National disability rights organization ADAPT has invited U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to address a disability rights rally at Atlanta's King Center on Sunday, October 11. The rally kicks-off ADAPT's week in Atlanta, and will follow a march from the CNN Center, past historic Ebenezer Baptist Church to the grounds of the King Center. There, ADAPT will pay respect to Martin Luther King, Jr., the major architect of America's civil rights movement, and in the shadow of his memorial remind America that Americans with disabilities are still waiting for freedom and full civil rights.
"We're here in Atlanta to demand freedom from nursing homes and institutions for people with disabilities and who are older," said Randy Alexander, Organizer for Tennessee ADAPT. "Currently, Medicaid law is biased in favor of forcing people into expensive nursing facilities and other institutions, rather than mandating that people can choose to stay at home with the assistance they need. As a result, hundreds of thousands of older and disabled Americans have lost their homes and their freedom, and have been virtually locked up for the crime of disability or age. It's a violation of our civil rights!"
Legislation currently in Congress, the Community Choice Act (CCA), would give Americans across the country the choice to stay in their own homes to receive the services and supports they need in their daily lives, thus removing the institutional bias in Medicaid.
Continue Reading
No comments:
Post a Comment