The Washington Post reports: “Airlines have lost or damaged more than 15,000 wheelchairs since late 2018. Roughly 29 wheelchairs a day have been mishandled by airlines since they were required to begin officially reporting numbers Roughly 29 wheelchairs a day have been mishandled by airlines since they were required to begin officially reporting numbers.” 

The number would be higher if it were not for COVID-19, the Post said, adding that many people think the numbers are underreported to begin with. Tammy Duckworth, the Senator who forced the reporting to begin, told the Post: 

“Every airline passenger deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, but too often that is not the case,” Duckworth, a double amputee, said in a statement in 2018. “I know from personal experience that when an airline damages a wheelchair, it is more than a simple inconvenience — it’s a complete loss of mobility and independence. It was the equivalent of taking my legs away from me again. No air traveler should be left in the lurch, immobile on a plane.”

Guess it does matter who you vote for!

To read the full article: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/06/07/wheelchair-scooter-damage-airplane-flights/

You can read the actual full DOT report (if you have the stomach for this kind of carnage) here:  https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2020-02/February%202020%20ATCR.pdf

A live event to expose the neglect toward Community Attendants and persons with disabilities trying to live in the community by the State of Texas.

WHERE:       Facebook Live:  https://fb.me/e/1TDXRFvUa

DATE & TIME:   Friday, February 12, 2021   5pm CST, 4pm MNT

WHAT:    Captivating testimony by Community Attendants and persons who use attendant services, related to neglect from their employers to protect them from COVID, low wages received by Community Attendants jeopardizing adequate and long-term employment and sufficient accessible housing options in the state  

WHO:  Community Attendants, Persons with disabilities, and invited speakers

FACTS:

• Community Attendants earn $8.11 per hour, have no benefits, and no sick leave.
• People with disabilities and seniors, that cannot find Community Attendants are forced into nursing facilities and other institutions, which are more expensive than community living.
• The majority of Community Attendants are women, people of color. Many of them are the sole wage earners for their families, working multiple jobs to make ends meet; often eligible for and dependent on, the same federal and state public assistance on which their clients depend.
• Protective Personal Equipment (PPE) and COVID vaccines continue to be minimally available to Community Attendants putting them and consumers at risk of cross contamination and contracting COVID-19.

“Personal attendants and their clients are intrinsically linked, so it is critical that state officials and the federal decision makers act now! Action and funding for wages, vaccinations and PPE must become a priority,” says longtime PAS user and PACT Organizer and ADAPT member Nancy Crowther. 

A website known as STAT recently published an article by Rebecca Jones titled Large majority of doctors hold misconceptions about people with disabilities, survey finds.  This story confirms what many of us have found, that the medical community often harbors prejudices against people’s disabilities.  These prejudices lead to or are made worse by their failure to accommodate our needs either physically (by providing accessible equipment), programmatically (by modifying schedules, policies, etc.) and/or attitudinally (assuming our quality of life is worse than the lives of those without disabilities.)  The article sites several recent studies on these issues and it links to abstracts of these studies. The abstracts (which are like summaries) contain links to other articles on related topics. 

These kinds of attitudes are what led to the death of Michael Hickson and others, as well as to the more limited health care so many of us “enjoy.” The article mentions this link and says:

       Last March, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human         Services issued a bulletin [if you click here you can see the bulletin] that “persons with disabilities should not be denied medical care on the basis of stereotypes, assessments of quality of life, or judgments about a person’s relative ‘worth’ based on the presence or absence of disabilities or age.”

We just thought you might want outside confirmation you aren’t imagining things when you feel like your doctor doesn’t treat you the same as other patients. 

Continuing from our successful collaboration with Austin Public Health and HACA  in distributing PPEs last Saturday, ADAPT will be distributing 23 oz sanitizer bottles from noon to 3 pm or until supplies are gone.

When: this Friday 2/5 noon to 3 pm (or till we run out.)

Where: ADAPT Office  1100 S IH 35 Austin, TX. 

Last week’s event was a big success despite the dreary weather.  Austin Public Health (APH) arrived with boxes of supplies for local home health agencies to give to their attendants.  The agencies had been contacted in advance and had asked for a certain number, yet oddly some did not bother to show up.  None the less others did, and their attendants will receive the supplies.  PACT contacted their members who also came to collect supplies, and PACT and ADAPT offered them to the people we have been mailing supplies to since last summer. In addition, members of the public who wanted supplies were welcomed.  The Housing Authority of the City of Austin, HACA, hosted the drive through event in their parking lot and we are most grateful for their generosity. The APH was very organized and most generous to offer this help.  Disgracefully, the state has done little to nothing to assist and assure attendants have the PPEs they need to protect their own health and the health of the people they assist. 

Click here for a story on the event last Saturday.

PACT Logo

The Personal Attendant Coalition of Texas (PACT) is pleased to work with Austin Public Health COVID-19 Response Team who are holding a FREE PPE distribution Event!

Community Attendants 

Saturday January 23, 2021 

11 am to 3 pmT

Housing Authority Parking Lot and Garage

1124 S IH 35 frontage road

Next to the ADAPT office 

Masks and Social Distancing Required

For more information call 512-650-6543      

ADAPT gathers on sidewalk at 11th & Congress by the Capitol for press conference

To celebrate Freedom Day, Martin Luther King’s birthday, a small but stalwart band of ADAPT folks gathered in front of the Texas Capitol in Austin for a press conference to support getting people out of nursing homes and into community living with Money Follows the Person, MFP. Nursing homes have been shown by COVID 19 to be death traps for way too many, and that nursing facilities and other institutions are not the way to provide services to people with disabilities and older Texans. Yet for decades Texas leadership has ignored this reality and continued to build up that system and only begrudgingly provide community alternatives.

ADAPT luck was on hand, as Cathy and Ron Cranston spotted the Governor posing for a picture on the Capitol grounds.  They were able to pass on our message to one of his body guards and yell to him as he turned tail and hustled inside.  Despite his disability, Governor Abbott has little regard for the plight of his fellow Texans with disabilities, as has been shown time and again.

ADAPT of Texas and the Personal Attendant Coalition of Texas (grassroots disability rights organizations) have been fighting to end the institutional bias in long term services and supports  for people with disabilities since 1990. 

Call the decision makers below and tell them we want the Texas Legislature to reform the long term services and supports system by:

• Directing HHSC to use the federal Money Follows the Person funding to get and keep people with disabilities and older Texans out of nursing facilities and other institutions;
• Increase wages and benefits of Community Attendants to $15 per hour;
• Fund the Diversion of people with disabilities and older Texans from nursing facilities and other institutions;
• Assure Community Attendants get adequate PPE and are a priority for vaccinations;
• Assure support services and housing are separate.

Gov. Greg Abbott      Messaging – 512.800.843.5789, 512.463.1782

Switchboard – 512.463.2000 

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick – Office – 512.463.0001   Messaging – 512.463.5342

Speaker of the House Dade Phelan – Office – 512.463.1000

Speaker Pro Tem Joe Moody of the Texas House of Representatives – 512.463.0728

Senator Jane Nelson – Chair of the Finance Committee – 512.463.0923

Sen Lois W. Kolkhorst – Chair Senate Health & Human Services Comm 512.463.0118

In this “hunger games” roll out of the COVID vaccine it’s not easy to find where to go, even if you are eligible in the priority system.  This handy website seems to have some good info though, so we are sharing it in hopes of making your search easier.

www.https://tdem.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=3700a84845c5470cb0dc3ddace5c376b

click here

If you go there you can type in your address and a list will pop up of places to try and sign up for the shots.  It shows how far away they are and how many of which vaccine they have.  It’s probably a little behind real time info but much better than nothing. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-MUST SIGN UP

Due to high demand, we may experience technical issues and your submission may not go through. If you receive an error message, please try re-submitting.

If your symptoms are very bad, immediately go to a clinic or hospital, or call 9-1-1

(symptoms include chills, confusion or hallucinations, cough, diarrhea, fatigue, headache, muscle aches or pain, new loss of taste or smell, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, sore throat)

Use this free online tool to schedule a no-cost COVID-19 test or to pre-register for vaccination for you or a loved one at a local Austin Public Health facility.

The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access will be provided upon request. If you cannot access a location because of problems with transportation, internet, email, or computers please call 512-972-5560.

Please note: The information you give is private and confidential by law and will be maintained in confidence.

• You will not be asked about your immigration status.
• The assessment, test, and vaccine are free.
• Completing a vaccine pre-registration does NOT guarantee that you will receive the vaccine or be guaranteed a scheduled vaccine appointment.

Before you start

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. To help keep your information secure, please create an account. Per Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements, you will need a separate email address for each person seeking a test or vaccine, including children.
2. You will need to answer a few questions about symptoms, travel, and contact you’ve had with others to determine if you need testing.
3. If you and/or a loved one qualify for a COVID-19 test or vaccine, you will be able to schedule the location, date and time.

If you would like to schedule testing or pre-register for the vaccination, please click the button below to create an account.

You MUST Create an account

https://covid19.austintexas.gov/s/?language=en_US

Delco Activity Center

Sports complex in Austin, Texas

 4601 Pecan Brook Dr, Austin, TX 78724

Nancy Crowther

ADAPT/PACT

For those of us that use personal attendant services, we all know that getting our services set up takes a bit of time.  It may take around 2 to 3 months at the most. However, for someone that is a vent user, 3 months can make a difference between staying in the community and becoming institutionalized.  Fortunately, Ms. L had her family to help her while she waited for her services to begin.

Ms. L contacted ADAPT of Texas/PACT for help in getting her attendant services set up due to an excessive amount of time the state and home care agency were taking. Below is a history (in her words) of the length of time it took while she worked alone.

 2013-Applied in Dallas area

January 2015-moved to San Antonio and had to reapply

November 2016-notified slot was available but was temporarily out of state and could not accept. Asked to be put at back of waiting list, but was not clear if that happened. Turns out I WAS NOT put back on waitlist

December 30, 2019-asked to be placed back on waitlist

August 2020-inquired about waitlist status to find out I was booted off the waitlist with no notice. With some advocating, I was put back on the waitlist. As of August 30, 2020, there are 40 people ahead of me on waitlist in Region 8, but I desperately need services now.

PACT started pushing the state and home care agency in August. Movement to obtain Ms. L’s attendant services began to happen quickly. Happily, Ms. L started receiving her personal attendant services in November 2020.  Thank you PACT and ADAPT of Texas!

Certainly, Ms. L’s experience shows how red tape can get in the way of a person with a disability getting what they need to live independently.  During the whole experience, the agency and the state were pointing their finger at each other. Yes, we are human, and errors happen, but for people with disabilities human error can cost someone their freedom or even their life.

Do not work alone. Advocacy works best working with others.  We are so grateful this story has a successful conclusion.

If you or someone you know need assistance, be part of the solution!

Contact PACT at ADAPT of Texas at 512.442.0252.

by Cathy Cranston