Two Victories, One Week

 

The following story comes to us from The Inclusion Daily Express by way of ADAPT.

Sometimes, with true courage and determination PWDs get their message heard.

How interesting that the “abled” whose lives are so conditional would resist for so long the adoption of a platform that benefits everyone.

P.S. When the Democrats had the ADAPT porta-potty hauled away last summer I quipped to a friend that they were going to use it as their “situation room”. 

 

S.K.

 

 

ADAPT’s Defending Our Freedom Campaign: Two Weeks, Two Victories
(ADAPT)
February 23, 2010
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA– [Excerpt] Two weeks into ADAPT’s Defending Our Freedom Campaign, there are already two victories. One, a resolution passed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), has its roots in ADAPT’s four-day and four-night protest vigil last July, held outside the DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C. despite torrential rains and no shelter for activists. The second victory is a meeting with staff from the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) scheduled for mid-April just prior to the spring ADAPT action in Washington.

On Thursday, February 4, ten members of ADAPT from across the nation attended the DNC Resolution Committee meeting in Washington, D.C. The committee unanimously passed a resolution that states, in part, "Whereas, efforts must be made on the state and federal level to eliminate institutional biases that unfairly discriminate against Americans with disabilities in obtaining long term service and support in programs such as Medicaid … the DNC will encourage and support efforts to vigorously enforce the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision." The Olmstead decision affirmed provisions in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that mandate people with disabilities should receive needed services and supports in "the most integrated setting," typically the community.

"Some people thought our protest outside the DNC last summer was an exercise in futility," said Jennifer McPhail, ADAPT organizer from Austin, Texas, "especially because so many of us who use wheelchairs slept outside each night, in pouring rain and wind, with only garbage bags or the occasional tarp for shelter. We had provided our own accessible porta-potty, but the DNC had it hauled away. Despite all that, we persisted in following the process laid out by the DNC, and now we have this historic resolution to show for all hell we went through last July."

Entire article:
DNC Resolution Pledges Olmstead Support; HHS OCR Agrees to Meet
http://adaptold.adapt.org/commchoice/index.php?mode=A&id=317
Related:
Another Step Forward in eliminating the Institutional Bias
http://adaptold.adapt.org/commchoice/index.php?mode=A&id=319
National Coalition Announces Support for CCA
http://adaptold.adapt.org/commchoice/index.php?mode=A&id=320
Tell Representative Steny Hoyer it’s time to end the institutional bias (Center for Disability Rights)
http://www.capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14717441

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