ADAPT Protest Brings Real Solutions to HUD-blocks 3 entrances

As I write this, 300 ADAPTERS are blocking 3 entrances to the HUD building in Washington, DC. What's up with that?

These are folks that live full lives and have better things to do with their time so why protest how federal housing dollars are spent?

There are still many in our society who want seniors and people with disabilities locked away in nursing homes and other institutions..out of sight out of mind. That's especially true if you are a senior or person with a disability who has a low income....and with 1 in 7 Americans living in poverty....well do the math. Tens of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities need affordable, integrated, accessible housing.

Yet 20 years after the ADA was signed into law, HUD still spends our tax dollars so that seniors and people with disabilities are forced to live ....and too often die...in institutions.

ADAPTers can launch a great chant, can block the doors and chain themselves to HUD with a flair...yet also among us are top policy wonks in the housing arena. We want to work with HUD Secretary Donovan to implement a solution to this housing crisis.

What is so scary or hard about that?

What do we want? Affordable, accessible, integrated housing. When do we want it? NOW

Defending Our Freedom in Rochester, NY: Call Maggie Brooks and Tell Her Don't Take Away Our Choice!

By The Roving Activist

For three days, I have been on the sidewalk with the folks from the Center for Disability Rights (CDR) as we fight for the freedom of our sisters and brothers who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Services (CDPAS) program through CDR.

On July 22, 2010, CDR, and each of its 300 CDPAS consumers received a letter from the Monroe County Department of Human Services stating that CDR's contract with the county had been terminated, and that consumers had until August 1, 2010 to find another agency. No reason was given for the termination of the contract.

A list of five agencies was provided for consumers to transfer to in order to receive services. All are for-profit, and two have central offices that are located out of state. In a separate letter to the media, the county made several allegations which were either patently false, or misrepresentations of CDR responsibilities. CDR responded to this letter with facts and documentation so that the truth would be known.

On Monday, July 26, 2010, the 20th anniversary of the signing of the ADA, over 300 people packed a forum originally organized to celebrate the ADA, but it quickly became a venue to express their outrage over what had happened, and how it would have a devastating impact on their lives.

After the forum, 100 activists and CDPAS consumers and attendants, along with CDR staff and ADAPT members marched to the Monroe County Building to demand the restoration of the CDPAS contract to CDR. Over 30 people, including myself, held vigil through the night in front of the building. Today, Wednesday, is day three of our vigil at the County Building. Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Executive, has dug in her heels and is refusing to meet with CDR, or restore the CDPAS contract.

I am appalled at the actions of Ms. Brooks and Kelly Reed, Commissioner of the Monroe County Department of Human Services. They are well aware of the fact that their decision has done three things: It has taken away our people's ability to direct their own attendant services (something unheard of in traditional home care agencies), it has endangered their lives because traditional home health agencies will not accept or cover those with complex needs, and those who need 24-hour care, leading to health deterioration, and it has put people at risk of placement in nursing facilities, where neglect and substandard care is common. They simply don't care!

The county also doesn't seem to mind that due to it's actions, it is potentially in violation of Olmstead, and lawsuits from consumers and their families are a likely result, as well.

I am sure that the county knows the status of the agencies that it is referring CDPAS consumers to transition to. According to one worker who called each agency, one of the agencies is closed, another is not accepting new clients, and the others are saying that they don't have the human resources to deal with the influx of clients with complex needs.

These machinations by the county are in my opinion, nothing more than politics in action. It is a ploy to silence the advocacy, activism, and voice of CDR and it's consumers. I can't help but believe that when I hear stories of people dying of neglect in the county jail, yet that contractor still has a contract. It is my understanding that children have died in the care of the Monroe County Department of Human Services, yet, Kelly Reed, it's Commissioner, still has a job.

CDR has not neglected CDPAS consumers, and no one has died, yet CDR's contract has been terminated without due process. When the County tolerates long-standing abuse and neglect of clients in other programs that it oversees, but terminates the contract of an agency well-known in the community as outspoken disability rights activists and advocates, it is a clear sign that big government is attempting to silence the voices of downtrodden people.

Call Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Executive, at 585-753-1000, and tell her don't take away our choice. Restore the CDPAS contract to CDR!

New York State Deals With Governor Paterson

Check out this video on the state budget fight in New York: http://www.cdrnys.org/video/proposedbudgetYNN.html. The video is captioned.

On Monday, February 1st, a group of New York disability rights advocates met with the Governor Paterson and key staff regarding his budget proposal to cap personal care at 12 hours per day.

After delays with security, we started the meeting with quick introductions and a brief context for the meeting. At about that point, the Governor walked in; we did a quick round of re-introductions and got back to business.

Throughout the meeting, the Governor played a calming role as his staff and the advocates argued. He expressed a willingness to admit that their proposal might have negative consequences that they had not intended. The advocates poked holes in the administration's proposal, but the Governor would intervene and say that they had already admitted that the proposal might not be perfect, suggesting the group "move forward"... then his staff would start defending the proposal again.

Michelle, who is directly affected by the cut, explained the effect that this proposal would have on her. She explained that just days before giving birth to her daughter, she got her spinal cord injury and became a quad. She left the hospital to live with her mother who was now taking care of both her and her newborn daughter. She wasn't ever able to get the personal care she needed in Seneca County so she moved into a less accessible apartment in Ontario County where she could finally get services. She pointed out that she now must take a 45-minute drive to take a shower, but that's how important her independence was to her. She emphasized that people who get this level of service really need it, and it clearly wasn't that easy to get. She spoke about how she was finally able to raise her own daughter and be a mom. And she spoke about how she feared that losing the services would mean she would lose her freedom... and her family.

So we asked the administration why they hadn't used the cost-savings proposals that we had developed in November, long before any of these cuts were proposed. Our proposals didn't eliminate community-based services. Instead, they actually promoted the independence of people with disabilities by maximizing community-based approaches and cost-effective consumer-directed services. We acknowledged that our original proposals may have been aggressive, so we had ratcheted them down. Even so, we still projected $30 million to $90 million in savings for the first year, easily covering the saving the administration expected from capping personal care.

In a nutshell, our proposals said that the state could save money by moving people from nursing facilities to the Nursing Facility Transition and Diversion Waiver. The staffers felt that our target of 1,300 people statewide was unrealistically aggressive, but never explained how they felt nearly 5,000 people could be enrolled in NYC alone under their proposal. They also argued that daily savings rate we used was too high, even though our revised version was taken straight from the DOH's TBI Waiver report to CMS.

The staff also complained that our proposal assumed that we would close nursing facility beds, but there isn't the political will to make that happen. We argued that the state, particularly in such difficult fiscal times, shouldn't prioritize the institutions over people. At this point the Governor stepped in and said that they wanted some time to review our proposals. We urged them to eliminate the 12-hour cap in their 21 day amendments.

The pessimistic side is that the staff seemed committed to the cap.

The optimistic side is that they agreed to look more closely at our revised proposal. The Governor has clearly made this something they have to address. They know that they are going to be flambéed every step of the way with the 12-hour cap.

We don't know what will happen, but whatever happens, this is only the start of the process!

To learn more about CDR, see http://www.cdrnys.org/.

The Center for Disability Rights Visits Governor Patterson

To see the video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLBLwx5b9DQ&feature=player_embedded. Governor Paterson visited Rochester for an interview on WXXI, CDR was there protesting the NY state budget. Governor Paterson met with Bruce Darling and also agreed to further talks on Monday 02/01/2010.