>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>for more info contact:
>
>Bob Kafka/Stephanie Thomas
>
>442-0252 or 482-8543
>
>PRESS CONFERENCE AT COURTHOUSE ANNEX
>
>DISABLED PROTESTERS APPEAR FOR PROTEST AT BUSH MANSION
>
>The 17 disabled protesters who were arrested at the
>Governor's mansion last February head to court on
>Tuesday February 15th at the Travis County Courthouse
>Annex. At 12:30pm they will hold a press conference in
>the courtyard between the Annex and the Courthouse at
>11th and San Antonio Sts.
>
>The 17 were among those protesting Governor Bush's
>states rights stance in opposition to the federal civil
>rights law the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA.
>Governor Bush, despite repeated pleas from the
>disability community, refused to take Texas' name off a
>Supreme Court amicus brief filed on behalf of states in
>the case Olmstead vs. LC and EW. Although 25 states
>originally had signed onto the amicus brief, all but
>seven eventually removed their names. Texas, under
>Bush's leadership, was one of the seven who staunchly
>refused to give up their pro-states rights, and anti-
>civil rights stance.
>
>Ultimately the Supreme Court ruled, in June of 1999,
>that the state of Georgia discriminated against the
>plaintiffs LC and EW by unnecessarily segregating them
>in institutions even though the state's own experts had
>said the two women would be better served in community
>settings. The Olmstead decision, as it has come to be
>called, is considered by many the Brown vs. Board of
>Education for the millions of Americans who are
>unnecessarily segregated in institutions, nursing homes
>and similar large congregate facilities.
>
>According to the Health and Human Services Commission,
>as of September 1, 1999 there are 98,000 disabled
>Texans in institutions.
>
>"If the right to liberty is not worth protesting over,
>it is hard to imagine what is" said protester Stephanie
>Thomas. "Almost a decade after passage of the ADA,
>thousands of Texans still can not exercise that right
>because this state refuses to do the right thing."
>
>"I was in a state school for 30 years" added JT
>Templeton. "Now I live in my own home, with attendant
>services. I fight for others to be able to be free."
>
>- 30 -
>
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