March 7, 2003
For more information, contact:
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085 cell
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504 cell

ADAPT to Demand Federal Apology for Thousands Unnecessarily Institutionalized

(Washington, D.C.) At a time when people with disabilities are being increasingly victimized by state budget cuts and the President's proposed federal budget, ADAPT, the national disability rights group, is making 2003 the year to put a stop to the forced institutionalization of persons with disabilities of all ages. Additionally, ADAPT is demanding a formal national apology for all the years that have been stolen from countless Americans due to decades of failed Medicaid policy that kept them warehoused in nursing homes and other institutions. 

ADAPT will be in Washington, D.C., May 10-15 to demand the apology in person from President Bush and the Democratic and Republican Leadership, and to tell personal stories of the abuses and loss of freedom suffered as the result of years of forced institutionalization. 750 ADAPT members from at least 30 states will bring a collage to the nation's capitol showing pictures of real people from every state who won't be able to be there in person, but who want Congress and the President to hear their stories. 

"That collage is our wall of former and current MIAs," said Alfredo Juarez of El Paso, Texas ADAPT. "While Washington politics continue to address "homeland security", we're going to demand that the government change the longstanding Medicaid policies that have deprived countless Americans with disabilities of the security of their own homes." 

The May "Stolen Lives" demonstration will personalize the very real effects of Medicaid policy that mandates that states pay for nursing homes, but doesn't similarly mandate providing community-based supports. ADAPT is determined to change this "institutional bias" in Medicaid by enacting legislation that provides that "the money follows the person", thus giving people the choice to receive long term care services in their own homes. That legislation, known as MiCASSA, the Medicaid Community-based Attendant Services and Supports Act, is again being introduced by bi-partisan partnerships in the both U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. 

"We're grateful for the support of Senator Harkin of Iowa, and Senator Specter from Pennsylvania, and Rep. Davis and Rep. Shimkus, both from Illinois," said Mike Oxford, Kansas ADAPT. "Not only have they continued to advocate the necessity of this legislation, but many of their colleagues are now recognizing that it's more cost effective to support people than it is to support the bricks and mortar of institutions." 

The May demand for a national apology for the years of "Stolen Lives" of persons with disabilities will lead into ADAPT's 144 mile Free Our People March, September 4-17, from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The march will take two weeks of laborious wheeling and walking, accompanied by sleeping in tents on roadsides. 

"We may be a mess when we get to D.C.," said Bob Liston of ADAPT Montana, "but no one in America will doubt our commitment to getting MiCASSA passed, and to ending America's forced institutionalization of persons with disabilities of all ages. We're literally marching for our lives." 

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FOR MORE INFORMATION on ADAPT visit our website at www.adapt.org