On Monday, November 18, 2019 PA ADAPT got together at the Capitol demanding our elected officials Not to take us back in history 45 years, and vote NO to SB 906.
SB 906 would not only keep the Polk and White Haven State Centers open after the announcement of their 3-year plan closures, it would also institute a moratorium on all closures of State funded intellectual disability and developmental disability centers and other long-term institutions.
Meaning, SB 906 would make it impossible to continue de-institutionalization in Pennsylvania as it would mandate no institutions will close until all people who qualify in PA (including our current growing waiting list of 13k) for Home and Community Based Services are enrolled.
We started our morning off at Senator Tartaglione’s office to talk about why she, as a disabled person, is a cosponsor on SB 906. After we hung out in her office for a bit she rolled in and listened to what we had to say, our testimonies, and our demands. She thanked us and initially said she would try to get the original cosponsor to pull the bill. After she left however, her staffer came back quickly and said since the bill is on its third reading they cannot pull it, but that Tartaglione would Vote NO!
Conveniently, the original sponsor of the bill, Senator Yudichak shares the same waiting office space as Tartaglione so we hung out a bit longer to wait for him to get back from his field office in Hazelton. Unfortunately, he must have been stuck in traffic (or probably not) and we didn’t want to miss the Senators walking/rolling into chambers, so we headed down to the second floor and parked ourselves along the wall in front of the Senate voting chambers entrance for when session was set to start, 1pm.
We filled the halls with our chant “VOTE NO on 906” for nearly two hours straight.
Eventually, Senate went into recess and they all skipped out a different exit to avoid us – we found out after Pam Auer ,Germán L. Parodi , Spitfire A Sabel , Misty Marie , Jerry Webb ,and Tamika rolled in to find no one.
It was clear they were taking their good ole time to take a vote, or maybe they were really waiting for Yudichak to get out of traffic? Either way, it was nearing the end of the day, the cops didn’t want to even talk to us let alone arrest us, and we surely got our point across after chanting for 2 hours the same thing –
“VOTE NO on 906”
We packed our bags, folded up our rain poncho signs, and rolled out ADAPT style. On our train ride home that night we found out the Senate passed SB 906. Senator Tartaglione did keep her word though and was one of the few “No” votes. The House now has 3 days to vote on SB 906.We need all hands, feet, stubs on deck! If you live in PA call your Representative and tell them to Vote NO on SB 906 – that we don’t want to go back in history 45 years, and institutions are not the solution! In the activist life we know not every action (most actions)don’t end in big victories.
We will hold Governor Wolf to his word of committing (on camera) to Veto SB 906, and we’ll have his written commitment by November 19th or 20th – if the bills don’t land on his desk to Veto before then.
WE’RE ADAPT – WE’LL BE BACK! INSTITUTIONS ARE NOT THE SOLUTION! FREE OUR PEOPLE NOW! OUR HOMES! – NOT INSTITUTIONS! VOTE NO SB 906 – VETO SB 906
On Thursday, December 5, 2019 The DIA Workgroup made some holiday cards and with the help of Atlantis ADAPT they hand delivered the holiday cards to Senators to see if they will be on ADAPT’s Nice List this year!
This holiday season, two million people with disabilities remain locked away in institutions across the United States.
ADAPT has repeatedly visited the Senator’s offices to urge them to cosponsor the Disability Integration Act (S.117).
Despite our hard work with the staff, the certain Senators has still not cosponsored the bill which would ensure states and managed care organizations give disabled people the opportunity to live in freedom, instead of locking us away in institutions!
These Senators has until December 13, 2019 to cosponsor S.117 and be on ADAPT’s Nice List this year. Otherwise, they may end up on ADAPT’s Naughty List…
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.
Carol, ADAPT member from DC at Dirksen Senate Office building
My alarm went off at 3 am Monday morning, but my eyes popped open five minutes before. I was still tired, but also filled with a sense of urgency. I needed to get up and be ready to join the line outside of the hotel at 4:30 am. We had been told by organizers – they would not wait if we were late. The lobby was already full of my fellow ADAPTers when I arrived. People were chatting, eating bananas and drinking water. We all knew it would be a long day. My bag was full of PB & J sandwiches, apples and a plastic sign that read ‘Stop Trying to Kill Us!’ with a picture of a stop sign.
We began lining up. I didn’t know where we were headed, but I was excited and ready. I’m a walkie/limpy (depending on the time of day). A few of us walkies were asked if we could assist, and push a fellow ADAPTer in their manual chair. We took turns along the way because supporting each other is how we roll.
It was still dark as we marched and rolled towards the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Some had flashlights to help lead us, and people pointed out cracks and holes in the pavement to avoid. When we arrived we split up into groups so we were waiting at the different entrances. It wasn’t 6 am yet, and they wouldn’t be letting us in until 7:30. We watched the sun rise, and Congressional staffers and other activists began to arrive.
As 7:30 approached, we got ready. We would need to make it through security before we could head up to the hearing room. We rushed to get onto the elevator and when the door opened, my small group was greeted by a grinning Senator Wyden from Oregon. He had a bagel in his hand and was so happy to see us. We thanked the Senator and he was quick to say, “No, THANK YOU! For being here, and for all you are doing.” We were in a hurry to join the line, but he wanted a picture. I took the photo. The Senator said “I’m going to call this my ‘Running with the Right Team’ photo.”
We took our spots and settled in for the wait – 6 hours to go. My feet and leg were already beginning to ache – sometimes I’d sit on the ground, but inevitably a Capitol Police officer would come up and tell us that sitting down in the hallway was a form of protest. It seemed silly, because that’s why we were there – to protest the Graham-Cassidy bill. When I needed a break, I’d ask a friend to save my spot and take a walk to the front or the end of the line. I said hi to old friends, and met and talked to new ADAPT friends from other parts of the country.
I took photos and tweeted so that people would know what I was seeing and feeling. Even though I was smiling in the photos, and grateful to be meeting so many new friends – I wish it was under different circumstances. The Graham-Cassidy bill, like all the other repeal and replace bills, would limit my access to doctors, and likely have dire consequences down the line. The Graham-Cassidy bill would also make drastic cuts to Medicaid. People I know would have their access to supports and services they need to stay alive – personal attended services, home health services, even transportation – all cut. I’m filled with dread and anger whenever I think about it.
As the time of the hearing approached, word spread quickly that people were being let in. There was no way I was getting in, but my heart was with those who could. I heard that Congressional staff were bringing in more chairs to the hearing room, which would limit the number of wheelchair users who could attend. This was blatant discrimination against those who were most immediately affected by the bill. We began to chant ‘No Cuts to Medicaid, Save Our Liberty!’ We were there for what felt like hours, but I know it was less – Cough drops were handed out as our throats grew tired. Some of us were cuffed, all of us were led down by police, chanting as we moved passed the hearing – hoping to be loud enough to be heard. Outside, we waited for hours to be processed, then waited on the other side of the police line for the rest of our friends, cheering whenever someone was released, eating pizza and reflecting on the day. At around 8 we began the march back. It was dark again, but this time we would be marching down hill, reflecting on the day, and energized (if not physically, then mentally) for the next day’s actions.
By Cal Montgomery Chicago ADAPT
Cal Montgomery
This morning we lined up outside the hotel at 4:30. By 5 we were ready to head over to the Senate, collecting a significant number of police escorts along the way, and then we lined up early at an entrance so we could get in as soon as the doors opened. Breakfast was from McDonald’s: I got hash browns and a muffin with jelly.
When the doors opened we went through security, then up to the second floor to get in lime for the Finance Committee hearing. And there we waited alongside many other people. The police lined up against the wall in pairs and waited with us. Around two the line moved a little as the people up front got into the hearing room, and we pulled into tighter formation, and the chanting started.
“No cuts to Medicaid! Save our liberty!”
Other groups tried other chants but we stuck to ours. A police officer came to one of the other members and explained that we could avoid arrest. I turned off my wheelchair. I never heard the warnings that we were going to get arrested if we didn’t leave, but it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. Awhile later a color leader came down the line and told me we had all been arrested. She outlined my options: I could turn on my chair and leave under my own power, or show the Capitol Police how to operate it, and get a citation, or I could refuse to cooperate, be charged with resisting arrest, and be transported for booking.
I do not speak and do not always understand what I hear. Once the police had figured out how to communicate with me, they asked me the same question. I told them I was neither resisting nor fighting back but could not in conscience cooperate. After some debate as to what I might possibly mean by that as I sat quietly, they decided I was resisting arrest, tried to figure out how to operate my wheelchair, somehow missing the bit labeled “ON,” then disengaged my brakes and pushed me out of the building.
On the sidewalk they confiscated some of my belongings, including my communication device, but not all of them. A cop saw me rocking a bit and decided I looked distressed and began to rub my back — which, given my disability, distressed me. I asked for my communication device back but they said I couldn’t have electronics … as I sat in a powerchair with a tablet on my footplate.
Another activist explained my access needs, but the cop just could not allow me near electronics. When the accessible van came we had some problems with loading. They forgot to engage the brake before raising the lift and I got run into a pole a couple of times, but no harm done. I sat there with two activists from NYC and one from Denver, talking. I did get my communication device back in the van and kept it until the end of the day. At “the garage” (which is a garage used for processing arrestees) we were processed very slowly so we hung around talking. I was on the last bus in and the only one for my arresting officer, so I was one of the last processed.
I identified myself as nonspeaking and explained how to communicate. My interviewing officer switched from complete sentences to questions like “Is … this” — pointing to a name on a form — “… friend?” I asked her to use complete sentences as it is easier to understand. She apologized — and continued to speak like that.
Out right at midnight.
By Liam Dougherty Philadelphia ADAPT
Liam Dougherty
We lined up at 4:30am this morning, when DC was still dark. We were all exhausted but determined. We marched in line for almost an hour through the dark. My friend Larry was marching behind me and is low-vision. He held onto my power chair to guide him while we were walking because there was very little sunlight.
We then arrived at a senate office building before it opened, and we waited in front to be first in line and entered at 7am. We went up to where the senate Finance Committee was meeting to discuss the financing of the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill. The line to get into the meeting was very long as many different organizations from around the country lined up to be there in person. Adapt waited in line for 7 hours–giving interviews, talking to each other, and posting to social media.
Eventually we started yelling as loud as we could, “NO CUTS TO MEDICAID, SAVE OUR LIBERTY,” joining the chanting of other groups from around the building. We chanted for hours and more and more cops showed up, while employees were evacuated from the building. Eventually they announced that they would arrest us if we kept going. And we did.
We gave in peacefully and went outside to be processed–some Adapters were taken to jail in a van with a lift. But we were given our citations right outside. After a pizza dinner we lined up and went home, and waited in the hotel lobby to cheer when those who were arrested returned. It was a full day.
