ADAPT demands AARP to publicly endorse DIA

ADAPT
FREE OUR PEOPLE!

There is no organization addressing aging issues with a higher profile than the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) whose mission is to empower people to choose how they live as they age. Forced or unwanted institutionalization denies people the opportunity to make such choices, but it also strips elderly and Disabled Americans of their most basic civil rights.

To address the injustice of forced institutionalization, ADAPT and others in the Disability Community crafted the Disability Integration Act (S.910/HR.2472). The bipartisan/bicameral legislation strengthens the ADA’s integration mandate and ensures no Disabled American is denied their Constitutional and civil rights to Life and Liberty by requiring they be provided a community-based alternative to institutional placement.

The legislation has broad-based support within the Disability Community, including the National Disability Leadership Alliance, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the National Disability Rights Network, and Paralyzed Veterans of America. It is supported by aging advocates, including the National Council on Aging, the National Academy of Elderlaw Attorneys, and Justice in Aging.

DIA is also supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Families USA, Indivisible, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Together We Will, Ultraviolet and the Women’s March.

Despite broad-based support and repeated requests from ADAPT, AARP has refused to endorse this critically important civil rights legislation. Nor has AARP endorsed any legislation previously introduced by ADAPT that would end forced institutionalization.

Advocates believe that the organization is putting its own interests in the insurance industry ahead of the interests of their membership who – themselves – face forced institutionalization or deal with the institutionalization of family members.

Today, ADAPT demands that the American Association of Retired Persons issue a letter endorsing the Disability Integration Act, bipartisan/bicameral legislation that strengthens the ADA’s integration mandate and ensures no disabled individual is denied their Constitutional and civil rights by requiring people with disabilities be provided a community-based alternative to institutional placement.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the demands.

May 15, 2018 - AARP