08/07/18 PRESS ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information
Colleen Flanagan: (617) 435-0486
Gregg Beratan: (610) 247-4188
Marilee Adamski-Smith: (715) 204-4152
WHO: MassADAPT
WHAT: Confront Rep. Capuano on his Failure to Co-Sponsor the DIA
WHERE: UMass, Boston Campus Center, 100 William T Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125
WHEN: Tuesday, August 7th, 2018 happening now
Disabled Activists Confront Representative Capuano about his Failure to Co-Sponsor the Disability Integration Act
BOSTON – Disability rights activists from Massachusetts ADAPT just disrupted the highly anticipated live-debate between MA-07 Congressional candidates Mike Capuano and Ayanna Pressley. Activists are demanding Capuano explain why he has failed to co-sponsor the Disability Integration Act (HR.2472) which would ensure Disabled Americans are no longer denied the most fundamental rights to Life and Liberty through unwanted institutionalization.
Since April 2016, ADAPT activists and other disability rights advocates have been relentlessly reaching out to Capuano’s office asking that he co-sponsor the Disability Integration Act. For over two years, Capuano has ignored the request of Disabled constituents and their families. He still is not a co-sponsor of this critically important piece of civil rights legislation. Today disability rights activists want to make it known that it is truly un-American to make Disabled Americans wait any longer for their inalienable rights to Life and Liberty.
“Congressman Mike Capuano U.S. House of Representatives has not co-sponsored the Disability Integration Act even though it would significantly improve the lives of people with disabilities in the Commonwealth,” said Colleen Flanagan, an organizer with Massachusetts ADAPT. “This bill is about affirming our most basic rights as Americans. It ensures out freedom. His failure to support this legislation – and our rights – is an insult to all people with disabilities.”
The activists demonstrating at the debate displayed signs that read “Disability Integration Act Now” and “Capuano do better”. One demonstrator taped a sign to back of her wheelchair that read “Capuano is the wrong choice for people with disabilities”.
“Our message should be loud and clear. We are offended by Capuano’s dismissal of the issues that matter most to us and refuse to be ignored any longer,” said Olivia Richard of Massachusetts ADAPT. “We demand that Representative Capuano immediately – and publicly – announce that he will cosponsor and vote for the Disability Integration Act.”
ADAPT’s history, the issues we are fighting for, and our activities can be found at www.adapt.org, the National ADAPT Facebook page, and on Twitter under the hashtag #ADAPTandRESIST.
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