The Roving Activist’s Blog

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson  has written to all the PHA Executive
Directors asking them to support their state’s Money Follows the Person
efforts. Here is the link to the letter:

http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/publications/medicareinitiative.pdf

This is a direct result of the ADAPT action at HUD back in September. Thanks to the Secretary for honoring his promises, and thanks especially to ADAPT activists for their hard work!

Today, ADAPT will be meeting with Timothy Kaiser, of the Public Housing Authority. The meeting is the result of the ADAPT action on Tuesday, September 12th. Mr. Kaiser is the person who has the authority to get the public housing authorities across the nation to set aside Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities who are transitioning from institutional settings. I will find out what happened in the meeting and post it here.

Wednesday, September 13

At 9 am, we began lining up in our assigned places. Soon we were off. I had to make the decision whether or not to get arrested if it comes to that. Normally, I would go in a heartbeat, but I had Candice with me, and I know that she didn’t want to be arrested. I decided to chill out this time, and stay back.

After a while, I noticed that we were in stealth mode again. Soon, we were streaming through the doors of the Capitol Hill Hilton. The various Managed Care Organizations (MCO’s) were having their convention here. With the government wanting more involvement of MCO’s in Medicaid, ADAPT wants them to respect the principles of independent living and consumer direction, and not try to make their money off of the backs of people with disabilities. Within minutes, the lobby was jam packed with hundreds of ADAPT folks yelling and chanting, “We are not your cash cows! Meet with ADAPT now!” We chanted, “Karen Ignagni, meet with ADAPT!” Karen Ignagni is the President and CEO of America’s Health Iinsurance Policy (AHIP), and her group, along with another were there. ADAPT wants Karen to write a national policy that would incorporate independent living, and consumer direction. 

I was amazed that we had managed to take over a hotel lobby two days in a row. I had memories of previous actions back in the day. I found myself near Babs and little Stephanie, who is now a teenager, and taller than I. To my left were Candice, Evan, and The Boys–brothers Eric and Andrew Roybal, from Denver. The Boys are 17 and 19, and it is their first action. They are rap artisits, and pretty good, too! There were several ADAPT folks dressed as cows, and everyone had a cool little cow mask. We rocked the Hilton so loud that they heard us on the second floor, where the meetings were being held. After a couple of hours, the negotiating team came down to annouce that Karen Ignagni would meet with us in 30 days. She was really interested in the things that ADAPT had to say, and the negotiators felt that the meeting was very positive.

Fresh from that victory, we then went over to the Rayburn Building where the Congressional Oversight Committee was having hearings on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). About 100 or more of us stayed for the hearings, of which several important points were brought up, including the weakening of the definition of disability, and the impact that this has on people with certain disabilities such as epilepsy and diabetes.

Thursday, September 14

Thursday morning, cold and rainy, found us at HUD. That action brought back memories and flashbacks of earlier actions back in the day. HUD had been visited by ADAPT so many times that the police immediately took an ADAPT team upstairs to negotiate. We kept up the pressure downstairs with loud and rowdy chanting and singing in the rain. For a while the negotiations went bad, and the ADAPT team walked out, but not wanting to deal with several hundred angry ADAPTers, the Deputy Secretary of HUD brought the team back in, and began agreeing to the demands, one of which was to send out letters to all of the Public Housing Authorities supporting Access Across America, and earmarking Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities transitioning from nursing homes and other institutions. She then came down and announced to ADAPT that the letter would go out before November 1.

We then headed over to the Republican National Committee Headquarters. ADAPT wants a meeting with Ken Mehlman, the Chair of the Committee. We want Mehlman to endorse MiCASSA, the Community Choice Act, and Money Follows the Person. So far, after several hits, we have never been able to get a meeting. Some of us managed to get into the building, while the rest of us shut it down tight! We blocked every entrance and sidewalk. I must say that along with the usual nasty remarks from angry Republicans, we did encounter some folks who truely wanted to know about MiCASSA.

The ADAPT gods, who’d been smiling upon us all week with successes, now smiled upon us again. We received notice through Mr. Jozefiak that Ken Mehlman has agreed to meet with ADAPT before the end of the year. This is amazing! The RNC has never before agreed to meet with ADAPT.

Friday, September 15

Dawn and I got up early today to listen to NPR. Joe Shapiro, a reporter for NPR who does stories on disability issues, and the author of Without Pity, a book about disability rights, has done a show about the collaboration between CMS administrator, Dr. Mark McClellan and ADAPT. The segment was very, very good, and brought back memories, as I was one of the ADAPT members out there blocking Pennsylvaina Ave., and who spoke with McClellan when he came out to meet with us. I swelled with pride when McClellan stated that his proudest achievement was working with ADAPT on MiCASSA and MFP.

ADAPT then prepared for its Day on the Hill. This is the day when we scour the Hill, visiting every Senator and Representative’s office, giving them information packets about MiCASSA, and thanking those that support it already. My group visited the offices of Sen. Dodd, Sen. Clinton, Sen. Bayh, Sen. Lott, and several other senators from Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Rep. Bobby Rush, from Illinois, signed on to MiCASSA right there, and Sen John Kerry, a MiCASSA supporter took pictures with ADAPT activists. It is even possible that Sen. Ken Salazar, of Colorado might sign on. Dawn happened to be sitting directly behind him on the plane to DC, so she dashed off a two-page letter about the benefits of MiCASSA and Money Follows the Person, and how it can help Colorado. Sen. Salazar wrote Dawn back on his own stationary that he would check into both. He then had his staff call Dawn and invited her to a meeting that was already set up with Boulder ADAPT. Dawn says that the meeting went well.

Saturday, September 16

So ends a wonderful week of actions. I felt a twinge of sadness saying goodbye to everyone. This was a week of firsts for ADAPT, the most exciting for me being the involvement of so many youth. I noticed that kids who’d been born into ADAPT, or who’d come in very young were now growing up, and in their late teens, and early twenties. New ADAPT youth are coming in, and getting excited about standing up for themselves and others. I wish the young folks who are getting involved all the best, and I hope to see them around, and to eventually hand the baton of leadership over to them. Here’s what ADAPT had to say about the youth:

* ADAPT conducting its first Youth Summit, prior to the ADAPT Action, and having a general emphasis on youth throughout the week. Among the youth attending the action were disability rights filmmaker Eric Clow, from California; Candice Clark, from West Virginia, a member of the West Virginia Youth Disability Caucus that got legislation passed this year creating a Disability History Week in West Virginia; Eric and Andrew Roybal, brothers from Colorado who have written and recorded the first-ever disability rights rap song; Colin Olenick, a member of the Kansas Youth Leadership Network; Jamie, fresh out of a Georgia rehab facility; Sarah Watkins, a University of Michigan undergrad, who has spent most of 2006 researching the history and non-violent organizing strategies of ADAPT; Lisa Navarette of Texas; Paul Daye from Philadelphia; and Amber Smock of Chicago, one of the Youth Summit Organizers.

* The Kansas City Star newspaper following ADAPT youth Colin Olenick  from Overland Park, Kansas through the week.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/15531863.htm
(http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/15531863.htm)

Colin’s congressman, Rep. Dennis Moore (D-KS) has been a consistent and early co-sponsor of MiCASSA legislation. 

Lead on ADAPT Youth…Lead on!

Monday, September 11

I am excited about a number of things–seeing old friends, the upcoming week, and the fact that the young folks who’d stayed on after the ADAPT Youth Summit were out and about, and making friends.

Tuesday, September 12

 We lined up along the front of the hotel, then, set out single file, into the street. I notice that there aren’t many people about. I can’t figure out why until later, when we pass a group of people on the sidewalk near the Judiciary Square Metro station. A man calls out to me, and I recognize my friend, Bill O’Field, with the Board of Elections and Ethics. Now I know why the streets are empty. It’s Primary Day, and most folks are lined up in their polling places trying to vote. I’m glad I voted early!

We continue on chanting and singing, when suddenly, it goes dead quiet, and there is tension and urgency in the air. We pack it in tight, and move stealthily along the final blocks to our target. Suddenly, we dip into an underground parking lot, and find ourselves before a door leading to a hall, which led to a giant lobby. We stream through the doors, and down the hall, and burst into the lobby chanting, “We want Kaiser!” Timothy Kaiser is the head of the Public Housing Authority department that can assign Section 8 vouchers to persons with disabilities who are transitioning from nursing homes and other institutions.

I found myself at an escalator with Barbara Toomer on one side, and Sparky Metz, from Texas on the other. Some of our folks began unfurling our banners at the tops of some of the escalators. One of the building staff manhandled Sparky out of the way, but couldn’t get far. Barbara had to go and help with negotiations, so I took over the escalator, parking my wheelchair sideways, and placing my feet against the sides. No one could get past me without hurting themselves, and thankfully, no one tried! Pam Taggert, and Candice Clark were with me, and we got up a good, loud chant.

Needless to say, the police were running around trying to get the powers to be to meet with us. They warn them that we will not leave the lobby if they do not meet with us. The building staff are hoping and praying that we will go away. Meanwhile, we keep up the chanting and noise.

After an hour or so, we get the news that Kaiser will meet with us on the 25th of September. We also find out that our group had split off, and some of us had gone over to the meeting of the Coucil of Large Public Housing Authorities. That scene went bad at first, with threats of arrests, and a nasty attitude from the CLPHA folks. Finally through creative methods, ADAPT got the name of their head, and got directly in touch with her, and she directed the folks there to set up a meeting on October 4th.

We then went back to the hotel to get ready to welcome the folks from the Catholic Bishops. The organization, after a hit on them by ADAPT back in July, decided to meet today with several ADAPTers. They have decided to support MiCASSA, and wrote a letter to Rep. Danny Davis’s office to that effect.

Stay tuned for more…