The Roving Activist’s Blog

The folks from West Virginia ADAPT sent this. Great work!!

Hi everyone:  WOW, what a great day. As usual the wheels of government turn very oddly. It seemed that the Governor was not going to make an announcement one way or the other yesteday. During the two hours the group of twenty people waited in his reception area, he sent out a minor staff person twice to basically say he didn’t know what was going on.

Finally at 3pm we were all suprised when the Governor himself came out of his office to welcome us.  The bottom line is that because of the pressure from the grassroots, the Governor seems to have decided that the grant is worth pursuing.  Following is the “official” synopsis of the meeting. Please feel free to send it to any and all newspapers in your area. 

Scott  
 
On Tuesday, October 3, twenty citizen advocates met at the State Capitol and marched to Governor Manchin’s reception area carrying signs congratulating the Governor for moving forward with pursuing the Federal Money Follows The Person Rebalancing Initiative grant, and signs that read ”Nothing About Us Without Us” and “Our Voices Will Be Heard”.  The group waited for two hours before the Governor finally came out and requested that he meet privately with two representatives of the group. Ken Ervin of ADAPT/WV, Scott Miller of PAIRS and Josh Miller, Self-Advocate Ambassador for MSPA were escorted in to the Governor’s private office.
 
The Governor made it clear that he wants to support all West Virginia citizens in the most equitable, efficient and effective ways possible. He met with the group for about thirty minutes and brought the State Olmstead Coordinator into the conversation by conference call. He told the Olmstead Coordinator to go ahead and start writing the grant application and assured her that Nancy Atkins, Commissioner of the Bureau of Medical Services, would offer whatever support she needed to get the application written.  He also assured the group that the Grants Management office was aware of the grant deadline and was prepared to move the grant through when it arrived in their office.  

The Governor stated that he would be talking with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, to discuss the possibility of some flexibility in the administrative structure for West Virginia’s grant proposal so more of the funds could go directly to support individuals in the community. He did state that if West Virginia was not allowed that flexibility, he would still be willing to pursue the grant. He made it very clear that he is committed to the concept of Money Follows The Person and is working to be sure the State has all its “ducks in a row” before making the final decision about this grant. 

He accompanied this small group back to his reception area and briefly explained his position, shook everyone’s hand and said he would be making a formal announcement concerning the Money Follows The Person Rebalancing Initiative grant by Monday or Tuesday of next week at the latest.  

The group all felt like the trip to the Capitol was well worth the effort and that the Governor was sincere in his concern for people with disabilities in West Virginia. 
 

There is a ray of hope, and perhaps, a light at the end of the tunnel for Colorado ADAPT in the fight to get Health Care Policy and Financing director, Steve Tool, to allow Colorado to apply for the Money Follows the Person grant. As a direct result of the hard work of Colorado ADAPT, there will be a meeting on Thursday with Mr. Tool to discuss signing on. ADAPT members will propose writing the actual grant so that Tool will need to dedicate only one staffperson for the project. It will take lots of hard work to get the grant in by November 1st, but ADAPT has already done quite a bit of research, and have the actual grant writers in place. These folks have already gotten the framework for the grant down, which will save a lot of time. It only remains for Steve Tool to say yes, and the chances for that have gotten better, as it seems that his attitude has softened in the ensuing weeks due to the pressure from state legislators at the request of ADAPT. Hopefully, the meeting will have a positive outcome. I will keep you abreast of the happenings in this ongoing saga.

The tents are back up at Gallaudet University. Students there are resuming their protest over the selection of Jane Fernandes as president. The students say that they are upset over the Board of Trustee’s selection process, including the lack of racial diversity in that process, and the student’s perception that Jane Fernandes is someone who isn’t suited to the post because she is cold and aloof, disrespectful to students, and is considered divisive. Students and faculty who support Fernandes including outgoing president, I. King Jordan, insist that the real problem is a matter of deaf culture, since Fernandes did not begin to use American Sign Language until she became an adult.

Personally, I belive that painting the cause of the student protests as merely a tiff over deaf culture, and who is or is not deaf enough is a slap in the face of the students. It implies that because they are deaf, they have no concerns about issues other than those related to being deaf. I believe that the protests have arisen due to a combination of all of the facts, and the powers that be at Gallaudet really need to be serious about addressing the concerns of the students. Though the selection of Mrs. Fernandes is a done deal, and more than likely, a lost cause for the students, the school needs to to make some real concessions or those tents will be there for a long, long time, and Gallaudet University will remain a house divided.

Two new MiCASSA sponsor have signed on. They are:

Rep Kuhl, John R “Randy”, Jr. [NY- 29] 9/28/06
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO] - 9/29/2006

I am especially proud about these two because they signed on as a direct result of activism by ADAPT activists. Rep. Kuhl signed on after the Rochester action, and Sen. Salazar signed on after ADAPT activist Dawn Russell wrote and personally handed him a letter outlining the benefits of MiCASSA while sitting behind him on a plane to Washington, DC.

The victory with Salazar is especially sweet, as back in the day, when the senator was serving as the state’s Attorney General, ADAPT activists, myself included, were arrested multiple times for occupying his offices in an effort to get him to support community-bases services for people with disabilities.