9/24/17 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – ONGOING ACTION
For More Information:
Bruce Darling (585) 370-6690
Gregg Beratan (610) 247-4188
Marilee Adamski-Smith (715) 204-4152
WHO: National ADAPT
WHAT: Disabled Advocates Petition Attorney General Sessions for Disability Rights
WHERE: 208B Justice Court Northeast, Washington, DC
WHEN: Sunday, September 24, 2017, Currently happening
Disability Advocates Petition Attorney General Sessions for Olmstead & Civil Rights Enforcement
9/24/17 – Washington, D.C.— Activists from the disability rights organization ADAPT are gathering at Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions’ apartment in DC to demand that he make the integration and civil rights of disabled Americans a priority at the Department of Justice.
“Attorney General Sessions is in a unique position to advocate for disabled people,” said Jennifer McPheal. “Millions of Americans are forced into institutions simply because they are disabled. Disabled Americans have fewer due process protections before being locked in institutions than people who have been accused of crimes. ADAPT has petitioned the Justice Department under Obama but did not see deinstitutionalization being made a priority. We are demanding that the new Administration be responsive to the Disability Community.”
ADAPT issued a list of demands for the Justice Department, including:
- Acknowledge that unwanted institutionalization denies Disabled Americans their Constitutional right to Liberty;
- Work with ADAPT and the Disability Rights community to pursue high-profile Olmstead/ADA enforcement actions in every state to address the institutionalization of thousands of people with disabilities – of all ages – in nursing facilities;
- Work with ADAPT and Autistic advocates to stop the torture of Disabled Americans in the Judge Rotenberg Center who are subjected to electric shocks and other painful aversives; and
- Work with ADAPT and the National Council on Independent Living to ensure that the ADA is enforced in such a way that Americans with Disabilities are not discriminated against or institutionalized in the event of a natural disaster.
“There’s no asterisk on the Constitution that says you are too disabled to enjoy life, liberty, and property free of government interference,” said Bruce Darling, an organizer for ADAPT. “Yet that’s what people with disabilities experience every day in this country. The Attorney General can help secure the Constitutional rights of millions of disabled Americans by working with our community on these priorities.”
ADAPT’s history, the issues it is fighting for, and its activities can be found at www.adapt.org, the NationalADAPT Facebook page and on Twitter under the hashtag #ADAPTandRESIST.
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