October 21, 2001
For more information, contact:
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085 cell
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504 cell

Disability Rights Activists Protest Rebuilding of Laguna Honda Hospital

(SAN FRANCISCO) Tom Cagle and Bunny McLeod, ADAPT State Organizers from New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state, drove their van all the way across America to participate in today's rally at Laguna Honda Hospital. "Rebuilding this dinosaur to warehouse 1200 people behind a manicured lawn is an unconscionable waste of taxpayer money," said Cagle. " People have a right to receive long term care services in their own homes in the community, and we're here to tell that to the mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the Governor."

Cagle and McLeod are joined by 400 fellow ADAPT members from 30 states, and another 200 supporters from numerous California organizations including COCO, the Coalition of Californians for Olmstead. All of the demonstrators are demanding that the City/County of San Francisco and the State of California act in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W., which affirmed the right of Americans to receive services in "the most integrated setting," and labeled unnecessary institutionalization as discrimination. ADAPT has written a vision statement describing community alternatives as a better way to deliver services to older and disabled Americans and will be delivering that statement to California officials this week.

Since the early 1970s most states, including California, have been aggressively downsizing and closing institutional settings, in favor of providing services and supports in individual homes and other small settings. Position papers supporting community based services over institutional ones have come from numerous national disability organizations, as well as AARP, the Assisted Living Association, the National Governors' Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and both the former Clinton Administration, and the current Bush Administration.

"With the overwhelming national preference being for community based services, rebuilding this dinosaur monstrosity, which we call a "Lagunahondasaurus," must have been motivated by those who stand to profit financially or to gain politically," said Michael Auberger, National ADAPT Organizer. "It's simply wrong to hold people hostage so that others can profit from their imprisonment. There's a better way, and that way is to build community."

###