Blog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                         June 25, 2024
ADAPT
Contact:   Nicky Boyte                                                                                  
Tel: (910) 357-1292
Email: bellbusters@gmail.com

The Olmstead Decision established the constitutional right of all people to live in the least restrictive setting of their choosing and recognized that forcing people to live in nursing homes, institutions, and congregate living is a form of discriminatory segregation. Currently, there are 427 Nursing Facilities in North Carolina, with 36,148 residents waiting to transition into the community. This is unacceptable and unconstitutional. NATIONAL ADAPT demands immediate action to reconcile and resolve this ongoing violation of constitutional rights for people living in institutional settings.
Individuals not living in institutions regularly encounter monumental barriers to obtaining and maintaining affordable and accessible housing. In North Carolina, there are over 7,000 people on the waiting list to receive home and community-based services, and the wait list for rental assistance and Section 8 housing is 4-7 years. This is unacceptable.

National ADAPT demands:
1. Immediate investment in more permanent, affordable, accessible integrated housing!
2. Expansion of the availability of housing Vouchers for Disabled people transitioning from institutions to realize the promise of Olmstead and more accessible and visible information on how to access programs for housing vouchers and community-based services in all public human health service programs and materials.
3. Immediate investment from the State to allocate more money to fund housing and increased assistance for Disabled people applying for federal programs.

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.
 
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June 24, 2024

CONTACT: Nicky Boyte

bellbusters@gmail.com
(910) 357-1292

PRESS RELEASE

National ADAPT Calls on North Carolina HHS Secretary Kody Kinsley to Uphold the Olmstead Decision.

National ADAPT demands a meeting with Kody Kinsley, HHS Secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss issues with Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), in order to improve and provide HCBS to all NC citizens with disabilities to live independently in the community. This demand falls just after the 25th anniversary of the Olmstead Decision, a landmark ruling in which individuals with disabilities are guaranteed the right to live in the most integrated setting possible.

WHAT:  On Monday, June 24th, National ADAPT will be protesting to demand a meeting with Kody Kinsley, HHS Secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss issues with Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), in order to improve and provide HCBS to all NC citizens with disabilities to live independently in the community.

The demand to meet will address a multitude of issues and ensure ongoing accountability of North Carolina’s HHS office by implementing an equitable HCBS system for individuals with disabilities. People with disabilities cannot rely on churches, family, or other unpaid networks alone any longer. Additional state funding must be appropriated for people with disabilities to live integrated lives in the community. This includes a strong, well-paid community attendant workforce.

In addition, the policy for evaluating community attendant hours must be amended, to be based on an individual’s functional need, rather than their diagnosis. North Carolinians with disabilities have many barriers which prevent them from living independently in the community. They include, but are not limited to, a lack of durable medical equipment, a lack of home modifications, and HCBS funding being inequitably distributed between disability groups.

Media are encouraged to attend the protest and hear from constituents about the HCBS crisis in North Carolina.

WHERE: NC Department of Health and Human Services,  101 Blair Dr, Raleigh, NC 27603

WHEN:     Wednesday, June 24th, 2024
11:30am

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. Learn more about ADAPT by visiting www.nationaladapt.org and by following us on social media at https://linktr.ee/adaptnational

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For Immediate Release

Who:  National ADAPT

What:  Demonstration to demand that Secretary Marcia Fudge from HUD  invest in people with disabilities

When: Tuesday September 26, 2023 (Happening Now)

Where: 451 7th Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20410

For More information:

Latoya Maddox, lmaddox83@gmail.com  Phone# 267.809.2454

Chris Murphy,  cjohnmurph@gmail.com  Phone# 507.340.3889

The disabled community has paid the price before and during COVID.  We have been locked away in institutions because of lack of affordable and accessible housing and have died at an extremely high rate while waiting to transition to affordable accessible housing.

In any funding going to housing we want to double the requirement under Section 504 to have 10% of housing units built as mobility-disability accessible and 4% as sensory-disability accessible.

Create permanent funding for a Barrier Elimination for accessibility modifications for people transitioning out of facilities and those at risk of going into facilities (i.e., nursing facilities).

Make Housing Choice vouchers an entitlement for all who need housing.

Continue to issue Mainstream vouchers for disabled people to transition out of facilities or at risk of going into a facility (i.e., nursing facilities).  HUD will track these vouchers.

Enact or include the Eleanor Smith Inclusive Home Design Act, this would allow for any new housing built to have one entrance to the house with no steps and a half a bathroom on the first floor, just large enough for someone in a wheelchair or other mobility device to use. This would allow for more  integration and interaction of people with disabilities into their communities.

WHAT:   Demonstration Exposing Broken Promises by the Biden Administration regarding Americans with Disabilities and their rights to community living.

WHO: National ADAPT

WHEN: Friday, May 12, 2023, 11am

WHERE: In front of White House, Washington D.C.

National ADAPT, 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 for over forty years.

National ADAPT DEMANDS that President Biden follow through on his campaign promises to address the needs of people with disabilities for services and supports to live in and prosper the community!  National ADAPT is demanding to meet with President Biden to present him with a real list of what people with disabilities of all ages need:

1.    End the Institutional Bias by fully funding Home and Community Based Services as a right equivalent to institutional placement

2.    Invest and increase access to Affordable, Accessible, Integrated HOUSING

3.    Cease federal funding of Guardianships. Fund the prevention and restoration of rights under wrongful Guardianships.

4.    Medicaid and state funded Community Attendant Workforce’s / Direct Support

5.    Professional’s wage to be paid based on the Consumer Price Index

6.    Implement a 14 day timeframe for Medicaid/ Medicare Durable Medical Equipment maintenance, repairs, and immediate equivalent backup equipment.

President Biden met with ADAPT 20 years ago, in Wilmington DE., when we were marching from Philadelphia PA to Washington DC. We Voted, Marched, and Demonstrated, so that we could get legislation to keep people in the community and not in institutions! Here we are, 20 years later and we are STILL fighting for our RIGHT to live in the community,

National ADAPT urges President Biden to NOT LET US DOWN, NOW!

Meeting with us today, shows the world that he is following through on his promise and commitment to address the needs of People with disabilities for services and supports to live in and prosper the community!            Free Our People!!!

Media Contact:

Name: Chris Murphy Phone:(507)340-3889

Name: Brandon Heinrich Phone: (631)834-7598

E-mail: adaptnational@gmail.com

Follow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/adaptnational

Contact Name  Chris Murphy

Contact Phone (507)340-3889

Number Address for the Event: Outside U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

MEDIA ADVISORY

National ADAPT Confronts Republican Party’s Proposed Cuts to Medicaid and Housing

WHAT: National ADAPT Protests Republican’s proposed Cuts to Medicaid and Housing

WHO: The disability activist organization, National ADAPT

WHEN: Happening NOW

WHERE: Outside U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

WHY: The Republicans proposed cuts to Medicaid and Housing will affect the lives of millions of people with disabilities around the country.  Currently it is very difficult for people with disabilities to be able to obtain home and community-based services.  Cuts to Medicaid will make it impossible for people to remain in the community and will be forced into unwanted more costly institutionalization.  National ADAPT DEMANS that Mitch McConell, Kevin McCarthy, and others in the Republican party STOP PLAYING POLITICS WITH OUT LIVES.

HOW:  For interviews or additional information please contact:

Chris Murphy, (507)340-3889

Brandon Heinrich, (631)834-7598

Follow us on social media:  https://linktr.ee/adaptnational

For National ADAPT’s Housing Platform: https://nationaladapt.org/housing/

For Immediate Release:  May 10th, 2023

Who:  National ADAPT

What:  Demonstration to demand that the Administration for Community Living Stop Funding Guardianship Systems that Institutionalize People with Disabilities 

When: Wednesday, May 10th 1pm

Where:  Administration for Community Living,  330 C St SW,  

                                                                                                 Washington, DC 20201

For More information: 

Misty Dion                         570 367 6269                     mdion@cilncp.org                                    

Latoya Maddox                267 815 8688                     lmaddox83@gmail.com          

National ADAPT Social Media:  LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/adaptnational 

National ADAPT Demands that Administration for Community Living (ACL) Immediately Stop Funding Guardianship Systems that Institutionalize People with Disabilities and Prioritize People With Disabilities 

Washington, D.C.-  The disabled community has paid the price  of guardianships.  National ADAPT Demands that the Administration for Community Living (ACL) Stop Funding Guardianship Systems that Institutionalize People with Disabilities.

National ADAPT strongly opposes the use of guardianship as a tool for institutionalization and  for infringing on the rights of people with disabilities.  Upholding the mission of independent living (IL), we call for the end to all systems of oppression that segregate and incarcerate our people. Guardianship, by diminishing our self-determination, dignity, and community participation, is wholly incompatible with the IL philosophy.

Contrary to the Olmstead decision and its own IL principles, ACL continues to fund agencies that wrongly pursue guardianships through profit-taking schemes and unethical relationships with peer agencies and the legal profession.  These guardianships force people into long-term care facilities and other institutions where they lose access to less restrictive alternatives and community supports.  We demand ACL stop funding these entities and to explicitly oppose unwarranted guardianships.  National ADAPT further calls on ACL to ensure that anyone subjected to guardianship, whether institutionalized or not, will have full access to federally mandated Centers for Independent Living (CIL) services and the unimpeded opportunity to enjoy less restrictive alternatives. 

On the 40th Anniversary of National ADAPT,  National ADAPT, the nation’s largest grassroots disability rights activist organization, has been urging ACL to act on these critical issues.  These programs enable people to live outside institutions and in freedom in their communities. National ADAPT calls for a meeting with ACL w/in 30 days of this Action to ensure that the voices of countless Americans with disabilities and aging adults under, or at risk of unnecessary guardianship are heard.  

ADAPT Demands ACL:

1. Immediately audit the use of ACL funds in states to identify financial support going to guardianship programs that do not adhere to the spirit and letter of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead decision.

2. Immediately cease funding to Area Agency on Aging (AAA)  that operate conflicting, dual roles as guardians, Adult Protective Services (APS) or ombudsmen; and direct those funds to a collaborative partnership between a CIL and a Protection and Advocacy System (P&A) with an emphasis on the mitigation and restoration of unnecessary loss of rights for those at risk and under needless guardianship.

3. Within 45 days of this Action issue federal guidelines and directives to the Administration On Aging (AOA), its funded state aging programs & AAAs that clearly affirm the federally mandated role of the Office of Independent Living Programs (OILP), its CILs, Supportive Independent Living Centers (SILC) and Protection & Advocacy agencies to advance the community integration of people with disabilities, including providing for the least restrictive supports and services in the settings of their choice. Reaffirming the most integrated settings mandate of Olmstead.

4. Immediately institute strict parameters on ACL funding to states, requiring transparency, accountability, reporting and adherence to the Administration’s underlying mission. This is imperative for accountability on all systems involving guardianship.

 5. Immediately apply penalties to states using ACL funds that violate the civil and human rights to self-determination and due process of people with disabilities through abusive guardianship practices.

National ADAPT calls on ACL to uphold its commitment to IL and include those with lived experiences in assessing support for agencies that establish or promote the use of guardianships. As outlined in Senators Bob Casey and Mike Braun’s proposed Guardianship Bill of Rights, work with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop procedures that will offer real protections to our community and finally stop the abuse and exploitation of our people. 

Free Our People Now!

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 For Immediate Release:                                                                       May 10th, 2023

Who:  National ADAPT

What:  Demonstration  Demanding Secretary Becerra and HHS work with ADAPT to end the Institutional Bias

When: Wednesday, May 10th 10am

Where:  The Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue S.W.
                    Washington, D.C., 20201

For More information: 

Misty Dion                         570 367 6269                     mdion@cilncp.org                                    

Latoya Maddox                267 815 8688                     lmaddox83@gmail.com          

National ADAPT Social Media:  LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/adaptnational 

National ADAPT Demands that Secretary Xavier Becerra and HHS work with ADAPT towards Ending the Institutional Bias  

National ADAPT has attempted for over a year to get the Center for Medicare and Medicaid to push policies down to the states that will help with Ending the Institutional Bias for our brothers and sisters with disabilities to remain as independent and free from barriers while living in the community.

National ADAPT is protesting today to  Demand Secretary Xavier Becerra and HHS work with ADAPT towards Ending the Institutional Bias.

ADAPT Demands: 

1.   A meeting with Secretary Xavier Becerra

2.   Community Attendants be paid a living wage with healthcare plans and benefits.

3.   Secretary Becerra directs CMS to create network adequacy standards for all HCBS that provides under the Managed Care Long Term Services and Supports system.

4.    Secretary Becerra appoints one of our members to the IL Specialist seat on the Guardianship Council outlined in Casey’s Federal Bill of Rights.

5.  ADAPT Demands: that HHS puts a policy in place for emergency durable medical equipment repairs[1] [2] 

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DME: Timelines and penalties for the enforcement

and attendant workforce coverage if the attendant has & emergency, we demand HHS has a policy in place to cover these needs in a manner equivalent to consumers’ physical emergencies.

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For Immediate Release: May 9th, 2023

Who:  National ADAPT

What:  Demonstration to demand  Speaker McCarthy invest in people with disabilities 

When: HAPPENING NOW

Where:  Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C.

For More information: 

Rhoda Gibson, (617) 504-1792, rhodagibson2@gmail.com

Pam Auer, (717)418-0419, pauer@cilcp.org

    www.nationaladapt.org 

National ADAPT Demands that HUD Immediately Include and Prioritize Funding for Accessible Affordable Housing for People With Disabilities 

Washington, D.C.-  The disabled community has paid the price before and during COVID.  We have been locked away in institutions because of lack of affordable and accessible housing and have died at an extremely high rate while waiting to transition to affordable accessible housing. On the 40th Anniversary of National ADAPT,  National ADAPT, the nation’s largest grassroots disability rights activist organization, has been urging HUD to act on these critical issues.  These programs enable people to live outside institutions and in freedom in their communities. National ADAPT calls on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to do the following: 

1-Funding going to housing must be doubled, that is the requirement under Section 504 for housing units to be built as mobility-disability accessible needs to be increased by 10% and as sensory-disability accessible needs to be increased by 4%.

2-Create a permanent funding for Barrier Eliminations for accessibility modifications for people transitioning out of facilities and those at risk of going into facilities (i.e., nursing facilities).

3-Make Housing Choice vouchers an entitlement for all who need housing.

4-Continue to issue Mainstream vouchers for disabled people to transition out of facilities and who are at risk of going into facilities (i.e. nursing facilities).  HUD will track these vouchers.

5-Enact or include the Eleanor Smith Inclusive Home Design Act, this would allow for any new housing built to have one entrance to the house with no steps and a half a bathroom on the first floor, just large enough for someone in a wheelchair to use. This would allow for integration of disabled into their communities to visit others.

With this increase in funding, existing programs will be enhanced. It is time for Speaker McCarthy to keep his promise to National ADAPT and all Americans – that they will truly invest in accessible affordable housing.  We pay taxes and vote!

Press Advisory For Immediate Release

For information contact: 

Rhoda Gibson, 617-504-1792 rhodagibson2@gmail.com 

Jennifer McPhail, 512-627-5869 jennifer.adapt@sbcglobal.net
ADAPTNational@gmail.com

Who: National ADAPT 

What: Confronting Senators blocking passage of the Build Back Better social infrastructure bill
Where: In front of the Russell Senate Office BuildingWashington DC 20510 

When: Happening TODAY, Wednesday December 8, 2021, 12 PM 

Why: To demand the Senate pass the Build Back Better social infrastructure bill, and support full funding of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), which keeps people out of institutions. HCBS funding also provides living wages for the attendants who provide essential, often intimate care for older and disabled people. ADAPT is also demanding that senators support funding for affordable, accessible, integrated housing, because you can’t have HCBS without the “H.”

NationalADAPT.org @RealNatlADAPT on Twitter & Instagram, ADAPT National on Facebook and TikTok, National ADAPT on YouTubeADAPTnational@gmail.com#DisabledNotDisposable #CareCantWait #BetterCareBetterJobs #HoUSed #ADAPTandSurvive #TheGrandmasAreComing #BuildBackBetter

For Immediate Release                                                          September 20, 2022              

Contact:

Rhoda Gibson, rhodagibson2@gmail.com, (617)504-1792

Colleen Flannigan, colleen1979@gmail.com, (617) 435-0486

Gina Barabra, ginambarbara@gmail.com, (516)318-9460,

National ADAPT Demands Biden Administration Prioritizes Community Living for People with Disabilities

Who:  National ADAPT

What: Demonstration and Street Theatre exposing the need for expansion of Home and Community Based Services

When: HAPPENING NOW!

Where: In front of White House, Washington, D.C.

National ADAPT is peacefully protesting outside of the White House in Washington, D.C. as we  continue fighting for the civil and human rights of disabled people.  For 30 years ADAPT  has been demanding Congress recognize our right to live in integrated housing, we have been fighting for an increase in funding to expand and make permanent, the Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration project, which provides funding for home and community-based services (HCBS), and livable wages for our personal care attendants. 

32 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act the freedom of people with disabilities continues to be denied.  People with disabilities continue to be forced to beg for the freedom that others take for granted.  People with disabilities still don’t have the right to get care in their own homes.  Public access is not a right that people with disabilities are allowed to fully enjoy. 

ADAPT is at the White House  in D.C. to peacefully yet assertively DEMAND that the Biden Administration stop ignoring us and TAKE ACTION NOW to FINALLY Free Our People. 

ADAPT Demands The Biden Administration immediately pass a bill that includes and prioritize funding for HCBS, increased wages for Community Attendants, and accessible housing for people with disabilities

ADAPT has been urging the Biden Administration to act on these critical issues since this Administration took office.  We have asked previous Administrations to do the right thing and while we have made strides, our people are STILL not free.  For over 30 years, National ADAPT has been fighting to end the institutional bias to FINALLY free our people from nursing homes and other institutions . 

Home and community-based services enable people with disabilities to live in their own homes instead of an institution. ADAPT demand that the Biden Administration pass a bill that includes funding for the following items:

1. Expansion of HCBS under Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act as a required service in all states (rather than a waiver-based program) to increase access, quality, and uniformity nationwide.

2. Increase payment rates for attendant care workers in a manner that will guarantee a “living wage” and benefits

3. Expand affordable, accessible, integrated housing development and rent subsidy programs targeting low- and moderate-income people with disabilities, especially people who receive HCBS services.

4. Expand access to accessible home modifications programs so people can leave or avoid institutional settings, thus saving millions of health care dollars.

5.  Immediately stop disparaging money into nursing homes and other institutions and fully fund Home and Community Based Services

6.  President Biden should meet with ADAPT and work on FINALLY ending the Institutional Bias

With this increase in funding, existing programs will be enhanced. It is time for the Biden Administration to keep its promise to ADAPT and all Americans – that they will truly invest in long-term care infrastructure!

@RealNatlADAPT will continue #FightingForOurLives because we are #DisabledNotDisposable and we want to live in #OurHomesNotNursingHomes

For more social media contact info: linktr.ee/adaptnational