------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NewsBank, inc. - The Commercial Appeal - 1997 - Article with Citation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Headline: DISABLED TO PUSH FOR PERSONAL ATTENDANTS Date: June 15, 1997 Section: Metro Page: B8 Edition: Final Length: 401 words Author: Chandra M. Hayslett The Commercial Appeal Index Terms: CONGRESS LEGISLATION DISABLED Text: Local advocates for independent living and the disabled were to join 300 others in Washington Saturday through Thursday to support a bill that would create a national system of personal attendants for people with disabilities. Members of the local chapter of Americans with Disabilities for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) will join others in support of the Community Attendant Services Act (CASA), which is being co-sponsored by House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The bill would allow states to use Medicaid funds to establish community-based programs that would provide personal assistant services for people with disabilities, regardless of age or medical diagnosis. ADAPT wants 25 percent of the Medicaid funds now directed to nursing home care to be redirected to give Americans a choice to live on their own, said Mary Jane Starnes, program director for the Memphis Center for Independent Living. Deborah Cunningham, executive director for the Memphis Center for Independent Living and an ADAPT organizer, said the philosophy behind choosing a personal assistant is important. The personal assistant has to be compatible with the person he is working for because he will be working in an intimate way, such as bathing and clothing the person. There has to be a level of trust, said Cunningham. "The bill had to be consumer driven. We want the right and responsibility to choose the person we want for our personal assistant," Cunningham said. The American Healthcare Association, a group representing nursing homes, is not opposed to the specifics of the bill, but is against the method by which ADAPT is trying to get the program passed, said David Kyllo, the association's communications relations director. "The American Healthcare Association feels it is wrong to take from one needy group to help another needy group," he said. ADAPT is a national organization founded in 1974 in Denver and committed to advancing civil rights, life opportunities and self-image for people with disabilities. The local chapter was founded in 1990. To reach reporter Chandra M. Hayslett, call 529-2322 or send E-mail to hayslettc@gomemphis.com Copyright 1997 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN Accession Number: 9706170128 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------