From: [log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, May 07, 1999 2:42 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Disabled Demand Integration and Real Choice FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: Bob Kafka: (703) 418-6800 (hotel in D.C.) (512) 431-4085 (cell phone) Jennifer Burnett: (717) 335-3235 (610) 781-4091 (cell phone) Disabled Demand Integration and Real Choice WASHINGTON, D.C.-- More than 2 million Americans are segregated from mainstream society, not because they choose to be but because of federal policy that sends 45 billion tax dollars through Medicaid to warehouse them in nursing homes and other institutions. More than one thousand disabled activists will roll into Washington D.C. from Sunday May 9 to Thursday May 13, to change this institutional bias in our nation's health care system. Many of them former inmates or escapees of nursing homes, members of the national grassroots disability rights group known as ADAPT are in Washington this week to send a message to Congress, the White House, and the Justices of the Supreme Court that they will no longer tolerate the institutional bias in the long term services system. The group is planning a series of demonstrations in the nation's capitol starting May 10th, to demand reform of the federal Medicaid policy, and to support the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) "integration mandate" which has been challenged in the Supreme Court. ADAPT is planning two days of protests, culminating in a rally on Wednesday May 12, at which several thousand people with disabilities are expected. The protests will center on ADAPT's legislation, known as MiCASSA. The bill gained significant support in the 105th Congress and is expected to be introduced in the near future. The May 12th rally, "Don't Tread on the ADA", will be held at noon on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, north side at the Upper Senate Park, followed by a march to the steps of the US Supreme Court. "The rally and march are in support of a recently argued Georgia lawsuit heard by the Supreme Court in April, known as Olmstead v. LC & EW," ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka said. "We were here in April, and we are here now to continue our battle to form a national policy which will allow people to choose where and how they receive services." In December, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, ADAPT vowed to mount a campaign to protect the ADA and the fundamental right of people with disabilities to live in the community. While the Georgia lawsuit involves people with mental disabilities, ADAPT points out that the Supreme Court decision will have a far reaching impact on the lives of all people with disabilities. "This will be the defining moment for the ADA," explained Philadelphia attorney Steve Gold. "If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Georgia, the ADA will become a mere shell of what it is intended to be, stripping away its major civil rights provision--integration." The high court's decision is expected in June. Georgia's appeal to the Supreme Court has outraged ADAPT and the entire disability community. While 26 states have signed onto an Amicus Brief in support of Georgia's position, pressure from the disability community has forced all but 7 states to remove their names from the brief: Colorado, Texas, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Tennessee, Wyoming. ### -- FOR MORE INFORMATION on American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) Please visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/ For direct inquiries regarding this press release please use the contact information at the beginning of this message or Email [log in to unmask] NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List of Adapt Organizers. From: [log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask] Sent: Monday, May 10, 1999 10:42 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Integration NOT Segregation! CONTACT Bob Liston/Marsha Katz at (703) 418-6800, Room 226 Or (406) 239-7490 cell at site Jennifer Burnett (717) 335-3235 Disabled Activists Say: "Integration, NOT Segregation" Not since the days of former Alabama Governor George Wallace have states fought so hard to prevent integration. What is different in 1999 is the target group the states are trying to segregate is disabled and older Americans. Beginning today more than one thousand disability rights activists are in Washington, D.C., this week to tell the states, Congress and the Supreme Court, loud and clear, Integration, not Segregation! Members of ADAPT, a national grassroots disability rights group will engage in a series of demonstrations demanding reform of federal Medicaid policy, and supporting the recently challenged "integration mandate" of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At the center of ADAPT's civil rights campaign are one lawsuit and one major piece of legislation. The lawsuit, Olmstead v L.C. & E.W., was initiated by Georgia and is now awaiting a decision by the U. S. Supreme Court. L.C. & E.W. are 2 Georgia women who sued the state to gain their freedom from being warehoused in a state institution and won in two lower courts. After Georgia filed its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, it was joined by 26 other states in an amicus brief. ADAPT efforts at the grassroots level resulted in 19 of those states withdrawing from the amicus, an action unprecedented in Supreme Court history. "We were outraged by this attack on the ADA" said ADAPT organizer Stephanie Thomas, "In this day and age no other group would be subject to the states' efforts to remove our civil rights and deny us the freedoms enjoyed by other Americans." On the legislative front, ADAPT's MiCASSA, the Medicaid Community Attendant Services & Supports Act gained significant support in the 105th Congress and is expected to be introduced in the near future with bipartisan sponsorship. MiCASSA would reform Medicaid long term care policy by assuring that persons with disabilities and older Americans could choose where and how they receive services, thus preventing their forced segregation in institutions and nursing homes. ADAPT will be joined on Wednesday, May 12, by several thousand people with disabilities and supporters at a noon rally at the U. S. Capitol, followed by a march to the U. S. Supreme Court. The rally "Don't Tread on the ADA" is expected to draw people from all 50 states in support of the ADA, MiCASSA, and the fundamental right of people with disabilities to live in the community. "We'll do whatever it takes to gain and keep our freedom and our rights," said former nursing home prisoner Leonard Roscoe. "No state is going to tell me I have to live in a nursing home. I have as much right as anyone to live in the community." -- FOR MORE INFORMATION on American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) Please visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/ For direct inquiries regarding this press release please use the contact information at the beginning of this message or Email [log in to unmask] NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List of Adapt Organizers. From: [log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 3:08 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Disabled Activists Continue To Fight for Lives Outside Institutions For more information, contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bob Liston/Marsha Katz at May 11, 1999 (703) 418-6800, Room 226 Or (406) 239-7490 cell at site Jennifer Burnett (610) 781-4091 Disabled Activists Continue To Fight for Lives Outside Institutions Changing the longstanding institutional bias in federal Medicaid policy that currently segregates more than 2 million Americans from mainstream society is not an easy task. ADAPT's target today is HUD headquarters at 7th and D Streets SW. HUD is the key to assuring there is safe, affordable, accessible housing so people are not forced to remain in institutions for lack of housing in the community. "Our first option in housing should always be in our own community,'" said Cassie James, ADAPT organizer from Philadelphia, "Other Americans are not being told where they can and can't live." In two separate actions Monday, 650 members of ADAPT, a national grassroots disability rights organization, told the nation's state and local governments that segregation is not acceptable. At the National Governor's Association (NGA), 444 N. Capitol, 85 ADAPT members were arrested by police when they occupied the NGA offices in protest of the NGA's siding with the state of Georgia in a lawsuit currently being decided by the U. S. Supreme Court. The case, known as Olmstead v L.C. & E. W., will determine whether persons with disabilities and older persons have the right to receive long term care services in their community, or whether the states can force people into nursing homes and institutions in order to receive services. "This is a civil rights issue, not a states rights issue" said Bob Kafka, an ADAPT organizer from Texas, "The Governors can't hold us hostage and warehouse us in state institutions and nursing homes and not expect us to fight back." Across town, 250 members of ADAPT took over the offices of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1620 I St. NW, another governmental supporter of Georgia's position in the Olmstead Case. Protesters left after arranging a conference call meeting with Executive Director Tom Cochran who is out of the country visiting Senegal, Africa. "We don't think the mayors of America's cities know that their organization has signed an amicus supporting Georgia's efforts to incarcerate people with disabilities in institutions," said Barbara Toomer, ADAPT organizer from Utah. "In fact, a number of ADAPT members across the country brought resolutions from their cities opposing Georgia's segregation position." ### -- FOR MORE INFORMATION on American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) Please visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/ For direct inquiries regarding this press release please use the contact information at the beginning of this message or Email [log in to unmask] NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List of Adapt Organizers. From: [log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, May 13, 1999 4:22 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Thousands at Rally FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: May 13, 1999 Janine Bertram-Kemp:(202)342-9439 Jennifer Burnett: (717) 238-0172 Marsha Katz: (406) 829-9495 Four Thousand March with ADAPT to Supreme Court WASHINGTON,D.C.-- Solidarity prevailed yesterday as several thousand disability advocates joined with nearly 800 ADAPT activists on the U.S. Capitol grounds, rallying in support of the "integration mandate" of the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA). Over 100 organizations co-sponsored the rally which was organized by ADAPT, a national disability rights group with chapters in 39 states. Chanting "Our homes, not nursing homes" with Senator Tom Harkin(D--Iowa), and listening to Governor Dick Thornburgh describe the signing of the ADA in 1990, the crowd was united in its passion to preserve the "most integrated setting" regulation. Thirteen year old Kyle Glozier, a longtime ADAPT activist, told the crowd, "I don't know why the Olmstead decision has even gone to the Supreme Court". The rally finished as disability advocates and activists took their outrage to the steps of the Supreme Court. Marchers filed into the street to wheel and walk the four blocks, and a magnificent wave of people, 4000 strong according to the Supreme Court police, gathered before the Supreme Court to send a message to the justices that will decide the fate of the ADA integration mandate. The statement, "Integration, not Segregation", was everywhere. It was written on t-shirts, buttons, flags, banners, signs, hats, and stickers. The crowd became a chorus stepping up the volume, and sending a powerful message to Congress and the Court. "Our liberty, our freedom, our right to choice, these are fundamental rights," said national ADAPT organizer Stephanie Thomas."If the court can't recognize these basic human rights, we must continue the fight. Victory will be ours." The disability community considers the lawsuit before the Supreme Court, formally known as Olmstead v. L.C.& E.W. to be the "Brown v. Board of Education" for people with disabilities. Far from being an alarmist viewpoint, the fact that the Supreme Court even agreed to hear the oral arguments brings into question the intent of Congress in passing the law. Nearly ten years after its passage, the ADA is now being tested in the highest court in the land, despite two U.S. Circuit Court decisions supporting the right to services in the "most integrated setting". Without a strong "integration mandate", the ADA will no longer be a civil rights law. ADAPT vows to continue the "Don't Tread on the ADA" campaign, supporting integration, not segregation and civil rights not state's rights. -- FOR MORE INFORMATION on American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) Please visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/ For direct inquiries regarding this press release please use the contact information at the beginning of this message or Email [log in to unmask] NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List of Adapt Organizers.