How many of you live in the state of Illinois?
Dana
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For Immediate release:
August 20, 2007
For Information Contact:
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504
Gary Arnold (773) 425-2536
On a "Mission from ADAPT," Disability Activists Blow into the Windy City
to Attack Segregation
Chicago, IL--- More than 500 ADAPT activists from around the country will
converge in Chicago September 8th-13th to take action against a crisis in
Illinois that is the poster child for a larger national problem. The
crisis is directly caused by a record of bad decisions made by Illinois
state officials, and the institutional bias built into the way the
nation's long term care system is funded.
ADAPT will assure that Gov. Blagojevich knows that his plans to reopen a
state institution for persons with developmental disabilities and his lack
of support for Money Follows the Person legislation are actions of
segregation and in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead
decision. ADAPT will also challenge the Illinois Congressional delegation
to take a leadership role nationally in eliminating the institutional bias
so people with disabilities and older Americans can live at home with
dignity.
Currently, Illinois ranks 41st in the nation for providing the
community-based services that will allow disabled and older citizens to
stay in their own homes. Illinois' long record of being in the bottom ten
states puts it among the worst when it comes to human rights in general
and disability rights in particular.
"It turns my stomach to know that my state, historically a home of civil
rights in America for people of color, is the same state that is one of
the worst civil rights performers in regard to people with disabilities,"
said Chicago native Larry Biondi, an organizer with Chicago ADAPT. "I'm
ashamed of Illinois' record of institutionalizing people with
disabilities. Right now there almost 20,000 people who have said they want
to get out of Illinois' nursing homes- nursing homes they never wanted to
go into in the first place. But they were forced to go there by the
institutional bias in Medicaid funding, and the state's failure to act in
accordance with federal law- law that clearly states that people should
receive services in '...the most integrated setting,' which is clearly the
community!"
While in Chicago, ADAPT will hold a national housing forum that will be
attended by HUD Fair Housing Assistant Secretary Kim Kendrick, and state
and local officials. At the forum, ADAPT will reveal its national housing
agenda; take testimony from people across the country who have had
difficulty finding affordable, accessible, integrated housing; and
distribute information on pending visitability legislation, and the
redirection of HUD's 811 Supportive Housing program funds to projects that
are integrated. Currently, the 811 program primarily funds segregated
housing situations for people with disabilities.
"As we have begun to make progress in getting people out of institutions,
and preventing people from being forced into institutions, the lack of
affordable, accessible, integrated housing in typical neighborhoods has
become glaringly apparent," said Beto Berrera, a member of Chicago ADAPT
and a Chicago housing expert. "We are hosting this national housing forum
so that federal officials can hear just how bad the situation is, and to
gain their support in working with us to right this wrong."
ADAPT will send a clear message to the Governor of Illinois, the nation's
medical community, and Congress that supporting the incarceration of
people in institutions for the 'crime' of disability will not be
tolerated. In the classic Chicago movie, The Blues Brothers, Jake and
Elwood Blues came to Chicago on a mission from God. ADAPT is coming to
Chicago on a mission, too....a mission to "Free Our People!"
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FOR MORE INFORMATION on ADAPT visit our website at http://www.adapt.org/
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