To all concerned with Congressional Budget cuts:

ADAPT of Texas met with Jill Wyman, Central TX Regional Director, and Dylan Bricker, Deputy Regional Director,  of Senator Cornyn’s Staff in Austin.  We simultaneously met by phone with their office in D.C.The subject of the Federal Budget proposal to cut $800 billion in healthcare expenditures was the major topic of the meeting. People with disabilities will be the bearers of the cuts most surely through Medicaid if not Medicare and Social Security.Surprisingly, Jill, the senator’s policy director, stated that she had not heard of the plight of the Texans with disabilities and attendants who rely on Medicaid funded home and community based service programs for survival or work.

This is a call for action!  Senator Cornyn must hear individually from you! 
Give him your story! Make it personal! He must know what will happen to you if the Congress cuts these services. It is a  life and death decision!

NO MEDICAID CUTS! NO MEDICARE CUTS! NO SOCIAL SECURITY CUTS! NO BLOCK GRANTS/PER CAPITA CAPS!Email Jill Wyman at JILL_WYMAN@CORNYN.SENATE.GOV

AND PLEASE CC ME IN THE EMAIL.

We are providing points to address to assist with your letter if needed.  If you have any questions, please email me at ronniebonners@aol.com 

Free Our People! ADAPT/PACT Community Ron Cranston

Adapt of Texas & Superior Healthplan are collaborating for “Dancing with Superior Stars” An Initiative to engage adults with disabilities to prevent social isolation, make exercise fun, & provide preventive health information. 
“Dancing with Superior Stars”is a monthly celebration where community members can enjoy a snack, discuss advocacy, dance, & receive information on health resources. AIl welcome. NO CHARGE. The first 3 of 10 monthly parties will be on; Fridays March 28″h April 25th & May 30 Every party from 4p-6p. Post party hanging & encores encouraged.
ADAPT of Texas is located at 1100 S. IH 35 Austin, TX 78704 (access road). Served by the #7 & #20 buses. Info at adaptoftexas.orgor call Disabilty Rights Radio at 512-443-1852. Healthy snacks & drinks provided each month. A cake celebrating community members, anniversaries, & or disability history will be highlighted each month. DJ sets provided by DRR. Llive music, & or health presenters provided as well at each party.
Come & cut the rug, while we, “FREE OUR PEOPLE!” with healthy choices, free food & active conversation. DON’T MOURN ORGANIZE!

A pretty comprehensive look at the long fight that led up to the ADA. Lots of footage from the ADAPT history museum is featured and several ADAPTers share their take on the struggle. The various roles so many people played to make this happen shows the power of the people united, as well as the power of the pitchfork approach to advocacy. IN Austin it will air March 25 at 8pm.

To see the very exciting trailer just click on this link:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/change-not-charity-americans-disabilities-act-trailer

For more exciting actions, backgrounds, photos, articles and videos go to the ADAPT Museum www.adaptmuseum.net This is a work still in progress, but full of fascinating content you can enjoy!

For more information on ADAPT style organizing visit the Disability Organizing 101 and Beyond online manual.

KEYS TO COMMUNITY LIVING Rally

When: March 14, 2025

Time: Meet at 11AM on the North Side of TX Capitol, Rally begins at 11:30AM 

Keys to the Community for People with Disabilities:

• $20 Base Wage for Community Attendants

• Home and Community Based Service Programs 

• Housing – Affordable Accessible Integrated

NO MEDICAID BLOCK GRANTS/NO PER CAPITA CAPS

For More Information Contact: Cathy Cranston, 512.650.6543, flacacata@aol.com. Or Bob Kafka, 512.431.4085, bobkafka10467@gmail.com

CTD, TARA ,TX Parent to Parent, Texas Advocates, AHA! Rev Up, Reach CIL, PACT, Mary Lee residents, E4 and folks from across the state joined ADAPT of Texas to call on Attorney General Paxton to stop his efforts to get Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 declared unconstitutional. Paxton, along with 16 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit that calls for 504 to be declared unconstitutional, a move that would strip rights from low income housing tenants, students with disabilities, health and human services clients, and others. Claiming they are only trying to get people with gender dysphoria from receiving protection under 504, the AGs never the less continue to call for the destruction of all of 504.This full-frontal attack on 504 was continued in a recent hearing for this case.

Recently the 504 rules were changed to include people with gender dysphoria, and to finally cover health and human service programs so that those entities that get federal funding can’t discriminate by having inaccessible facilities and/or programs and services that discriminate The details of these rules are fantastic and you should read them!

504 is the precursor to the ADA and much of the ADA follows 504, BUT 504 has some protections that aren’t covered by the ADA. Also, with Texas’ long record of attacking disability rights you can rest assured if they are able to dismantle 504, ADA and other laws will soon follow.

The crowd of almost 100 people in Austin spoke strongly at a press conference outside the Supreme Court Building and Capitol. In El Paso advocates from Desert ADAPT and others held a simultaneous press conference to underline the statewide concern about this problem. After the Austin press conference part of the group marched over to deliver our posters and signs to the attorney general himself. We were stopped in the lobby and eventually state police were called in, so we left but not before our message don’t mess with 504 had been loudly delivered.
we urge you to contact Attorney General Paxton and tell him to leave 504 alone.