MCIL News Release Archive
				National ADAPT
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				Not Dead Yet!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News Releases from the 1999 ADAPT Action in Columbus Ohio.

November 1, 1999

• ADAPT siege on Ohio State Office Building

  November 2, 1999
  

• No More Business as Usual ADAPT Demands Change

  November 3, 1999
  

• ADAPT Secures Meeting With Romer-Sensky - Highway Patrol Derails It

  November 3, 1999
  

• ADAPT Indicts Taft and Holds Meeting with Medicaid Director

Shona Eakin (419) 349-5483
Marsha Katz (406) 239-7490
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085
Mike Auberger (303) 356-2273

November 1, 1999

The activists took over the two floors before noon today, targeting the office of Governor Bob Taft on the 30th floor, and the office of Speaker of the Ohio House, Representative Joanne Davidson. Governor Taft refuses to meet with the group until Thursday, when ADAPT is leaving town.

In a letter received by national ADAPT organizer Mike Auberger late last week, Governor Taft promised a meeting, saying, " I am interested in hearing what you have to say and would be pleased to meet with representatives of ADAPT next week during your Columbus conference." The 60 ADAPT activists will remain in his office until granted a meeting while the entire group is in town.

Ohio House Speaker Joanne Davidson has been asked to hold hearings on ADAPT's legislation, H.B. 215, and she is not willing to do so. 65 members of ADAPT occupy her 14th floor office, waiting for an affirmative answer to their request for a proponent hearing on OPASA, the Ohio Personal Assistance Services Act. The bill was introduced in April by Rep. George Terwilleger (R- Cincinnati) and has been referred to the House Finance & Appropriations Committee.

ADAPT, a national disability rights group with over 5000 members in chapters in 39 states, is in Ohio for a week of demonstrations and rallies aimed at changing inequity Ohio's Medicaid program. Currently, 89% of Ohio's Medicaid Long Term Care dollars goes to nursing homes and other institutions. Translated into dollars, Ohio spends $2.5 billion on institutional care, or eight times as much as it spends on in-home and community based services.

"We are prepared to stay all night if that's what it takes," said national ADAPT organizer Linda Anthony in an interview from the Governor's 30th floor offices, "We know too many people who can't get services at home. Our right to choose where we receive services is at stake, and we'll stay here till we get what we are asking for."

The Vern Riffe Center is located at the corner of South High and West State Street, in Columbus, Ohio.

November 2, 1999

The 500 activists are directing Romer-Sensky, whose office is responsible for administering the Medicaid program in Ohio, to implement the US Supreme Court decision known as Olmstead v. L.C. That decision, announced in June, upheld the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act integration mandate, which says, " A public entity shall administer services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities."

Despite several requests by ADAPT of Ohio, Romer-Sensky has refused to meet with the group. Today national ADAPT will pay her a visit in her Rhoades Tower office, 30 E. Broad Street in Columbus.

They will bring a list of demands which include establishing a Ohio Community Integration Committee and appointing 5 ADAPT representatives to the committee, developing a comprehensive plan to identify people in nursing homes and other institutions, creating a timetable for getting those people who choose to receive services in the community out of institutions, and request funds in the budget to implement the plan.

Yesterday ADAPT occupied the offices of Governor Bob Taft and House Speaker Joanne Davidson for 14 hours. "We sent a message to the administration and Ohio legislature that ADAPT will not settle for what is going on in this state," said ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka of Texas, "There are over 100,000 people in Ohio waiting for community services."

132 arrests were processed during the demonstration, including several arrests for criminal trespassing when activists attempted to use the bathroom of the state office building.

November 3, 1999

...And then all Hell broke loose.

Ignoring the meeting agreement arranged by Romer-Sensky staffer Sharon Bushong, Ohio's Highway Patrol stormed onto the scene and arrested just under 100 ADAPT members. "Our leaving would have taken 15 minutes, with no hassle," said Tracy Mankins, Dayton ADAPT organizer. "Instead, the police turned it into a 2 hour feeding frenzy in the freezing rain."

ADAPT's demands for today's meeting were centered around the implementation of the Supreme Court decision known as Olmstead vs. L.C. That decision, announced in June, upheld the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act integration mandate, which says, " A public entity shall administer services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities."

Among the specific demands were establishing an Ohio Community Integration Committee, appointing 5 ADAPT representatives to the committee, developing a comprehensive plan to identify people in nursing homes and other institutions, creating a timetable for getting those people who choose to receive services in the community out of institutions, and requesting funds in the budget to implement the plan.

"We have repeatedly requested meetings with both Jackie Romer-Sensky, and Governor Taft to discuss the current warehousing of people with disabilities in Ohio, and we have repeatedly been denied those meetings," said Shona Eakin, ADAPT organizer from Toledo. " We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and we'll keep coming back until we are heard, and until the people waiting for community services are free."

November 3, 1999

ADAPT secured a commitment for a meeting next week with Jackie Romer-Sensky, Director of the Ohio Department of Human Services, and delivered an indictment of Governor Bob Taft to the Governor's office completing a successful week of demonstrations in Columbus, Ohio.

The indictment of Governor Taft was delivered to the 30th floor of the Riffe Building by 5 ADAPT representatives, following a public "reading the names" of people who have died or are still being held in nursing homes and institutions in Ohio and other states.

• Specific charges by ADAPT against Governor Taft include:

• Incarcerating over 100,000 people with disabilities, old and young, in nursing homes and other institutions without real choice;

• Spending 89% of long term care dollars on nursing homes and other institutions;

• Failing to implement the Supreme Court decision Olmstead v L.C.; and,

Ignoring requests by the disability community to meet to discuss the issue of changing institutional bias in Ohio.

As 400 ADAPT members demonstrated against Taft in front of the Riffe Building, 5 representatives met with Ohio Medicaid Director Barbara Edwards and other Human Services officials. This was the meeting that was prevented Tuesday when Ohio's Highway Patrol began mass arrests of protestors just as they were about to disperse peacefully on their own per their agreement with Human Services staffer Sharon Bushong. The half hour meeting concluded with arrangements for a second meeting next week with Edwards, and another with Romer-Sensky.

"We made more progress with the state this week than in the whole past year," said Ohio ADAPT organizer Shona Eakin. "Now they know we mean business and we're here for as long as it takes to free our people."

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