ADAPT speaks for disability rights

Affordable Care Act Anniversary (Photo credit: SEIU International)

I decided to re-circulate this information to both of my devoted readers.

 

Disability Activists Storm U.S. Supreme Court Demanding Support For The Affordable Care Act

 

Washington, D.C.— Hundreds of disability rights activists with the national group ADAPT have swarmed onto the plaza before the United States Supreme Court to demonstrate their support for the Affordable Care Act.  The Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether to strike the Act down.  ADAPT maintains that not only has the Act provided key protections against discrimination on the basis of disability in health care, but it provides for the Community First Choice Option, a federal Medicaid matching program whose rules were completed just yesterday.

 

ADAPT’s demonstration follows on the heels of two days of action on Capitol Hill.  On Monday around 100 people were arrested at the Cannon House Office Building, protesting cuts to the House’s proposed Medicaid budget. Among the arrestees was film and tv actor Noah Wyle, formerly of ER and currently the star of Falling Skies.  On Tuesday, ADAPT blitzed the US Department of Health and Human Services, winning a significant victory in the form of the issuance of the rules for the Community First Choice Option. ADAPT also confronted hotel industry lobbyists at a hearing on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations on swimming pools.  The opposition of rules governing swimming pools is more widely seen as a potential avenue for weakening the interpretation of the ADA.

 

“The Affordable Care Act has done many good things for people with disabilities,” said Tim Sullivan of Chicago ADAPT.  ”People with pre-existing conditions will have health insurance.  It directs the government to address health care disparities including for people with disabilities.  And of course we believe the Community First Choice Option is critical.  My right to live in the community should not be destroyed by political warfare over whether this law is unconstitutional.”

 

“We have to take a stand for the programs that improve the lives of people with disabilities and others who need Medicaid services to live in the community,” said Dawn Russell of Denver ADAPT.  ”We need the Supreme Court to recognize the decades of work that we have put into giving people with disabilities the legal tools to live in our communities with our families and friends, and not be forced into nursing homes.”

ADAPT was formed in 1984 around transit access, and began its focus on Medicaid community based services in 1992 after passage of the ADA, which legally affirmed that access to public transit is a civil right. The ADA, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision known as the Olmstead decision have both also affirmed that the right to live in the community is a civil right.

 

ADAPT will employ street theater and a mock “court” presentation of disability issues within the Affordable Care Act.

 

For more information about the Community First Choice Option and ADAPT, see www.adapt.org and http://www.twitter.com/nationaladapt

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ADAPT Applauds Issuance Of Key Affordable Care Act Regulations

Washington, D.C.— On Tuesday, after months of pressure on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Medicaid division to release federal regulations for the Community First Choice (CFC) Option, the national grassroots disability rights group ADAPT stormed the HHS headquarters once again by surrounding its doors. This time, the protests yielded the long-awaited result: Cindy Mann, Director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations announced at 6 pm that she had just that very afternoon submitted the CFC Option regulations in final form to the Federal Register for publishing. The issuance of the regulations brings the possibility of much-needed Federal assistance to states struggling with massive Medicaid cuts.

“After almost two years of working to get the CFC Option in the Affordable Care Act and then waiting for the regulations, ADAPT truly is celebrating this moment,” said Bruce Darling of Rochester ADAPT. “We thank Ms. Mann and Henry Claypool, Principal Deputy Administrator of the Administration on Community Living, for working with us to see the regulations come out.” The CFC Option is a provision of the Affordable Care Act that would provide Federal matching dollars, plus an extra six percent, to states that amend their Medicaid state plans to provide home and community based services for people with disabilities who meet a certain level of need, determined by each state.

The completion of the regulations marks a high point in a saga of front line battles between advocates in the states and their respective Medicaid administrators. Most states, faced with the prospect of budget cuts in a time of austerity, have not committed to taking advantage of the CFC Option. Some, like Illinois and Montana, have held off on final decisions pending release of the CFC regulations. Others, like New York and California, have moved forward with planning for the CFC Option implementation. In states that have not made such a commitment, Medicaid administrators have met with ferocious grassroots pressure from ADAPT.

HHS itself became the main focus of ADAPT efforts once it was clear that the agency was working on the regulations. The Affordable Care Act provided the deadline of October 1, 2011 for the publication of the CFC rules. Once that date passed, tensions in the disability community ratcheted up as anxiety grew about whether the Administration would hold firm to its commitment to community living and Olmstead implementation for people with disabilities. The release of the regulations and the very recent formation of the Administration on Community Living are both viewed by ADAPT as positive developments.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Darling. “The release of the regulations means we will now have to work state by state to ensure that every person with a disability has the same access to community living as everyone else. We are not done, but for today this is a major policy and advocacy victory for disability rights.”

For more information, see www.adapt.org and http://www.twitter.com/nationaladapt

Related articles

• ADAPT Spring Action: Tuesday Report back (examiner.com)
• Noah Wylie Arrested For Protesting Cuts to Medicaid Benefits for the Elderly and Disabled (shoppingblog.com)
• ADAPT Spring Action: Sunday Report back (examiner.com)

In my own voice

I was getting antsy waiting to do my presentation and feeling tortured by the discussion of the issue certified peer specialists. What did this issue mean to me? Who was I before I was certified? Who am I now? What is my vision of recovery? Where do we go?

I did an improvised version of my presentation in front of the Grassroots family this morning and I probably spoke for around 7 minutes. Tonight I will be giving a somewhat more concise version a couple of minutes briefer. And I statrted working on my notes. Then tomorrow I will talk with legislators. This legislative process is a little tricky because my former State Senator G. Spencer Coggs is now City Treasurer Coggs. And my State Representative is Tamara Grigsby who is retiring for health reasons. I’m going to accompany a friend meeting her representatives and I plan to visit the staff of JoCasta Zamarripa who I have met. I want to start spreading the news.

As it happened the ideas were all there in my lived experiences. As a poorly paid peer specialist I had been evicted, I had been judged according my ability to clean and I had been subject to what I considered arbitrary restrictions by clinicians. And now that I am certified do I want to join an organization that I fundamentally distrust? Is that the reality behind the promise of certifying peer specialists?

It all came together as I was starting to speak, words found themselves inside of me. This was what 8 years of hard work had brought. I think of the Bruce Springsteen song and the line “I’ll wait for you; if I fall behind, wait for me.” Peers, I am waiting for you. Are you coming?

Respect Yourself

Trayvon Martin Protest - Sanford (Photo credit: werthmedia)

Malcolm X (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I ride the bus as my main means of getting around Milwaukee and all too often I heard through the earphones of young black passengers I hear people talking about “nigger this” and “nigger that” and then I hear on the other side of town about deaths. We have been focused in these last few weeks on 2 situations: that Trayvon Morris in Florida and Bo Morrison in Slinger, Wisconsin.

But what about the ordinary killers of African-Americans? Who is hunting them? Who is looking for the guy who killed his baby mama at 20th and Walnut after beating her with his bare fists? Will anyone find the foster children of Sara Ann, a young mother whose other children are in the foster care system? Will Sara Ann be reunited with her her children one more time? Will we learn about changes in the system after she is dead?

Who will indict and convict the sellers of candy band other killers of black people? Will we round up the grocery stores, gas stations, and crack heads who sell shit that winds up being sold for death in our communities? Will we wind up with over crowding the already full jails with even even more prisoners?

I blogged without end about George Zimmerman who should be facing life ion prison for murdering Trayvon Martin.  But the sad truth is that African-Americans, often friends or domestic partners of African-Americans are the ones who kill our brothers and sisters.

\The stories about murders by racists grab our attention because we have been so innoculated by the ordinary murders that take place around us that we have no idea that the guy upstairs putting his hands on that attractive young woman may end up killing her tonight. We need to stop murdering one another and start loving one another.

It begins with the Staples Singers and their song but it needs you to sing along. Pledge tonight that you will not kill anyone tonight.

African American members of ILGWU Local 222 picket outside. (Photo credit: Kheel Center, Cornell University)

Related articles

• President Barack Obama Calls Trayvon Martin Death “Tragedy” Geraldo Rivera Blames Trayvon Martin Murder on a “Hoodie” (binsidetv.net)
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Who did you vote for?

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Yesterday was primary election day for many local races in Milwaukee. To prepare for this event I checked to learn who were my local representatives, found a piece of mail to bring with me to the polls as proof of address and then learned about the candidates. The actual voting took place in the afternoon between my morning and afternoon shifts. I went to the polling place where I had voted the past several years, only to discover I was in a new ward and I would have to walk a few blocks to my new polling place.

Voting has been ingrained in me almost from birth. When I went home for the holidays in December my soon to be 88 year old mother told me she not only votes but also helps drive others to the polls. My older sister is a former Democratic committee woman. I found my first girl friend through working on a political campaign while in high school. Yes, I was born to be informed.

I was always aware that our choices my be limited or increased by what happens at the ballot box. Take re-designing the mental health system in Milwaukee County, for example. At least two of the new supported apartment buildings constructed in Milwaukee were built using federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  signed into law by President Obama. This act, derided by Republicans, helped create real and permanent good by offering decent affordable housing for people with mental illness. Combined with resources from state and local government, private foundations and investors, it was an example of economic stimulation at its finest.

It was a sharp contrast the the Bush era economic stimulus which consisted of nothing more than a small across the board  tax cut. Barely Political, a You tube satire group, did a hilarious send up of the stimulus package. It included a man fantasizing about all the great things he was going to buy with his $200.

The merits of these approaches to government are being debated and distorted every day in the media and it behooves everyone to learn about them. Especially when you are recovering from a mental illness, you need to understand that you can make a difference in the world around you. You can petition, make telephone calls, write blogs, talk to your neighbors and pay attention to the news. These are called instrumental activities of daily living and they are almost as essential as getting a good night’s rest in building a whole life. You will find the more you immerse yourself in the world, the less time you will have to feeling distressed.

Image via CrunchBase

 

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• Disenfranchisement by Default: Voting While Disabled (tigerbeatdown.com)

One of the 44%

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published a front page story about the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Center for Development about the disappearance from the job market of African American men. Over the past 40 years employment levels for men 16 to 64, a group which includes me, have fallen from 73% to just barely 44%.  At the same time, incarceration rates have risen dramatically. Even for men not incarcerated, it’s not uncommon to find they are paying off tickets for disorderly conduct or other offenses.  At the same time, they we are leaving the job scene, we are actually becoming less employable.

According to the UWM study, the bottom 5 cities for black male employment were

1. Chicago 48.3%
2. Cleveland 47.7%
3. Milwaukee44.7%
4. Buffalo 43.9%
5. Detroit43.0%

The top 5 were

1. Washington 66.6%
2. Dallas 61.%
3. Boston 59.7%
4. Minneapolis 59.3%
5. Atlanta 59.0%

You will notice that those top levels of employment are nowhere near the peak level from 40 years ago.  Further, the declines in employment levels covered white, Hispanic and black men. It is a trend that mirrored the de-industrialization of northern cities.  As our jobs fled south and later to China (that giant sucking sound Ross Perot  warned  us about) we have been left with lower paid positions in the service industry.

The factory jobs that remain are largely performed by robots that do all the manual labor that our parents used to do. It’s called getting more out of workers or some fancy term like “productivity.”

As an African-American male I find this situation troubling. When I left Buffalo in 1980 it was already in decline. Although things looked better in my new home of Milwaukee, it, too was on the way down. Despite two college degrees I found it difficult to develop and sustain a satisfactory career.  In recent years I have created a new career, as a peer specialist and for the first time my income and hours worked began to rise. I guess I should feel grateful but I worry about the long term implications of the UWM study.

My nephew John has started a family in Buffalo. Will he fall victim, too? Is America prepared to ignore the skills of millions men who play by the rules and strive for a piece of the dream? Are we going to recapture those jobs that fled our shores? Can a man who creates jobs in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland understand the plight of American workers? I don’t think so, Mitt! Can a man who labelled Barack Obama “the food stamp president” identify with the issues facing low income workers? No way, Newt. Will the former publisher of racist newsletters give a damn whether black men and women drown in this economy?

Barack Obama’s future is tied to our success. We may not return to the employment levels of the 1970s overnight but that’s the only way we can create an America that is born to succeed.

Related articles

• A Shortage of Eligible Black Men (theroot.com)
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Seriously, You’re the CEO and You Don’t Know Where That Billion Dollars Went?

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Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Standup comic Jon S. Corzine, former CEO of MF Global testified yesterday before a House Committee investigating the scandal surrounding the collapse of the company which declared bankruptcy and announced that over $1 billion in customer accounts was missing. Corzine’s testimony wold have you believe that he had no idea where any  of that money went and had no access to documents that could tell him where to find it.http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/corzines-testimony-came-with-plenty-of-caveats/ http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/12/08/n_mf_global_corzine_testimony.cnnmoney/ and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/jon-corzine-testimony_n_1138633.html

Corzine apologized but tiptoed and did the lowest limbo in American history to evade taking responsibility along with his millionaire friends for replacing the stolen loot. I believe that the former offices of MF Global (What a perfect name) should be cordoned off and investigated as a crime scene. Prosecutors should be empowered to investigate  any and all leads to uncover the nature of this fraud. They should have the subpena power and other means available to freeze assets, obtain documents and seek indictments.

The criminals behind this billion dollar fraud need to be serving prison time alongside Bernie Madoff while teaching literacy classes to uneducated criminals. There needs to be a new beginning to demonstrate that being soft on crime means ignoring the multimillionaire criminals and that era has passed. Otherwise, the next Corzine will tell us about tens of billions being lost without anyone being held responsible. As Vice President Biden would say, “this is a big fucking deal.”

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• Sorting through the MF Global debacle (money.cnn.com)
• Jon Corzine’s “Nien, Nien, Nien” Strategy (forbes.com)
• Corzine: No, I really didn’t know about customer-fund transfers (hotair.com)
• Guest Post: Jon Corzine, MF Global, And Unaccountability (zerohedge.com)

Occupy Australia

If President Obama was playing basketball with the American people, the play by play might go something like this. “The President fakes left, ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Next he goes far right, ignoring the execution of Troy Davis. He dribbles between his legs, passes the ball to Leon Panetta who explains we could go back to Iraq if their leaders requested it.  Then as the Republican candidates makes assess of themselves,  the President dunks as he announces America is going to occupy Australia. http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1321502826/last-1321579706/US+permanently+stationed+2500+troop+in+Australia+to+watch+Chinese+movement

Yes 2500 troops will go to the land down under on a mission to supposedly watch Chinese naval movements. The President taps into that vast reservoir of funds and goodwill regained as the rich started paying their fair share of taxes to pay for another military occupation. Instead of taking my advice and realizing this is a hell of a long time to be occupying Asia,  the Big O goes deep and rushes to the aid of Australia, a small struggling third world country.

Actually, they’re a rather powerful and well developed nation.

The economy of Australia is a developed, modern market economy with a GDP of approximately US$1.23 trillion.^[10] In 2011, it was the 13th largest national economy by nominal GDP^[11] and the 17th largest measured by PPP adjusted GDP, representing about 1.7% of the World economy. Australia was also ranked the 19th largest importer and 19th largest exporter.

Australia is a member of the APEC, G20, OECD and WTO organisations. Australia has also entered into free trade agreements with ASEAN, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.^[12] The ANZCERTA agreement with New Zealand has greatly increased integration with the New Zealand economy and there are now plans to form an Australasian Single Economic Market by 2015.^[13]

Sounds like a country that could afford to take care of itself. Ya think? Meanwhile, yes, I was kidding about that money from the rich, they’re placing bets on who to elect next November.

You might have noticed that at the same time President Obama declare that defending Australia was key to our national security, he re-assured China that we were not somehow tracking their naval expansion.  Our stores are filled with goods from China. The biggest beneficiary of the American “Black Friday” will undoubtedly be China as the consumer orgy floods our homes with more Chinese goods and services.

The Grand Game is on as bets are placed regarding the future of Social Security, Medicare and the  Health Care Law. Will the bloated US military escape the so-called draconian cuts scheduled to go  into effect if the Super Committee cannot find compromise?

Those of us on the left with our Occupy signs probably did not see President O’s latest right wing move coming. But we should have known that the moment the people start talking about occupy, the mis-leaders will  turn that into an opportunity to occupy another large landmass. Let’s Occupy the White  House.

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They’ve Given You a Number and Taken Away Your Name

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In the Johnny Rivers song Secret Agent Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0CQ8iaK5s8, there’s a line “they’ve given you a number and taken away your name.” Last weekend I heard about a similar kind of number. It’s the Global Assessment of Functioning http://depts.washington.edu/washinst/Resources/CGAS/GAF%20Index.htm. This scale of 1 to 100 is included in the DSM IV used by clinicians. The people scoring the lowest are increasingly delusional and at extreme risk of  harming  themselves or others.

This tool is increasingly popular in use. For instance the US military is testing soldiers to help weed out soldiers who may be unfit for duty. http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=5781. I have suggested that the the military stop conducting unnecessary and illegal wars which stress out soldiers and civilians. These demands were summarized in our slogan from the 1960′s “Make Love Not War.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmkAuTQ8Sc4

There are some other interesting numbers that may relate to global functioning. What is the black unemployment rate by year in America? According to CNN,  it was the highest in 27 years. http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/02/news/economy/black_unemployment_rate/index.htm What if we had taken a fraction of that money we gave  to  carry out these wars and spent it helping people re-enter  the job market? Isn’t it possible that some of those people who scored in  the 40′s and 50′s would have improved their functioning?

Another number we should know is the black graduation rate from high school. http://www.thegrio.com/specials/making-the-grade/grim-graduate-rates-for-black-males-highlight-racial-gap-in-schools.php. I have encouraged black peers to return to school and get jobs  and a few of them have taken my advice. They paid attention to the scores on the GED tests and they reflected their pride in their smiles.

I believe that our global functioning changes daily. I’ve never seen the number that was assigned to me and I  don’t think it would offer much insight. These numbers can be affected  by government use or misuse of resources. If you have grown up in an area with wealthy schools, you will be at the top of that scale and any other scale we have in this society.

We must understand that these scales are merely snapshots of how you were at any given day but they are not predictors. You might encounter a peer specialist who helps you to change. You  might see a friend who has seized an opportunity and gone far beyond the barriers that were erected. We must work globally to assess the functioning of our government to reduce the amount of money wasted until we get the kind of government that we deserve. When we get there, I’d like to play in that number.

Related articles

• Unemployment Fell in 43 States in Nov. (time.com)

Why Psychiatrists Should Sign The Petition To Reform DSM-5

Reblogged from Beyond Meds:

I posted an article by Allen Frances MD, (psychiatrist and former chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and currently professor emeritus at Duke) yesterday that was posted on Psychology Today.  The article below is posted on Psychiatric Times and is penned to his fellow psychiatrists. I suggest sharing this with every psychiatrist that you know or work with.

Why Psychiatrists Should Sign The Petition To Reform DSM-5…

Read more… 274 more words

Is it Genetic or Do I Really Care?

I saw an item posted on a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) site today that made reference to a study about the genetic basis for depression. Scientists are  looking to find the gene that may help them predict evidence of depression. Although I respect NAMI’s work and was an intern at NAMI Greater Milwaukee I found myself wondering whether I cared that there might be a depression gene in me. From talking with my older sister and my mother I have learned that all of us are subject to depression. That was all the information I needed.

Who wouldn’t be depressed about the way our country is going? There was an article last week about the increasing number of people who have been prescribed anti-depressants. I think it was 1 in 10 are using these drugs and the number is predicted to keep increasing. Baby boomers like me who protested the Vietnam War have found our country mired in endless war. Drone technology has made launching attacks against other countries more akin to playing a video game.

The modern pilots can sit at their comfortable office desks  and never worry about whether that convoy in Afghanistan was a group of insurgents or a wedding party.  We now have the ability to send a mini plane over a territory or a building and locate targets and bomb them as casually as one might make a chess move. That’s both depressing and frightening.

Unemployment rising, bank fees out of control, the rich owning more while everyone else gets less. All of these are signs of the brutality that has swept our country. So, what should we do? Look for the famous depression gene, or a schizophrenia gene or join a demonstration?

The growing  Occupy Movement has revived the popularity of protesting conditions that we don’t like and  which make us feel hopeless. Demonstrations offer strength in numbers. They give people a chance to resist the Tea Party Know Nothingness. And hot damn if they aren’t cheaper than anti-depressants. Sorry, NAMI, I’m not looking for genes, I’m going to occupy America.

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