ADAPT meets President Clinton! This should have been the headline of this story. But as of this writing ADAPT has not gotten a firm date or a draft agenda for the meeting with President Bill. ADAPT has been negotiating with the Office of Public Liaison within the White House on the agenda for the meeting, what other organizations should attend and the number of ADAPT folk who will be there. The discussions have occasionally been heated. The meeting with the President came about because of the ADAPT protest at the Clinton/Gore Campaign Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia where current Secretary of Labor designee Alexis Herman, representing President Clinton, negotiated with Mike Oxford, Faye Bonner and Marva Ways of ADAPT a meeting with the President in the first quarter of 1997. This timeline has passed.
ADAPT hopes the delay in the meeting is not an indication of the Administration's concern about personal attendant services. Reform of the institutionally biased long term care system is one of the top issues in the disability community. This seemingly lack of attention to these issues will only intensify an already feeling of frustration growing in the disability community. Maybe Bill will see ADAPT when we are in D.C. June 14th-26th. The ball is in the Administration's court.