Disability rights activists make some news getting arrested for the cause. But is anyone in Washington listening to the call for more affordable adaptive housing?
By Amy Meisner-Threet, MSW
“I’d rather go to jail than die in a nursing home.” That was just one of many chants heard resounding in the nation’s capital as more than 200 protesters, including this reporter, from ADAPT (Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) came together for political action September 12 to 16.
We descended upon Washington, DC, from all over the United States with a clear message: We need accessible, affordable, integrated housing! That’s “we,” as in we who, due to significant disabilities, require housing that enables us to live independently.
The Need for Action
The protestors, who rolled in wheelchairs and walked, with or without canes and walkers, were comprised of disabled and nondisabled, newbies and old friends, relatives, and workers in the advocacy fields from various organizations.
ADAPT is a national grass-roots disability rights group. According to their own literature they “work for equality and positive change in policy and programs to include people with disabilities in American society.”
Most Americans are not aware of the still institutional bias in Medicaid that forces people with disabilities into expensive nursing homes and institutions rather than helping them find, adapt and stay in their own homes. Often all they need is a place they can pay for with Medicaid/Medicare, public assistance, retirement, or other benefits, some aid in the home, and a way to get through the door. These needs should be simple to meet in a nation willing and able to spend $700 billion to help investment bankers and securities firms out of their self-created economic fix; alas, they are not.
There have been laws on the books regarding accessible housing built since the 1970’s, and even those have not been enforced. Only those with monetary means can afford to retrofit (renovate) their homes. There are few requirements to build apartments and homes that are accessible, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is rarely heeded by housing authorities and rarely enforced by The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Transitional housing is not the answer either. Nobody wants to have to constantly relocate just for temporary shelter.
In order to meet the needs for all the people that require permanent accessible housing, ADAPT is demanding that:
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• HUD increase the enforcement of existing Section 504 requirements and that HUD double these requirements to make up for past failures in compliance
• Congress and the President develop permanent funding for a “Barrier Elimination Trust Fund” for accessibility modifications for people transitioning out of facilities and those at risk of going into facilities. Fines would be imposed for failure to comply w/Section 504 and Fair Housing Amendments Act
• HUD end the practice of funding homes that absolutely discriminate against any population
Generally, people with disabilities live on very low fixed incomes, and only 30% are employed. What is considered affordable by nondisabled standards (approximately $15,000-$29,000-the requirement for “median incomes”-for most housing currently available), is far above what most people with disabilities can consider. According to ADAPT, “People trapped in institutions receive a monthly allowance of approximately $40, making it impossible to save enough for a security deposit or to buy basic necessities to move into the community.”
Historically speaking, people with disabilities have been viewed as “unfit,” “sick,” people you would not want as neighbors, and this has lead to their being segregated from the mainstream in hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions.
There is much more info on “ADAPT” websites which will further explain their desired “moratorium on 202 designation plans (Elderly housing) and 811 (segregated and institutional) housing until the housing crisis for people with disabilities is over.” For more info on ADAPT and its positions and actions, check their website, http://www.adapt.org/.
I, Witness
I participated in the convergence on the Capitol, which was organized to present Senators and Representatives with ADAPT’s demands. We gathered that first day at 4:30 a.m. A tent city called DUH (HUD backwards) was in the process of being assembled in front of the Housing and Urban Development building. After a snack and some rousing words from speakers, we made a caravan. One hundred activists went to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) offices in Washington, D.C. and another hundred to Senator John McCain’s office in Arlington, Virginia, by bus.
I was told by a longtime ADAPTer, it would be “like boot camp. You don’t ask questions, you just follow.” The troops didn’t know exactly where we were going; only the color leaders did. Prior to the trip, we were asked if we were willing to be arrested, with the understanding that we would receive a bench warrant, and that the charges would be dropped from our permanent records. I said yes, without giving it too much thought, other than that I believed strongly in the issues at hand.
Carfare and hotels (I mean, the Capitol Hilton) were paid for, and although there was no per diem for meals, there was always food at DUH City and we were provided with a survival bag of snacks for the day.
My group (the purple group) went to the office of Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) at noon. After sequestering ourselves in his office, we requested that the senator sign papers indicating he read our demands and would consider them. He never did. We chanted, and, yes, got arrested.
An officer gave us our Miranda rights, puts handcuffs on us, and brought us down to the station to be processed, mug shot and all. We were held in a courtroom. The officers were very humane, and even though our things had been confiscated, the cuffs were taken off and we were allowed some freedom to move around. One officer even seemed to enjoy telling jokes to his “captive” audience.
However, word came that the action at McCain’s office in Virginia was not going quite as well. One of the yellow leaders, Scott Heinzman, who was at McCain’s, later told me that “the police got rough.” A sheriff tried to control the situation stating that he “understood and respected our right to protest, but didn’t want anyone getting hurt,” Scott said. One woman in the office who appeared to be disabled tried to placate the crowd. After three hours of no progress, all except one protester, agreed to be arrested. They were charged with a high misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
One of the officers told Scott that “these tactics force him to arrest good guys” and that “using officers like this took them from catching real criminals.” Scott, a wheelchair user, had to restrain himself from saying what he thought about a government that traps people in nursing homes. Scott says they were finally arraigned that night and given a court date of October 22 (ours was the day before). Those of us back at DUH City cheered when the yellow team came home.
In the evenings, especially the final night, we all gathered to share and celebrate our accomplishments. Denerale (Deniro) Jones, a worker from Independent Living Specialists Liberty Resources, Inc. from Philadelphia, who greatly contributed to the artwork at DUH, says he “came to DC to further the progress of equal rights for PWDs. It affects all of us. It had a powerful effect on me to see activists from all over this country willing to be jailed for what they believe in.”
Upcoming actions are planned for the spring of 2009 in D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia the following fall. Contact ADAPT if you want to get involved.
Any Meisner-Threet, MSW, is a frequent contributor to Action.
