Last week I went to Washington, D.C. for my first ADAPT Nationals Action. It was powerful, moving, emotionally, and physically draining.
Before I begin with story time, let's clarify what ADAPT is for those who do not know. ADAPT is an organization that uses nonviolence civil disobedience to ensure that civil rights for individuals with disabilities are protected. Majority of the folks in ADAPT have disabilities, and the saying "Nothing about us without us" holds true.
ADAPT also supports the Community Choice Act, which ensures that people with disabilities have the choice to receive services in their homes. (Under our current system of Medicaid, people with disabilities are only entitled to nursing home care.)
Back to the story....
There are two versions of this story. Let's tell the 'nice' version first.
Version 1: I was in D.C. for six days in April. Stayed at a nice hotel. Ate really good food. Drank fancy wine. Met awesome friends. Danced.
As you can see, though, there is no plot. No conflict. Nothing exciting is going on. It just sounds like an awesome time.
Why it was, but plots and conflicts always make stories interesting.
Do you want more? Why I believe so!
Version 2:
ADAPT Nationals consisted of 1 day of fundraising, 2 days of direct action, and 1 day of legislative visits. One morning consisted of us being out of the door at 5am.
I was in a group of 400 individuals who were fighting for their rights to remain in their homes and not live in nursing homes. We participated in rallies and actions to ensure that the
Olmstead Act, which is supposed to stop the institutionalization of those with disabilities is actually enacted. (A Supreme Court decision means nothing unless the states actually abide by it.) We also visited politicians and did a surprise visit on House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi at a hotel to get support for the Community Choice Act. We surprised Nancy so much that she decided to drive away!
I learned many lessons on the trip:
I learned how to operate a bullhorn and became surprised that when I talked in it and led chants, people actually responded. It still is scary to know that my voice can hold so much power and people actually listen to me. It makes me feel like a warrior.
I also learned that people with disabilities hold much more power than the general public realizes. I believe that it's because we're all about the cure and fixing the individual and not about the acceptance of the individual and listening to him/her.
I also saw first hand the importance of home and community based services for individuals in the home. It was moving to hear people who were either in nursing homes or in danger of being placed without their permission in nursing homes say "nursing homes are death camps" and "down with nursing homes, up with attendant care." I also heard stories how people were denied services and had to move to get the necessary services so that they can be independent.
Finally, I learned that much more needs to be done in fighting for and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities. We need to put pressure on our politicians and make them hear the stories from people who are in danger of being placed in nursing homes or reside in them. We also need to change society's attitude that disabilities are a human condition that need to be cured. We need acceptance of disabilities.
It'll take time to do this. It will be done through education, actions, and making people see the issue firsthand.
Will I do ADAPT Nationals again? Yes!
Olmstead Decision
ADAPT
