Nadina LaSpina

Wednesday, Sep. 21

Delayed by a last minute bathroom trip, I frantically look up and down the ADAPT single file that’s already moving, until I spot the yellow flags of my team’s color leaders. I wheel as fast as I can, alongside the red team and then the green team. A few last strong turns of my wheels and I’m there. Yellow color leader Toby Tyler lets me get in front of him. “I see you’re early,” he says with his wonderful sarcasm. “Give me a break, it’s our last day!” I smile.

We march silently through the mall, under a perfectly clear sky, this last day of summer, the last day of what has been a very exciting, action-packed action. We’re not chanting today. The mood is somber. The single file is following a coffin, symbolizing all our brothers and sisters who have died in nursing homes waiting for their freedom, as well as our brothers and sisters who have died fighting for freedom.

When we reach our destination, the Headquarters of the National Governors Association, we form a semicircle around the coffin. Mike Oxford enunciates our demands: restoration of the proposed Medicaid cuts, elimination of the institutional bias, etc… Then he introduces NGA Executive Director Ray Scheppach. But Ray Scheppach is nowhere in sight. “We want Ray!” we all start chanting. Finally a tall man with longish graying hair comes up and takes the mike. “Now you have Ray!” he says and we all applaud. But his words leave ADAPT unconvinced. “People are dying! Shame on you!” we chant as he walks back into the building.

Michelle Steger now reads the names of our people who have died recently. Since, together with people who have died in nursing homes, today we’re remembering our freedom fighters, I’ve given Michelle the name of a great NYC freedom fighter who died last June, Frieda Zames. Frieda was at many ADAPT rallies in DC but never stayed for a whole action, so only a few of the people here recognize her name. Among those who do is Rahnee Patrick from Chicago. I know because, after getting arrested in the Rayburn building on Monday, while we waited for endless hours to be processed, I saw Rahnee reading the book that Frieda coauthored (with her sister Doris Fleischer), The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation.

The reading of the names is followed by a silent procession as one by one we approach the coffin and place on top of it a flower. We then march back to the hotel under the hot sun, wondering how many more of our people will die, wondering how many more actions will be necessary before we can all live in freedom.

But though the struggle is far from over, the work of the past 4 days has brought us closer to our goal. This has been an awesome action. We can be proud. We can all relax for now and celebrate. “Meeting at 7, party at 8:30,” the color leaders announce as we approach the hotel. 

- Nadina LaSpina