INCITEMENT
Winter 1998

ADAPT/Incitement
1339 Lamar SQ DR #101
Austin TX, 78704
512-442-0252 V/TDD
FAX 512-442-0522 V/TDD

	Incitement is produced from the offices of Topeka Independent Living Resource
Center (TILRC). Articles, letters, compositions, displays  and photos are
encouraged. Please contact Tessa Goupil for deadlines for submission of
materials. The Editor reserves the right to edit or omit any material that is
submitted. For more information, contact Tessa Goupil at TILRC or Stephanie
Thomas at ADAPT.

Topeka Independent Living
Resource Center, Inc.
501 SW Jackson St., Suite 100
Topeka, KS 66603-3300
(785) 233-4572 V/TTY
(785) 233-1815 TTY
(785) 233-1561 FAX

ADAPT Harvests Victories for REAL CHOICE
by Stephanie Thomas
What do you get when you mix hundreds of ADAPT activists, the nation's
capitol, an election time, big time lobby groups, a lawsuit, and a bunch of
unfulfilled promises? Yikes, look out whatever it is... And that's just what
happened when the largest number of ADAPT activists yet rolled into Washington
DC on Halloween ready for answers, tired of excuses.
	Monday morning was the eve of the national election. ADAPT moved to confront
both political parties which had given Real Choice, MiCASA and community-based
attendant services a lot of lip service but remained comfortable with the fact
that over 2 million Americans are locked away in nursing homes and other
institutions, cause they don't have any real choice.
	The plan was simple, hit both parties' headquarters and get the person in
charge to negotiate on our demands. Executing it was not quite so simple. Yet
with the crackerjack leadership of the day and color leaders, our crew of over
500 people -- most in wheelchairs -- threaded their way through the streets of
suburban Virginia; up and down numerous tiny elevators and along the blue,
green, yellow and red DC Metro subway lines; over brick covered downtown
streets; past power-player watering holes and national monuments and onto the
two targets.
	Because of the nature of this action and our numbers, we split into two
groups. Half our people packed the lobby of the National Republican Party
Headquarters and flooded out onto the street in front of the building. Half
surrounded the National Democratic Headquarters and filled Ivy Street to boot,
declaring these buildings nursing homes for the day. The Democrats' and
Republicans' brilliant response? Play possum. 
	Both parties wanted us to believe that on the eve of a national election,
their leadership had wandered off and could not be tracked down. Our
leadership teams were a bit more on the ball than that. We sent in our demands
that their leadership meet with us, that they support MiCASA, that they
develop a position paper on the institutional bias of our long term care
system and making home and community based services the first priority, and
that they include Real Choice and attendant services in their national
platform.
	Their first response was to stonewall. However, we were ready for that. ADAPT
folks had come from all across the nation, from Idaho and Washington, from
Utah and Colorado, from Tennessee and Georgia, from New Hampshire and
Connecticut. People had taken off from work, had scraped together savings from
paltry SSI checks, they had slipped away from nursing homes, come on oxygen
tanks and duck-taped together wheelchairs. ADAPT could not be more serious
about Freeing Our People, and no bureaucrat or politico in a huff over a few
hours inconvenience was going to sway us. As they say back home, that dog
won't hunt.
	The day wore on and the city cops over at the Republican headquarters grew
antsy. One drove his motorcycle into someone's wheelchair. The valiant ADAPT
volunteer who had gone for food was chased around the neighborhood dozens of
times, given 3 tickets and, at one point, forcefully boarded and threatened.
	The Republicans had scheduled a press conference which they apparently forgot
to cancel. So at the appointed hour the media showed up to find the building
surrounded by activists chanting "Our homes, not nursing homes!" and they got
the real story!
	It seems the way to the politicos' heads (never mind their hearts) is through
their stomachs because it was the spill over of the action into their supper
clubs next door that finally got the negotiations on track. At the Democratic
Club patrons and some staff were so eager to wine and dine and pretend nothing
was happening, they literally crawled over folks in wheelchairs. But ADAPTers
held strong and in the end it paid off.
	The leadership teams in both places were able to negotiate meetings with the
leadership of both parties at which our representatives will continue to push
the issues, until justice is done. "I have been authorized to commit to a
meeting with the ADAPT leadership and Chairman Nicholson" the Republican
letter read, and in addition to agreeing to discuss the issues, position
papers and addressing the full convention it committed that "ADAPT will...
address the Platform Committee of the Republican National Convention." In the
Democrats' letter they also agreed to meet to discuss the issues, position
papers and addressing their convention and in addition stated "the DNC will
work to develop, promote and pass legislation in the 106th Congress that will
allow people with disabilities... to choose and control where and how long-
term services and supports are delivered."
	Day two found ADAPT converging on the Department of Health and Human
Services, home of Health Care Finance Administration, HCFA, (which runs
Medicaid) and HHS Secretary Donna Shalala. In single file we marched to the
building which covers its own city block, and surrounded the place till all
the entrances and exits were blocked. This was a place where many promises are
made but few kept. Those inside speak out of both sides of their faces, as we
have seen on so many occasions, not the least of which being the MiCASA
hearing last spring. As recently as the week before, HCFA administrator Sally
Richardson had been back peddling on her letter to the states(printed in the
last issue of Incitement) telling a gathering of the State Medicaid Directors
that doing a waiver would count as their effort toward providing services in
the most integrated setting. ADAPT was here to say: "Stop selling short our
civil right to integration."
	This time the General Services police were called in to "keep the peace." But
they were not very well trained it seemed, as there were scuffles at every
door they tried to keep open. Though folks trickled in and out here and there,
there could be no doubt those inside were well aware of our presence, and
working hard at pretending they did not care. As the close of business day
drew nearer their level of caring grew, as they became increasingly aware that
it was not just the doors that were blocked, the parking garage was too.
Tussles took place at various doors at different times as the guards tried to
return things to business as usual. But ADAPT made sure business as usual was
not going to happen till HHS stopped their double talk. Folks were dragged
from their chairs but others just filled in when gaps appeared, so that
eventually the police had to go inside and find someone in authority who could
negotiate with us. This person turned out to be Assistant Secretary of
Management and Budget John Callahan who tried to have us just gather up on a
corner to wait while he "wrote a letter which would take about an hour..." but
the leadership team corrected the misconception that we would leave the
building without a written commitment to a meeting with the Secretary herself.
Once he got that straight it was remarkable how quickly Callahan was able to
take our leadership upstairs, negotiate an agreement, put it in writing and
come back downstairs and read it to the crowd waiting below:  "The Secretary
of HHS and top administrative officials agree to meet with ... ADAPT ... to
develop a transition plan that will result in each and every state complying
with the most integrated setting requirements of the ADA. The meeting agenda
will include the Secretary's assurance that she will work with ADAPT so that
the FY 2000 Budget includes sufficient funds to carry out the aforementioned
objective."
	We had spent two days hammering on our main issue, attendant services and
real choice. The last day we had one other item of business to deal with:
lifts on buses. The Department of Transportation had published strong
regulations, but the bus operators could not leave well enough alone. The
lobby group for over the road buses, the American Bus Association (ABA) acting
as Greyhound's lackey, had filed suit in federal court roughly one week after
the regulations were out. Their goal: stop the mandate for lifts on all new
buses. This kind of action is what had birthed ADAPT in the first place, when
APTA (American Public Transit Assoc.) had filed and won a suit against lifts
on city buses. There was no way we could let this slide.
	The ABA building is an old Greyhound terminal for the capital city. Marble
pillars and floors with inlaid Greyhound tile, paintings of buses across
America, and even a small museum type display of the history of Greyhound and
the building decorated the art deco space. The terminal had been moved, but
ties clearly remained strong.  
	A team of ADAPT negotiators plus about 30 back up people went up the ABA
offices, the rest of us remained below to keep the heat on. Once again those
in charge tried the old "ignore it and maybe it will go away" with a
predictable lack of success. There were those inside the ABA offices who saw
the light, but their leadership refused to budge on the key issue of the
lawsuit.
	All that marble and a 12 story atrium made for a great echo chamber and from
the time ADAPT entered the building to the end of the action we chanted our
message to echo through the brains of those in the plush offices above. As the
day wore on new chants were born like "ADAPT fought the battle of ABA, ABA,
ADAPT fought the battle of ABA, and the walls came tumbling down" (to the tune
of Jerico) and oldies but goodies like "We Will Ride" were pulled back into
service.
	Around 4:00 the word came down that the ABA folks had once again refused to
budge. The anger mounted. The folks here were the ones who had been waiting
for Greyhound to comply with the ADA, had tried the test rides, had been
manhandled when boarding, had been refused rides, and more. We were not going
to stand idly by while they snatched justice from our hands. On signal
everyone headed for the elevators and blocked their access, just as ABA was
blocking ours.
	The police came marching in pulling on their latex, no-cootie arrest gloves.
ADAPT held firm. Then the police pulled the emergency alarm, and evacuated the
building. Knowing we were the emergency, we declined to leave, and lo and
behold the ABA finally agreed to negotiate, committing in a letter that the
ABA President and CEO along with their Chairman of the Board of Directors
would meet with ADAPT by mid-December to discuss their pending legislation and
the DOT regs.
	Three splendid days of actions, and victories from each. That night we
celebrated a job well done, and looked to the spring when we will again be
joining forces in DC... to set our people free!

Supreme Court Threat to ADA
and Integration of People with Diabilities
ACTION NEEDED!!
ADAPT's Campaign for Real Choice received a potentially major threat in early
December when the Supreme Court decided to hear the Olmstead vs. L.C. & E.W.
case sometime this spring. If the Supreme Court overturns the lower courts
which have ruled in support of integrated services, people with disabilities
will loose a big chunk of their legal right (though not their moral right) to
be integrated into their communities.
	Olmstead is one of the three cases referred to in the Sally Richardson letter
printed in the last issue of Incitement, and is similar to the Helen L. case.
For those not familiar with the details, this case is about L.C. and E.W., two
people with mental disabilities from Georgia who had to live in a state
hospital in order to receive the support services they need. Similar to Helen
L., these two sued the state under the ADA Title II, saying that this
arrangement violated their right to services in the most integrated setting,
and they won.
	When the Helen L. case was appealed to the Supreme Court they declined to
hear it, implying they agreed with the lower courts. So why did they decide to
hear this one? The fact that 22 other Governors signed on to a brief filed in
asking them to hear the case and overturn the lower courts decisions might
have had something to do with it. In their brief these Governors asked the
court to find that 1) the ADA does not apply to services like long term care,
2) the ADA is unconstitutional because of the states' rights which are
protected in the constitution, (The Court decided not to take up the second
issue at this time, but they may in the future.)
	'The Governors of the following states signed on: GA (original appealer) and
AL, CA, CO, DE, FL , HI, LA, MD, MI, MS, MT, NE, NV, NH, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX,
UT, WV, WY.
	Will Olmstead be our Brown vs. Board of Education, where school integration
was determined to be the right of all children and the law of the land? Or,
will Olmstead be our Dred Scott, in which the Supreme Court ruled a slave
could not sue for his freedom? Time will tell.
	But in the meantime we should NOT be sitting on our hands waiting to see our
fate, and the fate of  our brothers and sisters. We know that morally we are
right and we need to make sure everyone is aware what is going down this
spring, and that the disability community is NOT going to take this lying
down. We need to hold accountable the Governors of the 22 states which signed
on, and make sure the other 28 Governors do not sign on as well. 
	1) On Friday, January 15, 1999 visit, call, fax or e-mail your Governor with
the following message: Don't Mess with Our Rights! Don't Mess with the ADA!
Support "Most Integrated Setting"!
	2) Join with other disability, aging, family and advocacy groups to organize
6 month statewide strategies (January '99 - June '99) to assure that people
with disabilities have the RIGHT to live and receive services in the
community!
	Let's not let the end of this Century mark the end of our legal right to
integration and independence. FREE OUR PEOPLE!

ADAPT meets with Senator
by Erik T. von Schmetterling, MD
	On Tuesday, November 3rd, while most of our troops were so diligently
presenting ADAPT's position on REAL CHOICES to the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), a small contingent of ADAPTers reluctantly broke away to
attend a meeting with US Senator Rockefeller, from West Virginia. National
ADAPT was represented by Cassie James, Jimmi Shrode and Erik von Schmetterling
all of Philadelphia, and Zen Thorton from Atlanta, GA. Local representatives
of West Virginia ADAPT were also there, including Chris Sunser. 
	This meeting was arranged by the local ADAPT chapter, with help from Cassie
James. Upon our arrival, the Senator's staff listened to our telling about
MiCASA and they sounded quite interested. Finally, around 3:30 p.m., the
Senator himself appeared. Originally promising us about twenty minutes of his
busy time, he ended up giving us an hour and a half. During which he seemed
fascinated by MiCASA and its principles.
	Senator Rockefeller fell a bit shy of actually promising to sponsor a Senate
version of MiCASA; however, he is definitely a strong hopeful when it comes
time to offer it in that House. The meeting ended up on a productive note,
with the local West Virginians promising to follow through on more work with
the Senator.

Republican
National
Committee
Thomas J. Josefiak 
Counsel
November 2,1998

To the Leadership of ADAPT:

I have been authorized to state that the leadership of ADAPT will be given the
opportunity to address the Platform Committee of the Republican National
Convention in the year 2000. I have also been authorized to commit to a
meeting with the ADAPT leadership and Chairman Nicholson on Thursday, December
3, 1998. At that meeting you may address any other convention related
questions that you may have. Included in the meeting agenda will be a
discussion addressing the full convention and the position paper we have
discussed.

Please contact me at (202) 863-8638 to set up a time to meet with Chairman
Nicholson.
								Sincerely,
								Tom Josefiak
Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican Center * 310 First Street Southeast *
Washington, D.C. 20003 * (202) 863-8638 * FAX: (202) 863-8654 *
http://www.rnc.org * TDD: (202) 863-8728

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES                              
Office of the Secretary
Washington, D.C. 20201

To ADAPT:

The Secretary of HHS and top Administrative officials agree to meet with 15
Adapt representatives by January 3, 1999 to develop a transition plan that
will result in each and every state complying with the most integrated setting
requirements of the ADA The meeting agenda will include the Secretary 's
assurance that she will work with ADAPT so that the FY 2000 Budget includes
sufficient funds to carry out the aforementioned objective.
								Sincerely,
								John J. Callahan
							Assistant Secretary of
 							   Management and Budget

Democratic National Committee
Steve Grossman, National Chair * Governor Roy Romer, General Chair

November 2, 1998

	Representatives of the DNC, including the Executive Director, will meet with
representatives from ADAPT. This meeting will take place at a mutually
agreeable time - but no later than November 30, 1998.
	The meeting will include but is not necessarily limited to: Development of a
position paper that recognizes the current institution bias in the long-term
care system and that home and community services must be the first priority in
long-term care funding.
	The DNC supports service in the most integrated setting.
	The DNC will work to develop, promote and pass legislation in the 106th
Congress that will allow people with disabilities, regardless of age, or
diagnosis (and family members as appropriate) to choose and control where and
how long-term services and supports are delivered.
	This legislation must include financial incentives and sufficient funding so
that no eligible individual shall be denied their choice of home and community
services.
	The meeting agenda will also include ADAPT's inclusion in addressing the
Convention and ADAPT's inclusion on Platform deliberations.

Sincerely,
Janet V. Green
Executive Director

AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION

November 4, 1998

To: 	Ms. Linda Anthony on behalf of representatives of ADAPT

From:	Michele Janis, Vice President, Communications, Marketing and Membership
(202) 842-1645

	Peter J. Pantuso, ABA's president and CEO is available to meet with up to six
representatives of your organization on or before December 15, 1998. Mr.
Pantuso will be joined at this meeting by ABA's Chairman of the Board of
Directors.
	The agenda for the meeting will include issues surrounding the Department of
Transportation's rulemaking on accessibility to Over-the-Road Buses to persons
with disabilities, including ABA's pending litigation.
	We will be in touch in the next few days to arrange the exact time and
location of this meeting.

1100 New York Avenue, N.W. l Suite 1050 l Washington, D.C. 20005-3934
(202) 842-1645 l (800) 283-2877 l Fax: (202) 842-0850 l E-mail:
abainfo@buses.org l Web Site. www.buses.org

Key Points in DOT's Final Rule Regarding Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility
•	This rule becomes effective in October 1998. It will begin applying to large
entities in October 2000 and to small entities in October 2001.
•	Beginning October 2000, buses purchased by large fixed-route providers must
be accessible. Small fixed-route providers must comply with the same
requirement beginning October 2001.
•	Large fixed-route operators must ensure that 50% of the buses used for
fixed-route service are accessible by October 2006. They must ensure that 100%
of the buses in these fleets are accessible by October 2012.
•	Beginning October 2001 for large entities, and October 2002 for small
entities, demand-responsive operators must provide an accessible bus to any
passenger who requests it 48 hours in advance.
•	Fleet accessibility requirement for small fixed-route operators has been
eliminated. There will be no retrofit or accessible used bus acquisition
requirement. Small operators' fleets will become accessible when, and to the
extent, that they replace existing inaccessible buses with new accessible
buses. Operators must continue to provide interim service until and unless
their fleets are 100% accessible, which for some operators (e.g., operators
who purchase primarily inaccessible used buses), could be indefinitely.
•	The Department has added a time extension provision for large fixed-route
operators, if:
1.	such an operator has not obtained enough new buses in 6 or 12 years to meet
the 50 and 100 percent fleet accessibility requirements;
2.	it has not put itself in this position by, for example, stocking up on an
unusually large number of inaccessible buses between October 1998 and October
2000; and
3.	it has otherwise complied effectively with the requirements of the rule,
the Secretary could grant a time extension beyond the 6 and 12 year dates.
•	Because of the advance-reservation nature of charter/tour service, the
Department has decided to eliminate the proposed 10% fleet accessibility
requirement. The final rule does not require charter/tour operators to acquire
any particular number of accessible buses within any particular time frame.
These companies will be responsible for providing 48 hour advance reservation
service to passengers with disabilities in October 2001 or 2002, as
applicable, rather than two years later as proposed in the NPRM.
•	While working on its regulatory assessment, the Department conducted an
informal survey of small bus operators. The Department estimates that for
about 5/8 of the carriers offering fixed-route service, not more than 25% of
their fleets is allocated to fixed-route service. Operators in this category
indicated that an average of 77% of their fleets were assigned to charter
service. The Department's concern was that the costs of acquiring accessible
new buses for (often part-time) use in fixed-route service would provide an
incentive to limit or end fixed-route service. In order to avoid this effect,
the Department modified the requirements for operators (defined as a small
operator 25% or fewer of whose buses are used in fixed-route service) by
giving operators in this category the option of providing all its service,
fixed- route as well as demand responsive, on a 48 hour advance notice basis. 
•	When there is a failure to provide required service, the operator must pay a
predetermined amount of compensation tothe passenger. The amount of
compensation is set by an increasing, graduated scale. The first time a given
operator fails to provide required service, it pays the passenger $300. By the
fifth such occurrence for any company, the amount becomes $700. The rule
states that paying compensation is not a defense in litigation brought to
enforce compliance with the rule (e.g., a "pattern or practice" lawsuit filed
by DOJ under Title III of the ADA).
•	Whenever any OTRB makes an intermediate or rest stop, at which passengers
have the opportunity to get off the bus and use the facilities that are
available, passengers with disabilities must have the opportunity to use the
rest stop facilities. The Bus Company is responsible for providing whatever
equipment and personnel are needed to complete these tasks and taking the time
necessary to do so. When a bus is making a lengthy express run (i.e., three
hours or more without a stop) and is equipped with an inaccessible restroom,
ambulatory passengers can go to the bathroom but many passengers with
disabilities cannot. In this situation, if such a passenger with a disability
makes a request for an unscheduled rest stop, the bus operator must make a
good faith effort to accommodate the request. Due to potential disruption of
schedules and connections, the final rule does not require the bus company to
make the unscheduled rest stop. The decision is discretionary with the bus
company.
•	When the bus company owns, leases, controls, or has a contractual
relationship with a facility for rest stop purposes, the provision of the rest
stop facility is part of a service that a ticket buyer purchases. In these
situations, the bus company has an obligation to ensure that the facilities
meet ADA requirements.
•	The conclusion the Department draws from its review of the economic issues
in the rulemaking is that, while there are identifiable economic impacts on
the bus industry, these impacts are not so great as to preclude the Department
reasonably from requiring the accessibility requirements of the final rule.
The economic impacts of the rule are not sufficient to constitute an "undue
burden" on bus companies.

Sculpture to be added to Roosevelt Memorial

WASHINGTON (AP) - Bowing to the demands of activists for the disabled, the
National Park Service will add a sculpture of Franklin D. Roosevelt in a
wheelchair at the entrance to his popular memorial.
	Roosevelt's paralysis from polio was often concealed from the public when he
was president, and the memorial's lack of emphasis on his disability drew
protests when it opened in May 1997. 
	Activists called the decision historically accurate and a powerful
inspiration for the disabled.
	"We're very pleased. We're anxious to get it there," Jim Dickson, director of
community affairs of the National Organization on Disability, which led the
campaign for the sculpture, said Wednesday. "We need this statue to tell all
the children with disabilities and all their parents that anything is
possible."

Around the Nation

ADAPT Chapters Demand
Most Integrated Setting
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that programs must be
provided in the "most integrated setting" and must offer the "least
restrictive alternative" in service delivery. This law was tested in
Pennsylvania's Medicaid nursing home program, when in 1995 the Supreme Court
let stand the 3rd Circuit Court's decision on the case of Helen L. She was
woman forced to live in a Pennsylvania nursing home under the Medicaid
program, because no other choices were offered to her. The Court decided in
her favor.  She now lives free, in her own home, with appropriate needed
services.
	A component of the "Self Evaluation" is supposed to address how the States'
policies, practices and procedures promote rather than hinder full integration
in the community.  According to a letter by Sally Richardson, HCFA Director,
to State Medicaid Directors in all fifty states, the self evaluation should
have included consideration of the ADA's integration requirement. "The State
has an obligation to provide services to people with disabilities in the most
integrated setting appropriate to their needs. Reasonable steps should be
taken if the treating professional determines that an individual living in a
facility could live in the community with the right mix of support services to
enable them to do so. The Department of Justice recently reiterated that the
ADA's most integrated setting standard applies to States, including State
Medicaid Programs". 
	In August, ADAPT of PA sent a letter to Secretary Feather Houstoun to request
the ADA Self-evaluation Plan, as it relates to most-integrated setting. The
Secretary did not respond, so ADAPT of PA is visiting her office to demand
this information. Similar actions are being staged in state capitols across
the nation by ADAPT activists in other states. 

Dayton, Ohio
	ADAPT presented Governor Voinovich with Ohio's "10 Worst States Award,"
recognizing Ohio as the 9th worst state in the nation for creating options for
community based personal assistance services. Then an ADAPT member was able to
stop Voinovich on his way out a back door. After they all got over to him,
they voiced their concerns about Ohio's failure to comply with the ADA's "most
integrated setting" mandate, and the roadblocks they'll encounter with Ohio's
version of MiCASA, the Ohio Personal Assistance Services Act (OPASA).
	In response, Voinovich promised to help people with their personal situations
and said that people should have community based options, but also said that
he was limited in what he could do because of the conflicting directives that
come down from the federal Health Care Financing Administration, which sets
the rules for community based programs. He said he would speak to members of
the legislature about the concerns, and asked them to write his office with
ideas about what he can do.

Virginia 
	In a letter to Commissioner Dennis Smith, ADAPT Virginia initiated the first
of a three step process designed to bring the Virginia Department of Medical
Assistance Services into full compliance with Title II of the American's with
Disabilities Act.
	This latest push for services in the least restrictive environment comes on
the heels of Virginia's escalating problems caused by significant over use of
the state's many institutions. The US Department of Justice has been focusing
on Virginia's overuse of state owned institutions. Advocates have pointed out
that Virginia's extreme bias for the over-use of institutions to warehouse its
disabled population does not stop at the use of state operated institutions.
Virginia has long used nursing homes to house young otherwise capable
physically disabled people who simply need attendant care to live a less
restrictive life.

Columbus, Ohio
	After taking over Director Tompkins' office on the 32nd floor of the State
Office Building and about 30 minutes of chanting, ADAPT was greeted by Trish
Martin, Office of Medicaid, Thomas F. Gilbride, Deputy Legal Counsel, and Tim
Ferguson Director of Community services (waiver guy). ADAPT asked them
directly "Do you have a self-evaluation Plan?"
	Response: "We can't answer that." After about an hour they finally admitted
that they did not have one. ADAPT left is disgust, distributed press packets
to the Capital Press Room on the way out. They also mailed a complaint to John
Woodatch.

 Memphis
	Nine people representing Memphis ADAPT were arrested while demonstrating at
the state health commissioner's office to demand a broader range of services
for the elderly and disabled. 
	They vowed to continue protesting inside state Health Commissioner Nancy
Menke's office until she agreed to meet their demands. But the protesters were
escorted out of the building by state troopers and Capitol police while Menke
was in a meeting downstairs with the Long-Term Care Services Advisory Council.
	The ADA is supposed to provide disabled people with choices on where their
services are delivered, said Dawn Russell, organizer for ADAPT in Memphis.
	The state has a couple of pilot "waiver" projects for home and community-
based long-term care, but those are serving only "a handful" of people, she
said.
	Alexia Levison, deputy press secretary for Gov. Don Sundquist, said police
were called in partly because ADAPT damaged property during a similar protest
in Memphis, when the group took over offices and spent the night inside the
building.
	"We've had experience with this group before," Levison said. "And that's why
they were asked to leave... Commissioner Menke said that she would be happy to
meet with 
any group, but she was in a meeting and also usually when people meet they
make appointments."