Category Archives: News

RELIEF FROM TOO HIGH HOTEL BEDS??? DOJ STEPS IN

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woman lying in bed with 20 mattresses, looking nervous. Her wheelchair sits below.

Today, the Justice Department filed a Statement of Interest in a lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania to clarify that where an alleged barrier—the height of a hotel bed—is not addressed by the ADA Standards, the ADA’s general nondiscrimination provisions still apply, including making reasonable modifications where necessary to provide goods and services to people with disabilities.  The lawsuit, Migyanko v. Aimbridge Hospitality, LLC, alleges that the world’s largest third-party operator of hotels provides hotel beds that are too high for individuals who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices to transfer into them.  The lawsuit is in progress but the Department of Justice has received so many comments on this issue they decided to file this clarifying statement with the court.  Here is a short excerpt:

Guests cannot fully or equally use a hotel room if they cannot get onto the bed.  Where an individual with a disability is unable to transfer from a wheelchair onto the hotel bed, the hotel may need to make reasonable modifications to accommodate the guest.  42 U.S.C. § 12182(b)(2)(A)(ii); 28 C.F.R. § 36.302(a).6  Of course, in the absence of specific requirements for bed height, hotels have some degree of flexibility in making reasonable modifications to provide usable beds for a person with a disability.  This flexible standard is inherently fact-specific.  For example, some hotels might be able to use a combination of lower profile mattresses, box springs, and bed frames to lower the beds permanently in some of their rooms.  Or, some hotels could perhaps provide lower beds upon request in a room by using rollaway beds, removable bed frames, adjustable height bed frames, or bed frames on removable risers.  Such flexibility could allow hotels to continue to use higher beds for guests that prefer them, if they so choose.

To see (download and print) the full statement: click here for DOJ Bed Statement

For more information on the ADA or this Statement of Interest, please visit ADA.gov or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TTY 800-514-0383).

Housing Articles Can Spark Discussion

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Two excellent articles on housing and disability recently were published by the Center for American Progress.  The articles themselves are great, but they also contain links to other good information, helpful in the fight for better housing options for people with disabilities.

To read, download and/or print, click on these titles:

Disability-Forward Policy Recommendations To Advance Accessible and Affordable Housing for All  

Recognizing and Addressing Housing Insecurity for Disabled Renters

We recommend you not only read them, but share them with your housing authority, housing developers and city and state government types who do housing policy and funding.  We need to broaden the conversation beyond talking amongst ourselves, to talking with people who are not familiar with our issues, needs and wants.  Housers generally fall into that category.  But how will they find out if we don’t tell them?

Airlines lost or damaged more than 15,000 wheelchairs since 2018

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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

motorized wheelchair trashed with flames, smoke, frame and wheel damage

ADAPT Online event: Home is Where the Heart Is! 2/12/21

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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. 

Community attendants help people with disabilities stay in their own homes. Despite this valuable work, they are overworked, under paid, and now with COVID, their lives, the lives of the people they work with, and the lives of their families are being placed in jeopardy. We will hear from community attendants across Texas about the difficulties they are experiencing due to the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (ie. masks and gloves), low wages, and no sick leave among other issues. We invite anyone interested in the testimony from workers and people with disabilities, who receive home and community based services, to join us. We are inviting our elected officials, media, and the public to join us and learn about the struggles that community attendants and consumers in Texas face.
If you are an attendant that is not able to attend the event at the specified time, we encourage you to leave us your testimony in the discussion section of the event.
If possible, please provide a photo description in your post.
—————————————–
Los asistentes comunitarios ayudan a las personas con discapacidades a permanecer en sus propias hogares. A pesar de este valioso trabajo, están sobrecargados de trabajo, mal pagados y ahora con COVID, sus vidas, las vidas de las personas con las que trabajan y las vidas de sus familias están en peligro. Escucharemos a los asistentes de la comunidad en todo Texas sobre las dificultades que están experimentando debido a la falta de equipo de protección personal (es decir, máscaras y guantes), salarios bajos y ausencia pagada de licencia por enfermedad , entre otros problemas. Invitamos a cualquier persona interesada en el testimonio de trabajadores y personas con discapacidades, que reciben servicios basados ​​en el hogar y la comunidad, a unirse a nosotros. Invitamos a nuestros funcionarios electos, los medios de comunicación y el público a unirse a nosotros y conocer las luchas que enfrentan los asistentes comunitarios y los consumidores en Texas.
Si usted es un asistente que no puede asistir al evento a la hora especificada, le recomendamos que nos deje su testimonio en la sección de discusión del evento.
Si es posible, proporcione una descripción de la foto en su publicación. 

DOCTOR’S PREJUDICES ABOUT DISABILITIES

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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. 

Hand sanitizer give away this Friday

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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.

FREE PPE DISTRIBUTION EVENT SATURDAY 1/23

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A green star with the letters PACT inside. In a circle around the star are the words community attendants equal independence.

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 Free Our People logo with person in a wheelchair breaking chains over their head

END THE DEATH CAMPS MFP GIVES CHOICES; A BETTER ALTERNATIVE

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people in wheelchairs and folks standing gather on sidewalk. Trees behind them.

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 Honor thy Mother Father Grandma Grandpa Keep them out of nursing homes (blood dripping from these 2 words and the o of homes is the ADAPT logo). Use Money Follows the Person MFP. ADAPT and PACT logos at the bottom.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

Looking for where to get the COVID Vaccine? Who isn’t?

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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.