Sick of battling your way through “parked” scooters? Tired of being buzzed by hapless scooter drivers?  COME TO THE TUESDAY ACCESS CLUB. Nov. 5th from 12:30 – 2:00 we are talking about scooters and wheelchair (and other) pedestrian safety.  Did you see a 20 year old wheelchair pedestrian was killed in South Austin last week?  We need your stories and ideas so please come join us! 

FYI The Tuesday Access Club meets at ADAPT office every Tuesday at 5:30 topics vary depending on interest of those who come and campaigns we are working on.

MOVIE NIGHT AT ADAPT November 6 5:30 – 8pm

Our Halloween/Thanksgiving fare? Kills on Wheels – a Hungarian 2017 international award winning action-comedy about teenage hit men in wheelchairs. Since not everyone may read subtitles, we may have audience participation for this event. Refreshments provided.

ADAPT BIG MEETING Nov. 13 3:00 – 5pm

Come learn what happened at the national action in DC. Find out what PACT and Tuesday Access Club have been up to. Get up to date on other ADAPT actions and doings.  

ATTENDANTS (and allies) GATHER AGAIN WITH PACT

Nov. 20 at 6pm come hear about EVV, Recruitment and retention of attendants, state and national news.  AND share a potluck dinner while you are at it. 

ADAPT Santa Clones Alert!

Wheelchair Santa is just around the corner, so dust off your antlers, and get ready to Rock On (as Freddy would say) at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar ADAPT table.  Dec. 13 – 24 are the dates.  Sign up early for the best slots!

Recently ADAPT and PACT have been hearing about attendants who are not getting paid, or at least not getting paid on time. This is not cool, especially for attendants who – for the most part – are not paid well to begin with.

Desert ADAPT and PACT, our brothers and sisters in El Paso, have taken this issue on with some of the worst offending agencies.

Attendants already make very low wages and don’t have the leeway to ride out a delay in pay, and this affects not only them but the folks with disabilities and seniors they serve.

Health and Human Services Commission, HHSC, is the state agency that oversees attendant services programs and needs to back up the workers. There are Texas Pay Day laws and state agencies policies that not paying someone violates.

It turns out there is a toll free number to HHSC where people who are having these kinds of problems can call to report them. The number is 800-458-9858. If you know of such a situation call it in. But also call PACT Organizer Cathy Cranston 512-442-0252 so we can support your efforts too.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE​​​​   ​​​Contacts: Nancy Crowther

ATTENTION: MEDIA AND PRESS​​​       ​​​cell 512-808-7486

February 19, 2019​1:00pm​​​​       ​​David Wittie cell 512-577-8982

Community Members with Disabilities Demonstrate:

A Day Without Community Attendant Assistance

ADAPT and PACT are here at the Capitol today in an urgent call to the state appropriations for attention to a calamity that the state has refused to address: Recruitment and Retaining the Community Attendants. 

Individuals who depend on Community Attendants to live independently in the community are finding it difficult to recruit and retain Community Attendants at the wage of $8.00 an hour.

“We are calling for $15 an hour wage—RAI$E IT!” said Cathy Cranston, organizer for ADAPT and PACT. “We are here in the Capitol Rotunda to demonstrate what it looks like to not have any Community Attendants and what it means for people with disabilities.” The current base wage is $8 an hour.

Texans with disabilities of all ages who need long term services and supports are facing a crisis in their services.  A growing shortage of direct care workers, Community Attendants, means people with disabilities are without the vital assistance to maintain theircare. Community Attendants perform basic assistance with tasks the person cannot do for themselves, things like dressing, toileting,transferring, bathing and feeding. Without this assistance many people with disabilities cannot function nor live independently in the community, facing potential and costlier institutional assistance costing the state 10 times more than the cost to live in the community.  Yet with the wage of $8.00 an hour, (and NO benefits)it is getting harder and harder to find people to do this critical work.

The extremely low wages the attendants are paid is one of the primary reasons for this shortage. The economics of labor force competition shows that while someone starting work at a fast food restaurant, at Buc–ees, at Amazon, or any number of other unskilled jobs, will start at $12 to $15 an hour, or more. Texas Community Attendants start at eight dollars an hour.

More and more frequently, people with disabilities are literally having to sleep in their wheelchairs or spend long stretches in bed because no one can come to assist them. This leads to health complications such as pressure sores. After preventable hospitalizations, this can lead to people being forced into nursing homes or sent to rehab hospitals and it can even kill them. These alternatives (aside from death) are exponentially expensive than providing the services they needed in the community in the first place.

ADAPT and PACT believe part of the reason for ignoring this crisis is that people are out of sight of the decision makers.  “We want everyone to see exactly what happens when a person with a disability has no Community Attendant to assist them” said Nancy Crowther.  “We want people to see what being without Community Attendants means in our lives for just one day or over a lifetime.”

“We have done studies, met with bureaucrats, participated in work groups, testified again and again to the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Legislature.  We have made videos, interviewed those affected, and done everything we can think of to get this issue addressed” said Cathy Cranston, PACT organizer.

“Community Attendants are human beings.  We have families and real lives.  We care about our clients, but we must live as well and we deserve to be treated fairly” said Kika Grajeda, PACT organizer.

“I think my life is worth more than a hamburger, a tank of gas or some packing peanuts” added Josue Rodriguez. “Not paying Community Attendants what they are worth means people with disabilities suffer the consequences.  I think Texas can do better.”

“The situation is worst for seniors and adults with disabilities, from ventilator-users, to quadriplegics, to people with dementia or stroke.Community Attendants in these programs earn less than those who work for people who work in other programs even though they are doing the same tasks for the person.” Bob Kafka of ADAPT added.  “It is time to raise ALL wage$ to $15. Equal Pay for Equal Work.”

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ADAPT of Texas/Personal Attendant Coalition of Texas (PACT) * 1100 S. IH35*Austin, TX 78704* 512-442-0252*     Fax: 512-906-1166* ADAPTOFTEXAS.org* Personal Attendant Coalition of Texas (PACT) Cathy Cranston* flacacata@aol.com*   Nancy Crowther* ncrowther21@gmail.com * www.adaptoftexas.or

Accessible, affordable, integrated housing was the goal at ADAPT’s 2008 protest at HUD HQ

Tuesday May 8th at 11 am, ADAPT of Texas, as part of the national Our Homes, Our Voices campaign to support affordable housing, will be delivering accessible doors to our local, state and national government folks.  We will meet up at 11 am in front of the  Austin’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development offices at 1000 East 11th ST and will go on from there! The doors covered with messages about why we support afordable, accessible, integrated housing – but there’s room for you to add your own message too.  

With HUD Secretary Carson wanting to raise rent on folks in Public Housing and add more barriers to push people out cause the waiting lists are so long, we need as many voices as possible. With the state of Texas killing our non-discrimination against people on vouchers city ordinance, we need as many voices as possible. With Austin gentrifying and becoming less affordable by the nano-second, we need as many voices as possible.   So join us!  

Check out the ADAPT of Texas Facebook page for more info… https://www.facebook.com/events/2021852021469370/ 

Want to know more about the national week of action?  Go to Our Homes Our Voices  You can look up other Texas events for this week there too.  And see highlights from last year.