Welcome to ADAPT!

ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.

National Action: April 20-25, 2013

We are in DC RIGHT NOW for people's action against power!! We have presented our PLATFORM FOR CHANGE to the White House. Check out some of our victories. Follow the action with the ADAPT Action Report and at ADAPT Twitter. This year is our 30th Anniversary. It’s been three short decades of fighting for disability rights, access in the community, freeing our people from nursing homes and other institutions, nothing about us without us, accessible public transit, ending the institutional bias in Medicaid, affordable & accessible & integrated housing, Medicaid Matters! and so much more. Join us and let the world know you are loud, proud and ready to speak out. For more information contact: adapt@adapt.org

Fun Run for Disability Rights

ADAPT's Fun Run for Disability Rights is TODAY!!!! Sunday, April 21, 2013 in Upper Senate Park. This is a fund raiser to help us subsidize the costs of our work. Can you support us? Even just a few bucks? For more information Fun Run Announcements or go to the Fun Run Website to support ADAPT!

ADAPT Organizer Training

Do you know people interested in starting an ADAPT chapter?

Are you concerned that your chapter is just a couple folks and you aren't sure what to do?

The super-experienced ADAPT organizers in our Emerging Groups Workgroup are ready to help! The workgroup organized a training in Austin, Texas to develop ADAPT groups. It was awesome---ask us how to do more!

Here's a link for more information.

ADAPT's End of Year Message

As the year comes to an end, we take the time to look back over what we’ve done and make plans for the New Year. ADAPTers all over the country worked hard to make a difference in 2012, so we thought it would be appropriate to take a moment to recognize these collective accomplishments. ADAPT's End of Year Message

ADAPT's Call to Action on the Fiscal Cliff

As the fiscal cliff approaches, folks around the country are worried about the potential for a recession and the impact that federal cuts will have on people with disabilities. ADAPT has identified TWO things local groups can do to address the impending fiscal cliff.

Read more of ADAPT's call to action on the fiscal cliff.

Senate fails to ratify the CRPD

ADAPT joins the rest of the disability community in expressing our deep disappointment that the majority of Republican Senators voted against ratifying the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD). Whatever the individual rationale, this vote is a slap in the face against the community integration principles that are the foundation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the disability community which has worked so hard to secure ratification of this treaty. ADAPT's response on CRPD.

Colorado ADAPT: "President Obama Supports Community Living"

President Obama has demonstrated support for both our civil right to live in the community AND the Medicaid funding we need to make that right a reality. In contrast, the Romney-Ryan ticket is proposing to CUT Medicaid by one-third and is urging the repeal of the Affordable Care Act which includes the Community First Choice Option. Read more about Colorado ADAPT's encounter with President Obama.

VICTORY!

Governor Gregoire decides NOT to appeal MR v Dreyfus to the Supreme Court

Thanks to the efforts of both Secretary Sebelius at HHS and Attorney General Holder at DOJ, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire has decided she will NOT appeal M.R. v. Dreyfus to the Supreme Court. That appeal would have given the Supreme Court an opportunity to reconsider, or worse, overturn the landmark Supreme Court Olmstead decision that established the right under the Americans with Disabilities Act for individuals with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting.

Based on discussions with HHS and DOJ, Washington State modified their appeal process to assure that people with disabilities are not forced into unwanted institutional settings.

Here is a copy of the letter Governor Gregoire sent HHS and DOJ: gregoireltr.pdf

Here is a copy of the letter that she received: dojresponse.pdf

Although Washington will continue to defend this case in the 9th circuit, they are not taking it to the Supreme Court.

THANK YOU to the Obama administration for helping broker this incredible deal and supporting our right to live in the most integrated setting! They have shown that it isn't necessary to sacrifice the freedom of Americans with disabilities in order to balance the budget!

WE DID IT!

ADAPT'S Fall 2012 National Action: Showdown in Harrisburg, PA!
ADAPT has been in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for direct action to spotlight the national crisis in Medicaid, right during one of the most important national elections in recent memory. We held the state of Pennsylvania accountable as a message to Federal and state governments! ADAPTers arrived on Saturday, October 13th and are leaving Thursday, October 18th. Follow the action from the streets of Harrisburg online at the ADAPT Action Report.

We held a My Medicaid Matters Rally at 1 pm EST on Wednesday, October 17 at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. All were welcome to the rally. See the rally speaker list here. For more details about the National Action and the Rally please see the event page Harrisburg National Action.

Still defending the ADA... 22 years later!

ADAPT has teamed up with the American Association of Persons with Disabilities, the National Council on Independent Living and the National Disability Rights Network to fightback against the hotel industry's attack on the ADA. The groups have organized a national campaign that includes a boycott, direct action and more. Still defending the ADA.

The Supreme Court UPHOLDS the Affordable Care Act!

Today, June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court released its decision upholding most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Supreme Court’s ruling will benefit millions of Americans with disabilities by providing access to medical coverage, medical equipment, and options for home and community based care. ADAPT is continuously working on ending the institutional bias in Medicaid. The ACA has helped states find ways to provide home and community based services and supports, instead of relying on nursing facilities and institutions to house people with disabilities who do not need or want to live there. The Supreme Court decision on the ACA will help us move toward our ultimate goal of having all people with disabilities live integrated in the community, not locked away in segregated settings.

To learn more about this historic decision that will help us free our people, read the ADAPT national press release.

National Action: April 21-26, 2012

ADAPT was in Washington DC to fight the institutional bias and advocate to Defend Our Freedom! Read about the action through Twitter at @Nationaladapt or Facebook by "liking" the National Adapt Group Page.

Also, check out our previous action at ADAPT Action Report. ADAPT fought to ensure that the US Congress Super Committee did not make arbitrary cuts to Medicaid while developing a ten-year budget plan for the United States. See ADAPT's Medicaid Savings Proposals.

Aljazeera Opinion Article on Medicaid Rally

Community First Choice Option

Update on the CFC Rules
As of October 1, 2011, states were eligible to select the Community First Choice Option, a provision of the Affordable Care Act. On April 24, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the Community First Choice Option rules had been sent to the Federal Register for publication. Once the rules are public, ADAPT and others will be reviewing them and fighting to see the option implemented in the states. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin thanked ADAPT for being a major force to push the government to release these rules. We have waited long enough to FREE OUR PEOPLE! Stay tuned for action alerts and information on the CFC Option rules.

Update on State Activities
Several states have already indicated that they will be selecting the option. California has formed a CFC Development and Implementation Council and has an aggressive timeline for CFC Implementation. New York has announced that it will be selecting the option. Maryland has confirmed that the state will select the option. Alaska, Rhode Island and Washington all indicated in a Families USA survey that they would be selecting the CFC Option in the coming year. In the same survey, Arizona has indicated that the state is considering selecting the option.

Whether your state is moving forward with the CFC Option or you are advocating that they do, ADAPT's Community First Choice Option Fact Sheet explains the basics for you. We have also developed Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about CFC as well as a sample letter you can edit to send to your State Medicaid Director to ask for a meeting about your state selecting the CFC Option.

TAKE ACTION!

Proposed Department of Labor Changes Could Promote Institutionalizations

The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed changes in federal labor rules that, although well-intentioned, will have a negative impact on people with disabilities and most seriously impact people who have the most significant disabilities who rely on Medicaid home and community based services to be independent.

ADAPT recognizes the invaluable role that attendants play in supporting the independence of people with disabilities and has advocated for increased funding for attendant services to improve wages, however the way DOL is implementing this rule change will have a serious negative impact on people with disabilities and promote unwanted institutionalization.

Send comments to the Department of Labor!

Learn more about the DOL changes!

Read about the personal impact of the DOL changes.

Read the NDLA sign on letter!

Managed Care

The expansion of Medicaid managed care that includes long term services and supports for people with disabilities and older people confronts us with the challenge of how to assure that the advances we have made in developing a person centered, consumer directed, community based system is not diminished or eliminated. Managed care has some positive opportunities as well as potential for negative outcomes.

States are developing Requests for Proposals that HMOs must respond to. The HMOs selected to administer the program then must sign a contract with the state that outlines what they must provide, how it is delivered, how the state will evaluate their performance and how the HMOs will be reimbursed. Advocates should be at the table telling the state what “best practices” to put in the RFP. In addition there must be some accountability in the managed care contract to assure that community integration is the outcome we want.

Two resources for advocates at the state level are Guiding Principles for Serving Individuals with Disabilities through Medicaid Health Plans that National ADAPT negotiated with the American Health Insurance Programs (AHIP)in 2007 and proposed Community Integration Performance Indicators (CIPI) that ADAPT of Texas has recently developed to assess how their managed care program in Texas (StarPlus) is doing in providing LTSS.

Check out the September 21, 2011 National My Medicaid Matters Rally

ADAPT and over 90 disability, aging and civil rights groups sponsored the historic My Medicaid Matters rally, the biggest gathering of disability advocates in the nation's capital since the ADA signing.More Rally Information.

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