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ADAPT IN D.C.Advocates Demonstrate in Nation’s Capital
More than 400 members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) from across country recently converged on Washington, D.C. to send their message, “Stop defunding our freedom,” to Congress and the Obama Administration. “For 20 years we’ve been telling everyone that removing the institutional bias from the Medicaid program, giving people who need some daily assistance the choice to stay in their own home to receive services, would save the government money along with being in compliance with the law. And yet, even with research to back us up, Congress has chosen not to make this simple change in the law and save both money and lives,” said Mike Ervin, ADAPT organizer from Chicago. The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision mandated that people with disabilities should be served in the most integrated setting and isolating them in institutions unnecessarily is illegal. However, at least 38 states are proposing or have already made cuts to Medicaid that threaten the rights of older and disabled Americans to live in their own homes and communities. The highlight of ADAPT’s first day in Washington, D.C. was their annual Fun Run for Disability Rights fundraiser at Upper Senate Park. “If we didn’t have ADAPT, we would go off on the wrong track and lose our energy and passion,” said Yoshiko Dart, who participated in the run while pushing her late husband Justin’s wheelchair. The next day, 300 members of ADAPT took over the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building, demanding that Congress derail Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) FY 2012 budget proposal. Under his plan, Medicaid programs would be cut by 35 percent, which translates to a loss of $772 billion in services. Additionally, it proposes a system of Medicaid block grants for states, giving states greater ability to make cuts. “The Ryan plan’s claim of flexibility is a lie,” said Bruce Darling, a Rochester ADAPT organizer. “We don’t need flexibility in Medicaid cuts. We need flexibility in Medicaid spending, so people can choose the less expensive community service options they want, and that will ultimately contain costs.” ADAPT demanded that Ryan, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) withdraw their support for Medicaid budget cuts and state block grants. However, ADAPT did not get these commitments or even a meeting with Ryan. By the end of the night, 91 members of ADAPT were arrested. The next day, ADAPT continued to seek a meeting with Ryan at his office at the Longworth House Office Buildings. Later, they began chanting “No more block grants” and “We want Ryan.” But their efforts did not draw out Ryan, and several ADAPT members were arrested. The gang of six consists of Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mike Crapo (RIdaho). Six groups of ADAPT members each visited one of the six senators’ offices to demand that the Senate budget plan eliminate institutional bias, prevent caps on Medicaid spending and get rid of block grants. In addition, they asked the Senate to introduce legislation that will mandate community choice as a service in every state. Instead of meeting each senator, ADAPT met instead with an aide or a chief of staff. Coburn’s and Durbin’s staffs stated that they thought the Ryan plan was a bad idea. Another action taken by ADAPT was sending six of their leaders to meet with Kareem Dale and Jeanne Lambrew, senior advisors at the White House on disability and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), respectively. They discussed Money Follows the Person and the pending Community First Choice Option, but the White House advisors could not make commitments on these issues. the Capitol Visitors Center to attend a joint press conference of the National Association of County Organizations’ (NACo) Large Urban County Caucus and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), where ADAPT had a chance to speak with Rockefeller. NACo represents thousands of counties nationwide that rely on Medicaid funding to operate human services. While some of this money goes to make Medicaid payments to institutions, for the most part, the senators focused on the idea that cutting services for seniors, people with disabilities and children is wrong. “These block grants are not about flexibility, they are a mirage,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (DOre.) at the press conference. “It is morally repugnant to cut the poor off in this fashion.” Rockefeller called the Ryan plan “heartless.” |
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