This essay by Sunny Taylor gives a powerful look at many issues of concern to those with disabilities. The main focus in on employment and the "right NOT to work". However, her tales of being part of ADAPT's activism is compelling. She describes the history of disability advocacy and recent activism. From September of 2004 she describes a march on Washington DC that was barely noticed by the media. What really caught my eye was her assessment of the importance of the MiCassa legislation to fund independent living arrangements for those with disabilities.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is_10_55/ai_114290202

And that is what the September march focused on: the "stolen lives" of the nearly two million people who are currently "warehoused" in nursing homes and Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICFMRs). Over two hundred of us in our wheelchairs went the 144 miles, from the Liberty Bell to Capitol Hill, to protest for the passage of the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA), which would provide in home care for those who are now stuck in nursing homes. America has over 17,000 nursing homes, two-thirds of which are for-profit ventures. MiCASSA would allow people to decide how their individual Medicaid dollars should be spent, instead of funneling them into the $70 billion nursing-home industry. On average it costs $9,692 annually to provide someone with Medicaid Assistive Services. However, the national average annual cost to house one person in a nursing home is $40,784 and the standard of services in these institutions is often shockingly low.

- posted by BJ @ 8:41 PM |