ADAPT Newcomer Happy to Get In On the Action
By Mike Ervin
This is what Rachel Siler of Chicago remembered most about
her first national ADAPT action: “Nancy Pelosi really pissed me off.”
Siler had awakened at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, April
27th, so she could be ready to take her place in the long march line
at 5 a.m. It was still dark, and a cold wind swirled. As is customary for
security reasons on national ADAPT actions, she and all but a few in the line
of about 300 marchers had no idea where they were going. All they knew was that
leadership said to be prepared for a long march. Indeed, the line snaked
through the streets of Washington, D.C., for nearly three miles until the
Washington Hilton hotel was in sight.
Siler heard “Go, go, go!” repeated over and
over. She followed the stampede of people in wheelchairs charging at full speed
in an attempt to get inside the Hilton. But the D.C. police had already sealed
off the entrances with a ring of bicycles and yellow police tape.
An ADAPT leader announced over a bullhorn that the target
was Speaker of the House Pelosi, who was there to address a gathering of the
American Hospital Association and to be interviewed by Sam Donaldson of ABC
News.
“By this time we had police tape all around us,"
Siler said. "We were corraled like cows."
Siler later saw two black SUVs pull up to the hotel
entrance. Men in black suits emerged from one; Pelosi emerged from the other.
They all scurried inside.
“She walked in, no comment -- nothing,” Siler
said. “We were waiting and waiting, and I thought, ‘Surely this woman
is going to talk to us. You are so close. Just talk.’”
The group demanded that Pelosi agree to attend a press
conference being held by ADAPT and a coalition of disability groups the next
day in the meeting room of the House Ways and Means Committee. The press
conference was to announce the results of recent research that calculated that
the Community Choice Act, the Medicaid reform legislation ADAPT has been
fighting to get passed and signed into law for more than a decade, would cost
the average middle-class taxpayer approximately $6 annually in additional
taxes. The press conference was also to reveal the results of a Harris poll
conducted in April, which found that 89 percent of respondents said they were
willing to pay that extra cost in exchange for the benefits of CCA.
ADAPT wanted Pelosi to attend and declare that she would
work hard to get CCA passed through the House.
Pelosi emerged from the Hilton after about an hour and
approached the SUV. “She stood on the steps to get in," Siler said. "She
looked over and finaly hopped in, closed the door, and she was gone. It was
like a slap in the face.
When Donaldson arrived, he approached the crowd to ask
what was going on. An ADAPT leader gave him a leaflet and other information.
Later that day, Donaldson sent an e-mail to Amber Smock of ADAPT, which
read:
“I gave Speaker Pelosi one of your flyers and told
her one of your group had asked me to do so. She looked at it and immediately
said she supported the concept. I told her I had been told she didn’t. She
said she did but the problem was (that) there was no money to pay for it.
“Good luck.”
Crashing Pelosi’s comfort zone could be seen as a
moral victory, though Siler saw it as a rejection. Nevertheless, Siler said her
first ADAPT action was “one of the most liberating things I have ever
experienced. You’re not just sitting back and complaining and not doing
anything. You can write and write and write to a congressman. But actions speak
louder than words. I don’t want to be in a ballroom just listening to
people speak.”
Siler, 25, who uses a motorized wheelchair full time, said
her involvement with Chicago ADAPT has been “a big part of my life. On a
daily basis I go up against (problems) -- transportation, a curb, elevators not
working. You can’t just stay behind closed doors."
ADAPT’s main cause is personal to Siler, who moved to
Chicago from Indianapolis seven years ago to attend art school. She lives
independently in her own apartment because she receives nine hours a day of
state-funded personal assistant services.
Siler thought the most potentially significant success of
the April action happened on the first day, when ADAPT members surrounded the
headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice. They demanded that Attorney
General Eric Holder meet with the group to plan a strategy by which the
department would aggressively pressure states to comply with the U.S. Supreme
Court’s ruling in the 1999 Olmstead case. With a growing number of states
drastically cutting funding for home- and community-based services in response
to budget shortfalls, the Department of Justice plays an increasingly important
role in preserving those services
At ADAPT's concluding meeting in D.C., Samuel Bagenstos,
principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights for the Justice
Department, said that Olmstead enforcement was the “top priority” for
the disability rights section of the department's civil rights division. He
said department lawyers would pursue or join existing Olmstead cases in the
very near future. He strongly encouraged activists to file complaints with the
department about possible Olmstead violations and added that the Justice
Department would most likely pursue Olmstead litigation in areas where it can
expect strong support from local activists.
Bagenstos also said his department planned to underscore
its commitment to Olmstead enforcement by announcing its involvement in new
cases to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the ADA
on July 26th.
On May 6th, the Department of Justiceannounced
that it was suing Arkansas for that state’s “systemic failure to
comply with the ADA.” The suit charges that Arkansas segregates
approximately 1,100 individuals with developmental disabilities in state
institutions while maintaining a slow-moving waiting list of approximately
1,400 people in need of community-based waiver services.
In another action, ADAPT members barricaded the entrance
of the National Governors Association to demand that it work with the
disability rights group to develop a plan that describes the best practices
states can use to contain Medicaid costs while promoting the independence and
civil rights of people with disabilities. After about an hour of negotiation
with ADAPT leaders, NGA Executive Director Ray Scheppach agreed to meet with
ADAPT to discuss that and other issues.
The next ADAPT national action is Sept. 18th to
23rd in Washington, D.C. “I’m counting down the
days,” Siler said.
Mike Ervin is a writer and member of ADAPT, a group
that works for the civil rights of people with disabilities. |
