Protest by disabled ends
Demands not met, group plans new try today

By Ben Smith Ill
Staff writer

Handicapped protesters who blockaded an Atlanta college administration building and a health-care facility in Decatur ended their siege of both buildings Tuesday without having their demands met.

But group leaders of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) called their protests successful and planned to carry their demonstrations for increased funding for home care for the disabled to the Richard B. Russell Federal Building today.

The protesters are demanding that the federal government redirect 25 percent of funding for the disabled from nursing homes to home care. They argue that 250,000 disabled people are being held in nursing homes against their will, and that this shift in funding is more humane and cost-efficient.

“The ghetto in Soweto is no different than a nursing home,” said Michael Auberger, an ADAPT co-founder. “You're locked in there. You don't have the freedom to leave. You don't have a choice of what you eat, what time you go to bed or what time you get up.”

The activists ended their occupation of a Morehouse College administration building Tuesday, leaving with what they said was a statement from the college saying it sympathized with the group's concerns.

The disabled activists, who occupied the building for a day and a half, had demanded that Morehouse President Leroy Keith arrange a meeting between the demonstrators and Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan.

Dr. Keith refused.

The group on Tuesday tried to enlist the support of the Georgia Health Care Association (GHCA).

Nearly 100 protesters blocked the entrances and driveway of the GHCA office, demanding that officials agree to support their cause.

While GHCA executive vice president Fred Watson agreed to send a copy of the group’s demands to the American Health Association, with which the Georgia organization is affiliated, he refused to sign an ADAPT letter supporting the redirection of federal funds.

“Allocating 25 percent from nursing homes to their cause would only hurt the people who are in nursing homes now,” Mr. Watson said.

The protest lasted nearly five hours, but the group's blockade was broken by police.

The protesters contend that Georgia is one of the worst states in caring for disabled people and offers no state-funded home care or matching supplements for federal disability benefits.

Created on

Friday 12 July 2013

Posted on

Thursday 22 October 2015

Tags

blockade, Georgia, Health Care Association, Morehouse College, police, protests, redirect 25%, worst states

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