| Who: National ADAPT What: Demonstration to demand HUD prioritize the needs of the disability community When: Tuesday, May 10th starting at 9:30AM Where: HUD, 451 7th Street, S.W., Washington D.C., 20410 For More information: Nina Bakoyiannis 646-709-2510 ninabakoyiannis@gmail.com Rhoda Gibson 617-504-1792 rhodagibson2@gmail.com www.nationaladapt.org  Washington, D.C.- National ADAPT, the nation’s largest grassroots disability rights activist organization, is advocating for affordable, accessible, and integrated housing. This is integral to ending the institutional bias and ensuring people with disabilities have real choices for where they want to live. National ADAPT demands that HUD: Expand affordable, accessible, integrated housing development and rent subsidy programs targeting low- and moderate-income people with disabilities, especially people who receive HCBS services. Expand access to accessible home modifications programs to enable people to leave or avoid institutional settings thus saving millions of health care dollars. Ensure that 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) funding is reserved for those transitioning out of congregate living settings to independent living. Release the 2022-2023 811 PRA funding for people with disabilities. SUPPORT visitability; it means freedom for all and the ability to visit and enter ALL homes with a basic standard of accessibility. “Those of us working at Centers for Independent Living are not able to truly help people get out of institutions if there is no proper access to accessible housing. Access isn’t only about a building having an elevator … it’s about affordability, ease of access to home modifications, and a housing system that allows disabled individuals to access these services without bureaucracy,” says Misty, an ADAPT activist. Without these priorities, people with disabilities will not have sufficient resources to leave institutions and/or live independently in the community. ## About ADAPT ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.  |
Author: cjohnmurph
Senate Abandons Mothers on Mother’s Day!
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8th 2022 |
| Who: National ADAPT What: Mother’s Day Recognition of Community Attendants and HCBS recipients When: Sunday, May 8, 2022 Where: Spirit of Justice Park starting at 2PM For More information: Nina Bakoyiannis 646-709-2510 ninabakoyiannis Cathy Cranston 512-650-6543 flacacata@aol.com www.nationaladapt.org |
| Washington, D.C. – National ADAPT will hold a rally south of the US Capitol to celebrate mothers that are Community Attendants and mothers with disabilities. Mother’s Day is a day to honor and show appreciation to our mothers. The Senate has abandoned our mothers who are attendants to their child or family member, mothers with disabilities who receive attendant services, moms assisting moms, and all mothers who are attendants receiving the inadequate wages that make it difficult for them to support themselves and their families. This is how Congressional leadership “honors thy mother”. National ADAPT and numerous attendant and disability rights advocacy groups have worked furiously to advocate for the $15 base wage, for funding for HCBS and affordable accessible integrated housing. The Congressional leadership has received hours of personal testimony, hearings, voluminous fliers, petitions, reports and countless Congressional visits, all coming together to stress the urgency of the necessary funding for HCBS and housing for people with disabilities and the community attendants that assist them. Thus far, the Senate has refused to make these issues a priority. Such a lack of support by the Senate on the importance of the jobs we do,” said Carrie Warner, 30-year attendant in the community. The Senate must make these issues a priority. Our lives depend on it. It’s an Unhappy Mother’s Day for Community Attendants that do not get benefits; days off, not even on the day we “celebrate” them. ### |
ADAPT CALLS ON CONGRESS TO HONOR DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING’S BIRTHDAY BY MAKING COMMUNITY LIVING AND VOTING RIGHTS A REALITY FOR EVERYONE.
ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom. Formed by a collective of local ADAPT Chapters, National ADAPT has worked for the past 30+ years to promote community living for aging and disabled people through reform of the outdated long-term service and support system. An essential part of living in the community is the ability to participate in free and fair elections. There must be full accessibility to the ballot box and the electoral infrastructure including but not limited to the two-party system. In order to ensure that voters with disabilities are able to participate in the voting process, people with disabilities must be able to vote by mail, utilize curbside voting, and voting sites and voting machines must be accessible. And whether at home or at polling places, people must be allowed to obtain assistance from others if needed. The overall process should make it easier for older and disabled people to vote and not hinder their right to vote.
Voting rights and Build Back Better are of equal importance to the disability and aging community. Build Back Better must be passed with $150 billion for affordable, accessible, integrated housing, and the $150 billion for Home and Community Based Services.
Build Back Better will provide the necessary expansion of Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) under Medicaid to address the current need for services for disabled and aging Americans. It will guarantee a “living wage” and benefits to attendant care workers employed in home care which will assist in recruitment and retention of this workforce It will expand affordable, accessible, integrated housing development and rent subsidy programs targeting low- and moderate-income people with disabilities, especially people receiving HCBS services, and it will provide support to home accessibility modification programs that will enable people to leave or avoid institutional settings, thus saving millions of health care dollars
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, we remember the importance of engaging in direct action and civil disobedience to advance the policies that keep America moving toward an accessible and inclusive community for all. Tactics that are very much embedded in ADAPT activism. “Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We call on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Build Back Better Act.
TAKE ACTION!
Contact your Senators at the Congressional Switchboard and ask them to support these important bills.
Call them at 202-224-3121
Send them messages on social media as to why these issues are important to you. Remember to tag National ADAPT.
Follow National ADAPT https://linktr.ee/adaptnational
12/9/21 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ADAPT JOINS COALITION IN SUPPORT OF BUILD BACK BETTER
National ADAPT joins grandmas across the country who have gathered in Washington, D.C. to turn up the pressure on the Senate to swiftly pass this legislation that will transform the way people with disabilities and the elderly access care now and in future generations. Elected leaders, direct care workers, family caregivers and people with disabilities will meet in front of the Capitol to share our decades of fighting for home and community based services and affordable, accessible, integrated housing , and demand that Congress take action in support of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, the elderly, and direct care workers.
What:
Grandmas, elected leaders, care workers, disability rights activists and other caregiving advocates rally outside the Capitol to push the Senate to swiftly pass the Build Back Better Bill. The event will be livestreamed and grandmas across the country will participate virtually by sharing photo and video stories on social media. Spanish and American Sign Language interpretation available on site and online.
Who:
National ADAPT with support from the Long Term Supports and Services Coalition, Caring Across Generations, Care Can’t Wait Coalition, and Real Recovery Now coalitions.
When and Where:
Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 12:00 pm ET
In-person event: Outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Virtual event: https://www.facebook.com/theRealNationalADAPT
For more information:
Jennifer McPhail 512-627-5869 jennifer.adapt@sbcglobal.net
Rhoda Gibson 617-504-1792 rhodagibson2@gmail.com
NationalADAPT.org @RealNatlADAPT on Twitter & Instagram, ADAPT National on Facebook, National ADAPT on YouTube ADAPTnational@gmail.com
#DisabledNotDisposable #CareCantWait #BetterCareBetterJobs #HoUSed #ADAPTandSurvive #TheGrandmasAreComing
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National ADAPT Statement Endorsing Chairwoman Waters’ Housing Infrastructure Bill
National ADAPT, the grassroots, activist, disability justice organization enthusiastically endorses the housing infrastructure bill drafted by Chairwoman Waters and her Committee. ADAPT has fought for over 30 years for disabled people to be able to live in their own homes and communities; marching, protesting, even being arrested. Lack of affordable, accessible, integrated housing remains one of the biggest barriers to independence for the disability community. This bill supports disabled people in an unprecedented and historic manner; greatly expanding vouchers for rent subsidies and for relocating from institutions, doubling accessibility requirements in public housing and adding basic accessibility called “visitability” in all federally funded housing.
Continue Contacting Your Senators To Fund HCBS In Next COVID Package
OUR MESSAGE TO SENATORS: PEOPLE ARE DYING SHAME ON YOU!
For years we have told policymakers that Institutions are where we send people to die.
Now we know it is true.
Over 53,000 of our siblings have died in nursing facilities. We don’t even know how many more have died in all other types of institutions, including group homes, and state hospitals.
While our people are dying, Congress is at home on legislative break. Our Senators need to hear from us NOW. They returned to work on July 21st, they will ACT within the next 2 weeks.
ADAPT calls on advocates across the country to call, write, and where safe, visit our Senators in their home offices and in DC to tell them:
FUND HOME AND COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES NOW. $20 Billion should be dedicated to support people living in the community by making sure programs remain in place, workers are paid for their services, and personal protective equipment is available for disabled people and their workers.
MAKE MONEY FOLLOWS THE PERSON a permanent program, or extend the program for 3-5 years. Short-term funding extensions are not keeping the program running and people need a way to get to the safety of their own homes.
Take action by contacting your Senators and these suggested action activities, sample press release, script, and talking points are also available HERE.
To find the home office locations for your Senators’ Home Offices, enter your address at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/map
The Senators for your state will be listed, and a link to their official website is available.
ADAPT Talking Points To #ADAPTandSurvive
ADAPT DEMANDS Congress support our right to live in the community by funding home and community based services, supporting our Community Workforce, making personal protective equipment available, and ensuring we have affordable, accessible, integrated housing.
ADAPT has sent an Open Letter to Congress demanding action. We must ensure Congress pays attention and responds to our needs!
Post on social media, write an email, organize a car parade around your Congressmembers Offices! In any way you can, tell Congress:
- Unnecessary institutionalization has been illegal since at least 1990. Now the COVID pandemic has exposed further dangers of congregate living.
- Forcing people into institutions is not only a violation of our rights, it is a DANGER to our safety, well-being, and our LIVES.
- We need the services and supports that allow us to safely shelter-in-place in the community.
- Community services must be available to keep people from being institutionalized in congregate settings.
- Programs, services, and supports must be available to allow people to move back into the community to live in the most integrated setting.
- Direct Service and Support Workers are essential to keeping us alive, safe and healthy. They deserve to be recognized and protected by receiving increased wages, overtime pay, hazard pay, and protective gear.
- The number one barrier to home and community living is lack of affordable, accessible, integrated housing. Housing must be developed. The shortage of housing that is affordable, accessible and integrated is past the critical stage. Likewise rental subsidies must be vastly increased.
National ADAPT Condemns Violence Against AAPI Community
National ADAPT condemns the attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islanders across the United States. National ADAPT believes that every human being has the right to be safe and to be treated with respect.
Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones as well as to the survivors of these brutal attacks. Nearly 4,000 hate related incidents have been reported against the AAPI community since the Coronavirus was first detected in the United States last year. Many of those attacks were against elderly and disabled Asians and Pacific Islanders, and over half occurred in the state of California.
National ADAPT is committed to anti-racism. We will continue to do the work required to be both inclusive of all people, and an active and responsible ally. We look forward to working with our siblings in the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community to build a more just and equitable society, while continuing to work to end the institutional bias that exists in the United States.
COVID Relief MUST Include Disability Community Needs: Take Action Today!
Negotiations continue in Congress on a COVID relief package.
The House has passed two different COVID relief packages since May. The Senate and the White House offers fail to meet the urgent needs of the disability community. The “Skinny” Bills offered to date do not include ANY of the priorities we have been urging our members of Congress to address, like targeted funding for home and community based services (HCBS). HCBS keeps disabled people out of congregate settings where COVID-19 is deadly.
Senate Republicans have been insistent that COVID relief include a dangerous provision that would give businesses – including schools and medical providers – immunity from being held liable for harm they cause in almost all circumstances. They want provisions that shield employers and people who own, lease, or operate public accommodations from violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Liability relief provisions such as these remove accountability. These demands are about protecting businesses and profits over people.
Congress needs to hear from us again. They need to hear from advocates about the importance of including the needs of the disability community in their COVID-response.
COVID Relief must contain:
Funding and support for Home and Community Based Services.
Extension of Money Follows the Person demonstration project grants.
Resources to help people living in the community with personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies for them and their workers.
Support for Direct Support Workers through sick leave, benefits, and wage enhancements, including hazard, retainer, and overtime pay.
Support for people to maintain and secure affordable, accessible, integrated housing.
Take Action!
Contact your Members of Congress today! It is critical our Members of Congress hear from us while they are negotiating a final package. Even if you have called your Members before, they need to hear from you again. Make sure to tell them why HCBS funding is critical, and that it MUST be included in the next COVID-19 package! Disability Priorities CANNOT be negotiated out of this next package.
-You can find your Senators’ contact forms at senate.gov and your Representative’s contact form at house.gov/representatives.
-You can find your Members’ phone numbers, Twitter handles, Facebook pages, and other contact information on Contacting Congress.
-You can also tweet at Congressional leadership – Mitch McConnell (@SenateMajLdr), Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer), Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi), and Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader).
Here is a sample script for calling or emailing. Please personalize it and put it in your own words if you can:
Hi, my name is (NAME), and I’m from (CITY, STATE).
I am (calling / writing) to ask you to include funding for home and community based services in the COVID-19 relief bill. The need for dedicated HCBS funding is more urgent than ever. We have seen alarming rates of death in nursing facilities and other congregate settings. Many disabled people use HCBS to live in their own homes, but people are struggling to stay in the community. Without more funding, many more people will be forced into congregate settings, where they will be at much greater risk of catching COVID-19.
HCBS funding is desperately needed to ensure we can stay safe in our own homes. The House included funding for HCBS in the HEROES and HEROES 2 Acts. It is critical that this funding be included in the final Congressional package.
I also ask that you oppose efforts to shield businesses from liability for harm they cause related to COVID-19. This threatens the rights and safety of disabled people.
Thank you for your time, and I hope I can count on you to protect your disabled constituents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Your name)
October 14, 2020 Press Release: ADAPT Protests Around The Country Re: SCOTUS Hearings In DC
For Immediate Release
For Information Contact:
Ami Hyten (DC) (785) 220-6460
Jodie Baney (Williamsport) (570) 477-0777
Latoya Chivon(Philadelphia) (267) 815-2050
Rhoda Gibson (Boston) (617) 504-1792
Heiwa Salovitz (Austin) (512)966-3666 & Sophia Donnelly (512)924-8449
ADAPT Protests Around The Country Re: SCOTUS Hearings In DC
Washington, DC—-ADAPT is in Washington, DC, again this week as part of a coalition of civil rights groups in opposition to the Republican attempts to ram through Congress the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States. In addition, several local ADAPT chapters will be staging local actions in opposition to a Barrett confirmation that threatens the Affordable Care Act (ACA) protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Should Barrett be confirmed, the rights of women and the LGBTQIA+ community will be at risk, along with the health care that millions of Americans gained under the ACA. Opposition to Barrett’s appointment is based on her published positions and opinions in all of these areas and more.
Local ADAPT actions include one on Wednesday, October 14, in Austin, Texas, where ADAPT and allies will gather outside the offices of Sen. John Cornyn, 221 6th Street W., from 11 am to 2 pm to demand that the senator value the lives of disabled people, and vote no on Judge Barrett.
“According to the United States Health and Human Services Department, half of all Americans have a pre-existing condition of some kind,” said Texas ADAPT organizer Heiwa Salovitz. “ Everyone knows someone who is impacted by the issue. Before the legal protection of the ACA, insurance companies were allowed to deny people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions life saving and life sustaining coverage.”
In Boston, Mass ADAPT will protest in front of their statehouse from 12 noon to 2pm, demanding their Senators vote not to confirm Barrett.
In Philadelphia, ADAPT will demand a no vote on Barrett because she is a distinct threat to the ACA and the over 8 million people who have contracted the virus, and who will now be identified as having a pre-existing condition. ADAPT will also highlight the unconscionable 85,000+ deaths of disabled people from Covid-19, a number that would have been much smaller if Congress supported home and community based services over institutional settings.
In Williamsport, North Central Pennsylvania, ADAPT will spend the day at the federal building, again demanding a no vote on Barrett, and pressing for the continuation of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA covers people with lower incomes, pre-existing conditions, and it created the Community First Choice program that makes it easier for states to support aging and disabled people in their own homes, instead of forcing them into institutional settings where Covid-19 has killed so many.
In the nation’s capitol groups protesting with ADAPT outside the Capitol during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings include the Women’s March, Housing Works, the Center for Popular Democracy, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and local groups like SPACEs in Action, and Sunrise Movement, DC. Two ADAPTers were among those arrested at the sit-in outside the Capitol on Monday.
NationalADAPT.org @RealNatlADAPT on Twitter & Instagram, ADAPT National on Facebook and TikTok, National ADAPT on YouTube
ADAPTnational@gmail.com
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