For Immediate Release
For information contact:
Mike Oxford: 785-224-3865
Rhoda Gibson: 617-504-1792
Jennifer McPhail: 512-627-5869
ADAPT Starts Daylong Vigil in DC Joins Disability, Aging, and Caregiver Coalition to Press for Passage of Build Back Better Social Infrastructure Bill
Washington, DC, October 6, 2021—ADAPT and 15 other disability, aging, and caregiver organizations are holding a daylong vigil on Capitol grounds starting tonight to impress upon Congress the crucial need for fully funded Home and Community-Based Services, and affordable, accessible housing. Funding these two programs would help prevent the over 200,000 largely preventable deaths that have occurred in nursing facilities so far during the COVID-19 pandemic.“We in ADAPT have been fighting over 30 years for the services and housing that would allow those of us who are disabled and aging to live in our own homes and communities with the services we need instead of being forced into nursing homes and other institutions,” said Latoya Maddox, Philadelphia ADAPT organizer. “Congress has so far failed to ensure our freedom, and as a result Congress is partly responsible for the horrific number of nursing home COVID deaths.”Organizations participating in the vigil include the ACLU, ADAPT, The Arc of the United States, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, AAPD, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Be A Hero, Care Can’t Wait Coalition, Caring Across Generations, Little Lobbyists, Justice in Aging, National Council on Independent Living, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Council on Aging, National Health Law Program, and SEIU. “We need home and community-based services to be a fully funded guarantee for older and disabled people, “ said Mike Oxford, ADAPT organizer in Kansas. “We need the caregivers who help us dress and bathe so we can work and go to school and volunteer to be paid a livable wage with benefits. And we need affordable, accessible housing so we have homes where we can receive the services that will help us live productive, contributing lives, and be included in our communities.” The vigil begins at 7pm tonight EDT. Coalition organizers invite all Republican senators along with Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema to meet with vigil participants to learn how much their constituents need and support passage of the Build Back Better bill.
NationalADAPT.org @RealNatlADAPT on Twitter & Instagram, ADAPT National on Facebook and TikTok, National ADAPT on YouTube ADAPTnational@gmail.com#DisabledNotDisposable #CareCantWait #BuildBackBetter #HoUSed #ADAPTandSurvive
