Monroe County’s Cancellation of CDR’s Contact is an Assault on a Hard Won Victory of the Disability Rights Movement to Establish the Right to Control Our Services and Our Lives.
Posted on July 29, 2010
By Diane Coleman, Director of Advocacy
I first became involved in advocacy for consumer directed services in 1982 in Los Angeles. Like many people with significant disabilities, I wanted to limit medical control and intrusion into my personal life. Nurses and social workers can really mess up your love life, and other freedoms most people take for granted.
By the 1990s, many policy makers began to see consumer controlled services as a best practice to be emulated. As the executive director of an Independent Living Center in Cook County, Illinois, I ran one of a dozen research and demonstration projects about consumer direction, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in the late 1990s. Support for the concept grew. More and more states adopted the model as an option for people with disabilities and seniors who could manage their own home care. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Americans with Disabilities Act, Attendant Services, Attitudes, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid, Self Help, Take Action!, Voting | 3 Comments
Advocates Object to Erroneous Statement by Ravitch
Posted on April 2, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2010
Leah Farrell, Policy Analyst, 518-320-7100, lfarrell@cdrnys.org
Diane Coleman, Director of Advocacy, 585-546-7510, dcoleman@cdrnys.org
(Rochester, NY): Today Crain’s Health Pulse (Friday, April 2, 2010) noted that after the completion of the New York State budget, Lieutenant Governor Ravitch will turn his sights on reigning in Medicaid spending, particularly in the area of long term care. According to Crain’s, “As part of his study, he’ll look at spending on home care and personal care, the fastest-growing sector of Medicaid.”
“That’s just plain wrong,” said Bruce Darling, President and CEO of the Center for Disability Rights. According to the most recent data from Thomson Reuters (formerly Medstat), from 2007 to 2008, nursing facility spending in New York increased 7% or nearly $477 million. By comparison, personal care just grew by 2.4% or $69 million. When you look at the spending for “Total Home Care” according to the Thomson Reuters data, spending actually decreased by $211 million, dropping 2.4% from 2007 to 2008. Nursing facility spending far outpaced personal care and home care both in terms of percentage and overall dollars. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendant Services, Bruce Darling, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Institutions and Institutionalization, Leah Farrell, Medicaid | Leave a Comment
Success: CCA Resolution Passes the NYS Assembly
Posted on March 24, 2010
By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate
Advocates and staff with the Center for Disability Rights have been working hard to get support for the Community Choice Act. Upon hearing that several cities around the country, including New York City, and Binghamton, New York had already passed resolutions in support of the Community Choice Act, CDR launched the CCA Resolution Project at the end of 2008.
The aim of the Project is to get cities, towns, and villages in Monroe County to pass a resolution supporting the Community Choice Act. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Anita Cameron, CDR Programs, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Institutions and Institutionalization, Medicaid | Leave a Comment
No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap!
Posted on March 12, 2010
By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate
Disabled Activists Travel to Albany to Protest Proposed Budget Cap on Personal Care
38 activists from the Center for Disability Rights joined over 50 other people with disabilities from around the state, converging on Albany on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, to protest Governor Paterson’s proposed budget caps on personal care for people needing more than 12 hours of care per day.
Upon arrival, we broke up into teams of 10 – 15 people and visited the office of every member of the state legislature. Decked out in bright orange t-shirts and baseball caps that read, “No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap”, we were very noticeable as we scoured the Legislative Office Building. Armed with fliers and baseball caps, our members spoke to staffers and sometimes, the legislators, themselves, putting a human face on the issue by telling how these caps on personal care will send us into costly institutions. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Anita Cameron, Attendant Services, Attitudes, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid, Take Action! | 1 Comment
Medicaid Matters Week
Posted on March 3, 2010
March 1-5, 2010 is Medicaid Matters Week. This is a project of Medicaid Matters New York (MMNY), a coalition of over 130 organizations that advocate on behalf of Medicaid consumers. The Center for Disability Rights is a member of MMNY.
Medicaid Matters Week is an opportunity for members of MMNY to project the consumer voice throughout the state using grassroots advocacy methods to say why Medicaid is important to them. Given the fact that this is the height of the budget period, and there is perennial grumbling about the state’s huge Medicaid spending, the importance of the voice of people with Medicaid as their health insurance cannot be overstated. Read more
Filed Under Activism, Anita Cameron, Medicaid, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Advocates decry Executive budget proposal that determines some are “too disabled” for community living.
Posted on January 20, 2010
by Diane Coleman, Assistant Director of Advocacy
It’s all over the news: Governor Paterson’s 2010-11 Executive Budget for New York State was released on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.
There’s plenty of criticism from many vested interests and industries, but disability concerns are not yet on the public radar screen. As usual, CDR will work to change that.
The proposed budget includes a proposal that would set disability policy back thirty years. The Governor proposes that seniors and people with disabilities who need more than 12 hours of personal care services a day will be required to switch to another program, and all of the proposed programs don’t allow consumer direction of services and, moreover, don’t work for people with significant personal care needs. Read more in CDR’s first Media Release on the topic. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendant Services, CDR Programs, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid | 3 Comments
Budget Cuts Brought to You by the Pathologically Vicious
Posted on October 22, 2009
By Chris Hilderbrant, Director of Advocacy
*Update* Center for Disabilities response to the Executive’s proposed Defecit Reduction Plan (DRP)
We’re all getting used to budget cuts. It used to only happen around budget season, but with the state and national economies in the tank, Governor Paterson has realized that the only thing he can do to boost his plummeting ratings is to talk tough about ‘making hard decisions’ and ‘cutting spending.’
Ok, I get all that. Money is tight and states should not make a habit of spending more than is needed. We’ve been suggesting areas where the state could reduce its spending for years, but none of the political “leaders” would make those tough decisions because the economy was solid and the leaders could keep spending on pet projects to keep their donors happy. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Chris Hilderbrant, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid | 4 Comments
PASS THE COMMUNITY FIRST CHOICE AMENDMENT!
Posted on September 21, 2009
By Diane Coleman, Assistant Director of Advocacy
This is huge news! This past Friday, New York Senator Schumer introduced the Community First Choice amendment to the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform!
This is the closest we’ve ever been to getting the language of the Community Choice Act into federal law. It’s not the “whole enchilada,” because it wouldn’t make it the law of the land, but it would give every state a financial incentive to try community first, consumer directed services and supports based on functional need, not age or diagnosis. This is a very big deal!
The next step is to urge the Senate Finance Committee to pass the amendment. We need every Senator on the Committee to hear from constituents in their state, urging them to support the Community First Choice Amendment. Read more
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendant Services, Attitudes, Community-based services, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, Diane Coleman, Home Care, Independence, Independent Living, Medicaid | 2 Comments
Camp DNC
Posted on July 22, 2009
By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate
So there we were in front to the Democratic National Committee headquarters after we’d been physically removed from the premises. I’m sure DNC staff thought that ADAPT would head back to our hotel. Obviously, they don’t know ADAPT!
Several of our folks disappeared around the corner, and within minutes, tents and a large lean-to were erected. ADAPT members quickly settled down into what for many of us, has become a familiar routine. Banners were hung, a generator was set up, and a scene emerged that was reminiscent of DUH City and the Free Our People March, with strains of Colorado ADAPT’s vigil Read more
Filed Under ADAPT, Activism, Advocacy, Anita Cameron, Attitudes, Independence, Independent Living, Institutions and Institutionalization, Medicaid, Take Action! | 1 Comment
Four officers and indecent exposure.
Posted on July 22, 2009
By Chris Hilderbrant, Director of Advocacy
Yesterday, I was among 40 ADAPT activists that entered the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, DC. Despite ADAPT’s deep anger with the democrats for establishing the institutional bias in Medicaid nearly 45 years ago and refusing to end that bias even today, things started off cordial enough. ADAPT’s demands were that the DNC facilitate meetings with Congressional leaders and senior White House staff and that the Democrats issue an apology for creating the institutional bias in Medicaid.
ADAPT spread throughout the DNC office, allowing space for staff to pass through. ADAPT leaders began meeting with staff, who relayed our message to higher level staff. While the chair of the DNC, Governor Tim Kaine, was not available, the DNC provided a meeting with a Senior Advisor – I think the name was Larry Roberts. ADAPT met with the advisor and that’s where the cordiality ended. Read more