I was there . . .
Dale Reid
Washington DC, 2001
Dale Reid reads her narrative.
My very first ADAPT action was in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2001. I
worked in the “home of ADAPT” Atlantis Community, Inc in Denver, Co. but had
never been to an ADAPT meeting and had never been on an action. The tradition at
that time was Atlantis brought attendants and a nurse to the actions. I was the
nurse that trip.
Atlantis/ADAPT traveled by van in those days. We loaded up early Thursday
morning, two vans, eight people in wheelchairs, attendants, kids and drivers.
Full vans, loaded tight, we were all in great moods as we drove out of town that
morning. I was assured that the trip back was always a little different - moods
not quite so happy. We drove long distances each day with few stops. We ate
breakfast buffet in the mornings and were on the road before nine every morning;
lunch was McDonalds or anything else we could find on the road that was quick
and we could bring on the van as we continued down the road; dinner we all
packed into a restaurant and watched the faces of the staff as they watched one
after another wheelchair roll up to the table.
The hotel in D.C. was another revelation. I had worked around and with people in
wheelchairs for a couple of years, but I had never seen that many congregated in
one place. The halls were full of people in chairs passing one another, blocking
one another, filling elevators, restaurants and rooms. The first morning of
actions I lined up with everyone else as directed, we were told that we would be
moving out “soon” but I couldn’t figure out how it would happen. And then we
started to move one after another of us moving forward and I kept looking back
to see the entire line of activists moving and chanting, “Our Homes not Nursing
Homes”, and with one purpose. I blocked intersections with the others to keep
cars from moving into our line, I stood over holes in the street to keep a chair
from getting stuck and when someone ignored the cautions I helped push the chair
out of the hole.
We arrived… Health and Human Services. We lined up in front, no chanting, just
waiting, and then the word came around, move in toward the building, and the
chanting began: “Can you hear us on the inside?” And then word came down… cover
the doors. After a very short time a group of our people came out of the doors
and a mighty cheer came up from the crowd. And before I had any idea of what was
going on we were on our way.
The long lines moving through the streets again, the continued chanting,
blocking intersections and blocking holes in the street, but things changed a
little bit with the arrival of a police escort. Now there were police cars at
every intersection, diverting traffic, but every intersection was also blocked
by ADAPT nobody was taking any chances.
The long march led us to AHCA, the American Health Care Association, looking for
another meeting with their director. There was a confrontation at the door as a
group tried to move inside. All the lights were off and the doors were locked,
but ADAPT just kept knocking and pretty soon the group was led inside. Lunch
arrived, McDonald hamburgers passed out to the crowd surrounding the building
and we ate while we chanted and covered the building waiting for an answer. The
ADAPTers on the inside appeared with a written commitment for a meeting and we
were on the long march home to recoup for another day.
The following day there we were on the sidewalk again early in the morning
awaiting word to move out and move we did with police in tow all the way to the
White House. ADAPT moved across the sidewalk in front, lined up in front of the
fence and settled in for a long wait. Again there were police, Federal agents
behind the fence with their briefcases, in case one of those wheelchairs
launched over the top, but for the most part they left us alone in the sun
enjoying the day and waiting for the group on the inside. And appear they did,
leading a White House staffer with promises to ADAPT to issue the Olmstead
Executive Order within thirty days.
The next day we were at HUD looking for housing vouchers and things got a little
more exciting. Suddenly the crowd surged forward breaking through barriers
towards the doors, in the door to be faced with security’s tables upright in the
inside door space. The chanting was continuous, and there was continuous
pressure against those blockades trying to reach the lobby.
Then, just as suddenly as it started it was over. There was another group of
ADAPTers with civilians in tow with new announcements of meetings and we were on
our way home. The most obvious thing about each day was the work, hours of work,
that had gone before to make these people know ADAPT would not be “handled” but
would be taken seriously.