December White House Disability Group Conference Call TODAY..

No opinion on this call as yet.. Purely passing along as an FYI regarding its occurrence, not to mention these are your Washington D.C. tax dollars in action..

Keyboard tip goes to Mark Johnson at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia.. Were it not for HIS disability mailing list, I would have no clue of this phone call’s existence.. White House needs to do “a little work” on its publicity tactics.. 😀

In reference to the very last line of the original communique, “WHDG strongly urges you to distribute this email broadly”..?! May I just say……..

EXCUSE ME..?!

Next time, White House folks, how ’bout trying the word……..

PLEASE

Not to mention (but I will)…

THANK YOU.

---

Beginning this month the White House Disability Group (WHDG) will host monthly calls to update you on various disability issues as well as introduce you to persons who work on disability issues in the federal government.

The first call will be this Friday, December 3, at 11:00 AM Eastern.

The conference call information is below.

Dial in: (800) 230-1092

Title: Disability Call (use instead of code)

Date of Call: 12/03/10

Start Time: 11:00 AM Eastern

For live captioning, at time of call, log onto:

http://www.fedrcc.us//Enter.aspx?EventID=1663465&CustomerID=321

WHDG strongly urges you to distribute this email broadly.

ADAPT Issues Lesson On Disability For CNN..

Just found this in my inbox and passing along to get it on out there in a timely fashion..

FREE OUR PEOPLE NOW..!!

---

For Immediate Release: October 14, 2009
For Information Contact: Bruce Darling 585-370-6690
MEDIA ADVISORY Marsha Katz 406-544-59504
www.adapt.org

ADAPT Confronts CNN at CNN HQ on Freedom for People with Disabilities

Who: ADAPT, National grassroots disability rights organization
What: Occupying CNN offices at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta
When: NOW, Wednesday, 2009.10.14 (9:30 a.m. Eastern time, and continuing)
Where: CNN HQ in CNN Center, Atlanta
Why: Get the Facts Straight on the Community Choice Act!

For nearly 20 years, ADAPT has been fighting to eliminate the institutional bias that forces seniors and people with disabilities into nursing facilities and other institutions. With very rare exceptions, this issue has been ignored by the major national media.

Even now, when the country is discussing the need to reform health care, the national media has overwhelmingly failed to recognize this critical issue.

Even worse, CNN got it wrong! In August of this year, Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN mentioned the Community Choice Act (S683/HR1670) during a segment on health care reform, but he stated that the legislation addressed the need for accessibility in medical settings. ADAPT contacted Dr. Gupta and CNN asking them to correct their inaccuracy and follow our efforts while we are here in Atlanta. They did not.

It is clear that the media plays a significant role in shaping American politics and public policy. We understand that if we want to change public policy, we need the media to understand this issue and call for change. ADAPT members have tried everything we can think of to raise awareness of the institutional bias and alternatives to institutionalization. Literally hundreds of us have been arrested. We have shut down streets, taken over buildings, and even marched 144 miles from Philadelphia to Washington, DC!

Because we are a grass-roots organization, ADAPT doesn’t have the expensive public relations firms that can “place” our story in the national media. So ADAPT members have come directly to CNN’s national headquarters to educate the network on our issues. We are here to ask CNN that:

• Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his colleagues at CNN meet with ADAPT to learn about the institutional bias, the Community Choice Act (S683/HR1670), and consumer-directed/community-based alternatives to institutionalization;
• Dr. Gupta correct his inaccurate report about the Community Choice Act;
• Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN acknowledge in their reporting that there are disability rights and civil rights issues embedded within healthcare issues;
• Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN report about the efforts of the disability community to eliminate the institutional bias and give people a REAL CHOICE in how and where they receive long term services and supports; and
• Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN report about community-based and consumer-directed models of assistance that are more cost-effective and give seniors and people with disabilities real control over their lives.

---

For more information on ADAPT, visit our website at www.ADAPT.org.

White House/CDC/HHS H1N1 Phone Calls :: October 8th and 9th (Thurs/Fri)..

Found this in my inbox and thought it might be of interest with respect to getting a feel for your taxpayer dollars in action.. For a balanced opinion on the “safety” of vaccinations, ANY vaccines, please do track down the latest from Zen Garcia with the Endeavor Freedom disability self-advocacy project..

As to actually participating in the phone calls, your guess is as good as mine just now.. This is all the information that was provided.. The United States government obviously remains with a very.. very long way to go before it finally catches a clue about the concept of being universally “accessible”..

---

In an effort to give you the most up to date information about the H1N1 virus, the White House Office of Public Engagement, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will hold informational conference calls on this subject. Below is a list of conference call information pertaining to different communities. Please feel free to join any number of these calls. Topics will include prevention, the importance of vaccination, vaccine safety and availability.

• THURSDAY, October 8
  • 11:00a EDT H1N1, Pregnant Women and Maternal Health
    Participant: (800) 553-0327
    Title: Maternal Health H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 1:00p EDT General H1N1 Outreach Call with Organizations of Any Background
    Participant: (800) 230-1085
    Title: H1N1 Briefing *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 1:45p EDT H1N1 and Children Under 5 and Children with High-Risk Conditions
    Participant: (800) 288-8961
    Title: Children H1N1 *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 2:00p EDT H1N1 and Persons with Cancer and non-HIV Immunosuppressive Conditions
    Participant: (800) 230-1096
    Title: Cancer H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 2:00p EDT H1N1 and African Americans
    Participant: (800) 288-8960
    Title: African American H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 7:00p EDT H1N1 and Pacific Islanders
    Participant: (800) 230-1059
    Title: Pacific Islanders H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
• FRIDAY, October 9
  • 11:00a EDT H1N1 and Persons with HIV/AIDS
    Participant: (800) 288-8961
    Title: HIV\AIDS H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 12:00p EDT H1N1 and Persons with Cardiovascular Disease
    Participant: (800) 230-1951
    Title: Cardiovascular H1N1 Call*Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 1:00p EDT H1N1 and Persons with Diabetes
    Participant: (800) 230-1085
    Title: Diabetes H1N1 *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 1:00p EDT H1N1 and Persons with Asthma
    Participant: (800) 230-1074
    Title: Asthma H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 2:00p EDT H1N1 and Persons with Disabilities
    Participant: (800) 230-1951
    Title: Disabilities H1N1 Call *Provide in lieu of passcode*
  • 2:00p EDT H1N1, Immigrants and non-English speakers (and including Latino and Asian organizations)
    Participant: (800) 230-1096
    Title: Immigrants\Non English Speaking H1N1 *Provide in lieu of passcode*

ADAPT :: Disability Rights Activists Nationwide Confront Democrats On Institutional Bias..

As far as these Fingertips are concerned, continuing to force persons with disabilities (PWDs) into long term care (LTC) facilities (e.g. nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, etc), especially for basic “maintenance” health care is NO less than continued, conscious segregation of those same people..

Segregation: the act or practice of separatism..

:raises brow:

---

For Immediate release: July 21, 2009

For information contact:

• Bruce Darling 585-370-6690
• Marsha Katz 406-544-9504

Disability Rights Activists Nationwide Confront Democrats On Institutional Bias

Washington, D.C. — Demanding an end to the institutional bias in the nation’s health care policy, ADAPT, the nation’s largest cross-disability, grassroots disability rights organization, took their fight to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, DC, with 24 simultaneous protests at Democratic offices across the country, and at Senator Max Baucus‘ office in Missoula, MT.

ADAPT is calling for Congress to eliminate the Medicaid institutional bias in 2009 – either in health care reform or as separate legislation, specifically the Community Choice Act (CCA). CCA (S. 683/H.R. 1670) allows people to choose to stay at home to receive long-term services and supports instead of being forced into nursing homes and institutions because that’s what the law will currently pay for.

The protesters are additionally demanding that the Democrats apologize for the loss of freedom suffered by countless Americans that resulted when a Democratically-controlled Congress created the institutional bias over 40 years ago; and that the DNC facilitate an immediate meeting between ADAPT and Senator Max Baucus, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee; Representative Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; and Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison, to develop a plan to pass the Community Choice Act and eliminate the institutional bias in 2009.

“For 44 years, Medicaid’s institutional bias has stolen the lives of Americans with disabilities and older Americans,” said Mike Oxford, ADAPT organizer from Topeka, KS. It has deprived them of their most basic freedoms. The Democrats were in power when that bias was legislated. Now it’s time for them to apologize, and most importantly, it’s time for them to take action and fix it.”

ADAPT‘s action nationwide comes in part as a response to a video released last week by the Democratic National Committee. The video tells Americans “It’s time” for health care reform, and urges them to call their Senators. Picking up on that theme, ADAPT released its own video this week telling the Democrats “It’s time” to eliminate the institutional bias and pass the Community Choice Act. (See also: www.adapt.org/takeaction.)

“The Democrats say they want health care reform to focus on covering more people and saving money,” said Cassie James, ADAPT organizer from Philadelphia, “yet they refuse to change the current law that mandates people receive long term care (LTC) in the most expensive setting rather than less expensively at home where they would rather be. In addition, the current law forces states to go through complicated procedures just to let a few people stay at home and get assistance there.”

Many states have no home and community-based services, or they may provide limited services with waiting lists that keep people stuck for years in institutions and nursing facilities before they have any chance of getting services. It is not uncommon for people to wait so long that they die before their name reaches the top of the waiting list.

In an unprecedented show of unity this year, disability and aging groups across the country have demanded that healthcare reform be the vehicle to change federal policy which favors paying for institutions over community based services. They have repeatedly asked Congress and the President to pass the Community Choice Act, but currently, NO proposal in the health care reform package eliminates the institutional bias in Medicaid.

“The Democrats have historically supported the Community Choice Act every time it has been introduced in Congress,” said Dawn Russell, an ADAPT organizer from Denver, CO. “Many in the disability community were optimistic that the Democrats would finally pass CCA and eliminate the institutional bias, but the Democratic leadership in Washington is doing absolutely nothing. It seems as though the Democrats are so concerned with political maneuvering that they have completely forgotten about the people they represent who have no voice in Washington.”

“ADAPT is concerned about people who right now are stuck in nursing facilities and other institutions. We are concerned about people on Medicaid who will continue to be forced into those places if the law isn’t changed. And if the Democratic leadership won’t speak up for them, then I will,” added Russell.

---

For those wishing to get involved in similar future actions, National ADAPT may be followed as:

• NationalADAPT at Twitter
• NationalADAPT at Twitpic