In the late 70's there was a man by the name of Wade Blank who lived in Denver, Colorado. At that time, it was very common for young people with disabilities to reside in nursing homes and other institutions. Wade quickly saw the impracticality of this. Old people didn't like loud music; young people didn't like pureed peas; etc. Wade decided to separate them so the young people had their own spac
e and the elderly, too, and with the food budget he saw no reason not to spend some of it on pizzas and burgers. It wasn't long before Wade started getting more creative with the monies that were paying for the residents to be there. He grouped the young people who naturally hung out together and got them their own apartments, paying rent with the money that was supposed to be used to pay for their nursing home rooms! Of course, he was soon fired and everything went back to how it was, but the idea that this was possible never died. Instead, the idea that would become ADAPT was born. For people with money, living in the community would always be a choice, but for those relying on federal funds to pay for the services they need (getting in and out of bed, showering, toileting, etc.), they were forced to go where the funding was. ADAPT's idea was that the money should follow the person, not the other way around. If a person wanted to stay in their own home or get an accessible apartment and have aides help them there, in the community, instead of having to live where all the other disabled people were, they were simply out of luck in most cases. States had the option of using federal money to fund in-home care, but most states weren't or were only diverting very small amounts to this end. ADAPT wanted to end this segregation, this using people with disabilities as a commodity, but they refused to make the mistake of replacing segregation with isolation. If they were able to get people out of nursing homes all across the nation, how many would be stuck in their homes, unable to get to doctor's appointments or to go shopping? No, the first step had to be to make public transportation accessible. And ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) was born. At their first action, blocking a bunch of buses in Denver in 1983, they had just 17 people. But that group grew and grew and soon they were blocking the doors of the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. As history played out at their hands, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990. It made it illegal for public or private entities that provide services to the public to not also make those services accessible to people with disabilities. It would be a couple years yet before bus companies started making their fleets accessible, but as a national organization, that battle had been won. The name then changed to reflect their ultimate goal: ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today). Since that time (circa 1992), ADAPT has crafted and introduced CASA, MiCASSA, the Community Choice Act, and now, the Community Integration Act. All but the last were written as initiatives whereby the federal government would encourage states (with a big, fiscal carrot) to transition people (only those who want to be transitioned) from institutional care to community based settings. But each bill would die in Congress, and have to be reintroduced in the next session. The latest bill, CIA, will serve as a new chapter of the ADA! in 1999, the Supreme Court deemed that it was unconstitutional for States to not provide an integrated setting for people to receive the services they need, so this bill simply takes that one step further. If passed, it will be illegal for states to not offer community-based services as an equal alternative to facility-based care. We are all quite enthused by this new approach. Perhaps 25 years after ADAPT began, we will finally FREE OUR PEOPLE!
