From Sept. 8 to 13, ADAPT—the nation’s largest direct-action disability rights organization—took action in Chicago.
More than 500 ADAPT activists came from around the country for a series of actions that shed light on Illinois’ poor
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Currently, Illinois ranks 41st in the nation for providing the community-based services that allow the elderly and people with disabilities to stay in their own homes. Illinois’ long record of being in the bottom 10 states puts it among the worst when it comes to human rights in general and disability rights in particular. This is a national problem, however. It is not confined only to the state of Illinois.
ADAPT is a national grassroots disability rights group that works for equality and positive change in policy and programs to include people with disabilities in the United States.
The main goal of ADAPT is to end the bias in Medicaid that forces people with disabilities from their home and families into expensive institutions and nursing homes. To further this goal, ADAPT proposes legislation, advises decision-makers and suggests constructive solutions on the local, state and national levels.
In addition ADAPT uses actions inspired by the civil rights struggles of the past to fight for their demands.
ADAPT has been successful in helping thousands of people with disabilities live in their own homes with their own families instead being locked away in institutions.
In the city of Chicago, ADAPT protested for the passage of the Community Choice Act and to raise awareness about the institutions to which people with disabilities are unfairly confined.
On Sept. 10, ADAPT shut-down the massive complex of the American Medical Association for over three hours until the police arrested 55 activists.
ADAPT demanded that the AMA endorse the Community Choice Act, divest from financial interests in nursing facilities, develop an ethics policy requiring doctors to disclose if they are financially invested in long-term care institutions, and work with ADAPT to get real options for people facing institutionalization.
While the police and the mayor’s office worked to negotiate with the AMA, the ADAPT activists chanted and sang to keep up their energy. Many ADAPT members wrote colorful messages to the AMA in chalk on the sidewalk and in temporary paint on glass windows. The group unfurled two large banners. One 50 foot banner read “Stop funding institutions.”
On Sept. 11, ADAPT took its protest to the James R. Thompson Center (State of Illinois Building) and Gov. Blagojevich’s office.
A long line of ADAPT activists snaked through downtown Chicago. ADAPT reached the state office complex and hundreds of activists rushed across the plaza and flooded the Thompson Center’s atrium.
After a long difficult struggle to shut down business at the Center, ADAPT activists were successful in meeting with officials and winning concessions. Gov. Blagojevich’s office agreed to close down the Lincoln Developmental Center, which was initially closed in 2002 amid allegations of abuse and neglect of its disabled residents. The governor’s office also agreed to have ADAPT at the table for the Illinois Money Follows the Person Project and to meet with ADAPT before Oct. 17.
On Sept. 12, ADAPT took their struggle to the offices of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. AFSCME has sided with nursing home owners who have a vested interest in keeping people with disabilities confined to institutional living.
ADAPT targeted AFSCME because it feels the union has a shortsighted perspective. AFSCME members work in these institutions and the union leadership has therefore refused to support any legislation providing community and home-based services. The AFSCME leadership also supported the reopening of the Lincoln Development Center.
The union clearly has a policy of supporting the institutions where their members work. This is prioritized over the principle of unity with the oppressed, and defending the human dignity of people with disabilities. ADAPT hoped to convince the union to take a better position.
One hundred twenty-one ADAPT activists were arrested on Sept. 12 at the offices of AFSCME. Even though they did not succeed in having the union endorse the Community Choice Act, many in the building expressed support for the struggle of ADAPT.
ADAPT’s bold street actions show with absolute clarity that an oppressed community—regardless of the depths of their oppression and the obstacles in their way—will always find a way to fight back.
For more information, visit www.ADAPT.org.
