to address ADAPT.

”I came down here to listen to you, I will hear what you have to say. I have been given a letter that I assure you that will get to Secretary Jackson.” Said Mr. Dirl. "I understand that the major concern as it relates to I-IUD is vouchers. That is a concern that we are worried about also. We will certainly make sure that your wishes and your concerns make it to the highest levels, which is Secretary Jackson.”

"He agreed with us and was very concerned about the vouchers,” said Ms. Cunningham. ”I believe that he understands the need."

[boxed text] Tennessee does not offer alternatives to expensive and undesirable institutions.

Joaquin Martinez at HUD
Photo by Tim Wheat

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Tuesday 23 July 2013

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Saturday 5 December 2020

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