05/20/19 PRESS ALERT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information:
Mike Oxford: (785) 224-3865
Ami Hyten: (785) 220-6460
WHO: National ADAPT
WHAT: ADAPT Begins National Action Calling for Government Agency Commitment to Ending the Institutional Bias
WHERE: HHS, Washington DC
WHEN: Monday, May 20, 2019 Happening NOW
ADAPT Begins National Action Calling for Government Agency Commitment to Ending the Institutional Bias
ADAPT begins its national action in Washington, DC today with a call on the federal government to address the institutional bias. The institutional bias forces disabled people to be locked away in institutions when they could be supported with home and community-based services.
Today, ADAPT is calling upon HHS Secretary Alex Azar to implement changes in HHS that would ensure disabled people have access to adequate services, the freedom of community integration, and the dignity of being able to hire and direct our attendant services.
“HHS directs many programs that affect the lives of Americans with disabilities,” explained Mike Oxford, and organizer with ADAPT from Topeka, Kansas. “The Department must implement the policies that will support Disability Freedom.”
ADAPT is demanding a meeting with the Secretary and Deputy Secretary to discuss how the administration could promote community integration. “We need to address our current inability to effectively transition people out of nursing facilities and support them in the community,” said Rhoda Gibson, an organizer with the Freedom Fighters, an ADAPT chapter in Massachusetts. “Creating models for more effective transition would involve multiple changes in how these services are authorized and provided.”
When Disabled people require attendant services, ADAPT demands they have the right to determine who performs the most intimate of personal assistance tasks. “ADAPT needs HHS to meet with us to ensure that disabled people have control over recruitment and retention of their attendants,” said Jennifer McPhail, an organizer with ADAPT of Texas. McPhail also expressed concern about the implementation of electronic visit verification (EVV). “Secretary Azar must understand the negative impact burdensome regulations have on disabled people,” she concluded
ADAPT is currently outside the HHS building in Washington, D.C. demanding to schedule a meeting with the Secretary.
For decades ADAPT has worked to secure for Disabled Americans the same rights and liberties enjoyed by their non-disabled neighbors. Learn more about ADAPT’s history and activities at www.adapt.org, on social media with the National ADAPT Facebook and Twitter pages. Also, under the hashtag #ADAPTandRESIST.
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