This weekend the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar opened outside for it’s pandemic safe debut. ADAPT’s Wheelchair Santa Clones were there at the gate, collecting donations and signatures on our Support the Build Back Better bill and passing out information on disability rights. Shortened hours and less days were welcome changes for our stalwart crew of Clones — as we ease our way back into “the new normal.”
Want to help collect signatures you can send to our Senators? Click here for a copy of the petition.
To prepare this you will need $150 billion for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) sprinkled with $ 150 billion for Affordable, Accessible, Integrated, Housing. Spread these ingredients throughout the community and allow to settle in.
Once these funds have been infused in the community; they are ready to be used to:
Expand HCBS in Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act throughout to increase access, quality, and uniformity nationwide.
Support the Recruitment and Retention of Community Attendants
Increase payment rates in a manner that offers attendants a “living wage.”
Expand affordable, accessible, integrated housing development and rent subsidy programs targeting low- and moderate-income people with disabilities, especially people who receive HCBS services.
Expand access to accessible home modifications programs to enable people to leave or avoid institutional settings thus saving millions of health care dollars.
And to ensure that your recipe is a success, make the program Money Follows the Person permanent.
This recipe will help more people be Home for The Holidays!
ADAPT took to the streets on November 8th to call for Senator Cornyn’s support for the BBB, Build Back Better, bill currently going through Congress. National ADAPT has gone to Washington DC twice now and is headed there for a third trip to support this important legislation, and ADAPT of Texas members have gone each time. Locally however, we went to Cornyn’s office building and picketed and leafletted over 400 flyers outside. One of the building staff came out to talk with us and arranged a meeting with his staff so three of our members went in to talk with Cornyn’s staff for about 45 minutes asking for his support of the bill. Build Back Better includes increased funding for community services, it includes: • making Money Follows the Person permanent (right now it has to be reauthorized again and again), • better wages for attendants, • addressing the SUBminimum wage wages many people with disabilities work for, • increased funding for very affordable housing, • along with a host of other import human infrastructure. IF you haven’t already, please contact your US Senators and tell them you want them to support disability supportive legislation like this. Not sure how to get in touch? No problem! Click here. We will be returning soon to see what progress his staff have made on his support for any of these issues. For more information on the terrific national actions in DC go to:
Then on December 9th, with many of our members again joining National ADAPT in DC, ADAPT of Texas returned to picket Senator Cruz’s office when his staff refused to talk with us. Then they marched across downtown back to Senator Cornyn’s office to face another set of cold shoulders; his staff also refused to meet. But the action was not a bust as media came to cover the action (click here to see one story we got) and both offices knew why we were there, leaflets were passed out and our call for their support of Build Back Better was heard across downtown Austin.
ADAPT continued the push for BBB in Austin as well as DC!
Above: Ron and Bob holding BBB signs for the Austin Action
Left: BBB action signs displayed in front of ADAPT’s newly rebuilt 10 foot wheelchair.
Disgusted with Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission’s lack of interest in the attendants who are the back bone of long term services and supports, PACT and ADAPT members took action on October 22.
Since previous communication had been ignored, the group took along a giant letter listing our concerns. HHSC, we had learned, had never bothered to bring up the need for higher wages for community attendants during the special sessions this summer. We already knew they hadn’t included anything about better wages during the regular legislative session, not even putting it in their exceptional items in their budget request.
During the summer, when states were submitting requests to the federal Health and Human Services Dept. for pandemic related funds, Texas had not put in a mention of attendants, and had purposefully avoided getting input from the public – something the feds had recommended but not required. Members of their Direct Services Workforce Group, which was alegedly set up to advise on such matters, were not even asked for advice. Over half the members including all the consumer group representatives and some providers were so disgusted with HHSC’s lack of interest in the issue they resigned en masse in August.
We also brought a giant syringe (designed and made by the creative Eli R.C.) to show the need for better COVID protections for community attendants. All through the pandemic PACT and ADAPT have been mailing out masks to attendants and folks who use attendant services; we arranged a mask and sanitizer give away with Austin Public Health for attendants and attendant service agencies; we arranged for vaccines for attendants and those who use these services along with Austin Public Health and the Housing Authority of the City of Austin. HHSC seems to have done absolutely nothing for these direct care workers who provided these critical services, basically at their own risk, for over a year.
Unbeknownst to us, HHSC had snuck across the street from their old location, but we quickly regrouped and tracked them down. We took over the lobby of their fancy new offices and the Executive Commissioner Cecile Young, too chicken to come down herself, sent a staffer who after listening finally agreed to set up a meeting with Ms. Young.
Security escorted us out of the building once we were done, tsk tsking us as went. But shortly thereafter, as we were debriefing outside, one security woman came out to thank us as she works as an attendant in a group home for her other job and completely agreed with everything we said.
We will be meeting with Executive Commissioner very soon!
Nancy, Nicky and Jay get ready for march to HHSC HQ.
Cathy displays props for the action
Protesters with signs assemble for action at HHSC in Oct.
