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ADAPT's Defending Our Freedom Campaign By James Smith ADAPT launched its Defending Our Freedom Campaign in February and the grass roots advocacy group is already claiming two victories. The first win is a resolution passed by the Democratic National Committee. That resolution has roots in ADAPT's four-day protest vigil last July. It was 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. That meeting will happen just before the spring ADAPT action in Washington. In February, ten members of ADAPT from across America 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 the hell we went through last July." "With the resolution from the Democrats and our upcoming meeting with the folks from HHS Office of Civil Rights, we feel like we are gaining ground in this battle to become free, and to stay free,” said Nancy Salandra, ADAPT organizer in Philadelphia. "You would think that between this country's Constitution, and laws like the ADA, we should already have the right to live in our own homes and communities, but that's not how Congress has structured the funding for the supports we are entitled to receive. So, the resolution and the meeting are two more actions to make sure that the law is followed and our civil rights are protected." ADAPT's Defending Our Freedom campaign continues to gather media reports of the harm being done to disabled and older Americans by state budget cuts. The campaign also welcomes stories of how people in the states are fighting back against the cuts. ADAPT is additionally encouraging people who want out of institutional settings and the people assisting them to file OCR complaints. ADAPT will follow up on those complaints at the meeting with HHS OCR and the Department of Justice (DOJ), and will hold the HHS OCR staff accountable for resolving the complaints.
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