Forty years ago in Denver, a movement began when 19 disabled activists rolled into traffic, stopped a bus to demand accessible public transportation, and gave the world its first look at the power that would be known as ADAPT. Forty years later with chapters across the country, ADAPT is credited with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), saving Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, and numerous other victories. November 2018, 11-15, ADAPT members from across the nation will be in be in Denver for a week to both celebrate the accomplishments of the past forty years and to rally to push forward on the work that is yet to be done.
ADAPT’s history, the issues we are fighting for, and our activities can be found at www.adapt.org, the National ADAPT Facebook, and on Twitter under the hashtag #ADAPTandRESIST.
Action Reports
Narratives from the action through the eyes of various ADAPT activists.
The 2018 Spring ADAPT DC action, once again, starts with a tribute to our mothers on Mother’s Day May 13th and continues till May 16th.
Attacks on the life and liberty of people with disabilities continue each and every day in various forms such as proposed cuts to Medicaid, bill to gut ADA (H.R. 620), use of torture devices to control behavior, etc.
ADAPT has been fighting these injustices and will continue to do so.
ADAPT will fight to ensure that no Disabled American is denied their Constitutional right to Life and Liberty.
ADAPT activists from all over the nation have traveled to DC to protest against these changes. Join ADAPT and #ADAPTandRESIST!
Return to this page to see the latest photos from the action and read the daily ADAPT Action Reports.
Action Reports
Narratives from the action through the eyes of various ADAPT activists.
The abuse of people with disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, MA, drastically accelerated in 1990, when its infamous founder, Matthew Israel, devised a money-making patent that would apply painful shocks to residents at any time of the day – while they ate, when they showered, even while they slept – via a remotely activated device worn 24 hours a day. Israel promoted this abuse as behavior modification mostly on autistic people, and JRC soon became the only institution in the country to utilize aversive shocks despite overwhelming evidence debunking its effectiveness. Since then, JRC has been paid millions in taxpayer money to effectively traumatize unwilling residents. New York City alone throws $30 million annually towards JRC’s way to warehouse more than 120 of its residents. You may ask: “If this treatment is really torture, why is JRC still in business?” One answer may be that JRC pays thousands to lobby lawmakers and government administrators to turn a blind eye. In 2010, JRC paid Rudy Giuliani’s law firm $100,000 for his influence peddling. You may say: “Well, maybe this is the only answer for self-injurious behavior.” The answer is no! It has been shown that abusive treatment, just like the torture of enemy combatants (which is, unlike the torture of people with disabilities, illegal), is less effective than other approaches. In short, there is no excuse for supporting JRC’s program of torture.
On Monday, we had to be downstairs at 6:30 am. I was so tired that I was still half asleep when I got dressed and ate oatmeal. We got downstairs and saw our friends from the yellow group.
We rolled out towards the Capitol. We saw a lot of police in the area. I thought we were going to the Capitol building. I felt really excited. I didn’t know where I was going but I felt like it was going to be a good place. We stopped at Health and Human Services. I was on the corner with Gabbi and Toni and I gave away leaflets about stopping the shock of people in institutions. It was fun but not everyone wanted a leaflet. I pretended to high five them but then I gave them the leaflet. And I ran into this very confused couple. They were like, What is this? I didn’t like it when people didn’t really care. They would care if they had a disability. Some people listened to me and they learned about stopping the shock. I hate that shocking.
We ate lunch at a park near the Capitol. I wrestled with Charlie Miller and threw water all over him. We ate hamburgers and fries but I wanted chicken nuggets.
I saw Bruce, Anita and Josue strategizing. I saw Bruce Darling talking to a policeman who was waving his hands and shaking his head. Mike Oxford was talking to a policeman also and smiling and laughing. He told the policeman with a mustache “Your logic is impeccable.” Maybe he guessed we were heading somewhere.
We went into the Senate Building and went to Senator Murray’s office. About 50 ADAPT activists occupied the office and demanded that she cosponsor the Disability Integration Act. Charlie told me to stay with him in the back and he would protect me. They were about thirty police standing and waiting. Some had plastic handcuffs in the belts. Bruce was furious with Patty Murray. It got very noisy with chanting and I felt overwhelmed. I backed off a little bit. I live-streamed about DIA and accidentally started to say a bad word. Charlie told me we don’t say that in ADAPT but I heard Bruce say it!
We started chanting and cheering and clapping when we found out she would cosponsor DIA. No one got arrested because we got what we asked for. I felt great about that.
We got outside and the rain was pouring down. I couldn’t even see. We put on raincoats and ponchos which helped in no way. All parts of me got wet even my butt. We went super fast and I was on Level 5 on my wheelchair. We were chanting and laughing, How do you spell power? A-D-A-P-T!!! It was fun and exciting.
When we got back to the hotel, Dad was there with towels and food. We got out of our wet clothes and into pajamas. I felt cozy and safe. We ate dinner in our room with Kelly Lynn Sellars and Charlie. It was a really exciting day, thanks to the rainstorm and our win at the Senate.
ADAPT members arrived in Washington DC and all gathered at the Capitol Hill location of the Holiday Inn. After unpacking and reminiscing, we quickly started gathering our gear.
Our spring National Action has begun. Taking place during Mother’s Day weekend, our busy week will be dedicated to honoring the women who made our community strong. Along with that, we will be advocating for the Disability Integration Act, and fighting against the passage of the dangerous American Health Care Act.
As our brothers and sisters got settled in, the wheels of justice were already in motion. This will be an interesting week.
By Zack Sadeq North Carolina
Zack Sadeq
‘ADAPT and Resist!’ is the shout which resounded unceasingly last Saturday in America’s capital. ADAPTers are used to going against the grain, and have become pretty darn good at it. This week they intend to show the world their skills as they gather for the National Convention and week of action in Washington, DC.
The ADAPT crew are some of the most open, accepting and loving people on the planet; folksy and forthcoming; gracious and gregarious – and ADAPTers let the Chocolate City know as they started to arrive at the Holiday Inn Capitol on Saturday, May 13th. There is no collection of people that illustrate more accurately what it truly means to be a human being.
Charlie Miller, a recent graduate from Kennesaw State University, traveled 17 hours in total– ;“Because Mark wanted to take the long way…” – to reach the convention in DC.
Mr. Miller told the ADAPT media group his biggest thing about ADAPT was “getting to see everyone.” He continued, “because people with disabilities, we don’t get this type of community [at home].”
The simple presence of ADAPT – advocates, power-chairs and powerful human interactions – has already been disruptive enough to ‘business as usual’ in the Capital. And the ADAPTers are just getting started.
By Heath Montgomery Montana ADAPT
Heath Montgomery
Part 1: So, we were leaving on the plane; and remember we woke up like super early, I think I woke up at like 4:40am like way earlier than usual. So, anyway, it’s 6:35 and all of the sudden, I hear bubbles popping in my ears like click, clack, click, clack and I was like uhhhhhh, because, you know, it hurt. So, finally, we get to the first airport, but we’re only in Minneapolis, MN; we have like 1,000 more miles to go, so we’re in Minnesota so there are plenty of Vikings fans, and I knew that, so we’re walking down onto the plane, and I looked over to my right and there was a sign that said “DELTA” which was the name of our airline and there was a Viking picture on the wall. I got really excited because I am a fan of Minnesota too.
Part 2: Now we’re in Washington DC, so I’m driving my powerchair through the airport; as usual, and out of nowhere, it totally glitches. It won’t drive and there’s a flashing power chair and back wheel on my joystick. I think it’s because it had significant brain damage on the plane trip! My mom had to push it like 105 yards. Anyway, when we finally got to our hotel we called the mechanic immediately. I mean, that was really scary. That had never happened before. And we didn’t know what to do. Thank God that mechanic came.
I was excited today to be headed to Washington for the National ADAPT action. Jordan Sibayan, Jackie Mitchell, Shark Barros and I flew in together from Denver. Shark took a Lyft to the hotel while the rest of us in our wheelchairs took the Metro Commuter Train. Soon after we rolled into the hotel and started to mingle with our fellow ADAPTers, I was put to work selling T-shirts. It was a good way to welcome my brothers and sisters. The rest of the week will be more exciting.
Today ADAPT lined up at 9am. I ate a quick breakfast and went to the Walgreens down the street for some snacks, because I knew it was going to be a long day.
We first walked over to the regional Housing and Urban Development office, where several of our members went to meet with some officials and most of us waited outside. We chanted loudly about the lack of accessible, affordable, integrated housing and demanded an increase in HUD funding. Without accessible housing, it is impossible to transition out of a nursing home into the community-many of our people are unable to leave because of this lack of housing on the outside. We also chartered an airplane to fly around government offices with a huge banner demanding support for our causes.
Next we went over to the Medicaid office in the state department building to discuss Money Follows the Person. Many people in our community believe this legislation this legislation does not prioritize consumer choice. We quickly snuck into the building and flooded the elevators and hallways. We could all feel the power of ADAPT.
After a successful meeting we went to the office of senator Cory Gardener. It was getting cold and late, but our energy was still high. We chanted outside of his building to demand that he sign on to the Disability Integration Act, which would make it easier for people with disabilities to live in the community. We projected our demands onto the building across the street to be sure everyone in his office could see.
We returned to the hotel at 7pm, after a very successful day.
The first day of the Fall national action was a great reminder of the multi-level Power structures we have to confront to protect our rights. We started off our day by visiting the regional office of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS has the power to addresses many of our concerns on the national level. For example, HHS could finalize the regulations to put an end to electric shock torture in the U.S., including at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts. After HHS, we visited a State-level institution – the Colorado Division of Housing (DOH). We addressed DOH because it has the power to change the way the transition housing program is implemented across Colorado. In some cases, the State can implement better programs than the fede3ral government. In this case, DOH could go beyond the federal “floor” and devote more funding to transition housing services to get our people out of nursing homes. Finally, we ended our day at the Regional Transportation District (RTD) office. RTD manages the public transportation for the Denver. Like so many other municipalities, Denver needs to improve access to on-demand transportation like ridesharing and taxis. In one day, ADAPT confronted Power at the federal, State, and local levels to force change to ensure our people have access to community living.
My name is Mayra Puma. I’m from Ecuador, born and rise in Chicago. My parents are from Ecuador, I have been to Ecuador a lot of times. Ecuador isn’t accessible at all. Two years ago I joined Chicago adapt and went to my first national action in Boston after that action. I went back to Ecuador and tried to talk with the centers for people with disabilities but they closed the doors on us, I came back home I thought of counting going to national actions but money was tight and my parents wasn’t supporting me on rising money. So I wasn’t sure about going on this action so I made a gofunme page to rise money and it worked I made it to my second national action in Denver Colorado. I traveled with my new Grace and my personal assistant.
On Sunday morning at 8 in the morning I went to airport with my parents they dropped me off. Our flight was at 11:55 in the morning Chicago time to go Denver. We checked in and went to our airline, we landed in Denver at at 1:30 in the afternoon, looked for taxi. We had to take two taxis at the airport to get to the hotel because we couldn’t go together in one taxi they were little, only space for one power wheelchair so we had to paid $70.00 for each. We got to the hotel and got settled in our rooms.
On Monday was a late start we got up at 8, we had breakfast and went to the meeting. After the meeting we went to department of human services than we went to a rally saying up with attend care down with nurses homes that last it 4 hours I camp back to the hotel because I was freezing my feet . When everyone returned to the hotel there was a meeting to talk about what happened and that it was dinner time and bedtime.
On Tuesday we Colorado housing division housing to ask them for accessible affordable housing people with disabilities. We:were yelling accessible affordable integration housingwe met with the director of housing asking them to give us more state state funding to help get people with disabilities out of nursing homes.
On Wednesday, we went to Colorado do public aid. We blocked the entrance to the office to HUD and the state of Colorado.
On Thursday with a easy day we were waiting to talk to congress women to ask for affordable healthcare for people with disabilities so we could have affordable health care for all. After the action we back to hotel got really for party.
When I heard that we having a wedding I got really excited about attending the wedding got dressed up for the wedding. At the wedding we danced, talked with hang out, some people were drinking wine having a good time. I danced a few songs with friends a few songs I danced alone. Having the opportunity to go to national actions makes grow to be good color leader. I’m walking my way to be a color leader then a day leader . Becoming a leader will be big accomplishment for my parents family and for the disability community. Fighting for our rights and getting what we need to get people out of introductions and nursing homes.
I thought Denver was more accessible than Boston when it to food. There are many veracity of kids of food to eat, I attended meetings at the end of the day. I love experiencing new things in life. Going to actions opens doors in my life. There was a day where I was driving with my eyes closed. My personal assistant had to let me use her phone to hear music so I won’t go to sleep while driving my wheelchair that helped me to stay up while driving my chair.
