Stir This Returns from Lengthy Hiatus to Support ADAPT Activists and "DUH City!"

The people in the above photo [depicts four activists seated near the Department of Housing and Urban Development] may appear homeless, but they have homes to which they will eventually return. Unfortunately, many seniors and people with disabilities don't. They've been moved into nursing homes and institutions because they can't afford to live independently. Some had homes, and saw their homes sold against their will. Others rented but fell behind on payments. Many never owned or rented a home and, upon reaching adulthood, faced a choice between living on the streets or in institutions.

That's why ADAPT has pitched tents outside the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and why the above activists are living in those tents, effectively homeless until key policymakers commit to ADAPT's housing reform platform. The tent city ADAPT has constructed is called "DUH City," a reversal of the acronym HUD, as well as a play on words indicating that, if you can't afford to live independently, you end up homeless-- "Duh!"

But, some say, that's why there are institutions-- to prevent these people from becoming homeless! ADAPT disagrees. People in nursing homes are homeless. Do you have a home when you don't have a choice about where you live? Do you have a home if your mealtimes, bedtime, medications, hygiene, and even whether you live or die, are decided by strangers in a building where you did not choose to live? Sounds like imprisonment, right? That's exactly what ADAPT considers the unwilling committment of people with disabilities and the elderly to nursing homes: Imprisonment, and homelessness, rolled into one package labeled "Care."

ADAPT wants lawmakers to pass the Community Choice Act, which gives people with disabilities and senior citizens the choice of receiving care in their own homes rather than nursing homes. Funding attendant care in individuals' homes saves money versus operating nursing homes. Despite these facts, many politicians including Senator John McCain have opposed the Community Choice Act on the basis of cost.

While the CCA has widespread support from lawmakers in both parties, too often have politicans promised support and withdrawn it at the last second. Under the table dealmaking and the flawed public perception that home care costs more public dollars can't be allowed to stop the Community Choice Act. That's why ADAPT is camping out outside the HUD, and that's why Stirring the Pot and the following blogs are following ADAPT's direct actions and covering them as they happen:

Disabled Soapbox (Susan) http://www.disabled-soapbox.org/
Six, almost Seven (Cindy Sue) http://cindysuecausey.blogspot.com/
FRIDA (Amber) http://fridanow.blogspot.com/
Crippled under the Law (Carrie) http://cripprof.tumblr.com/
Pitt Rehab (Greg) http://www.pittrehab.blogspot.com/
Joy of Autism (Estee) http://www.joyofautism.blogspot.com/
PTSD Online (Michael) http://www.ptsdonline.com/
Retired Waif http://www.retiredwaif.com/
Go Becky (Becky) http://gobecky.net/
Wheelie Catholic (Ruth) http://www.wheelliecatholic.blogspot.com/
River of Jordan (Danielle) http://www.theriverofjordan.blogspot.com/
All 4 Gals (Nicole) http://www.all4gals.blogspot.com/
Tremors of Intent (Josie) http://www.newmobility.com/browsePosts.cfm?blogID=10
Web Pulp 2.0 (Joe) http://www.webpulp.org/
Uppity Disability (Mike) http://uppity-disability.net/
Daily Troll (Terry) http://dailytroll.com/
Media Dis-n-Dat (Beth) http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/
Geezer's Sermons (William) http://william-loughborough.blogspot.com/
Crip Power (Cripchick) http://crip-power.com/
Whitterer on Autism (Maddy) http://whittereronautism.com/
Rolling Rains Report (Scott) http://www.rollingrains.com/
Asperger Square 8 (Bev) http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com/
Chewing the Fat (Dave) http://www.davehingsburger.blogspot.com/
Drive Mom Crazy (Jason) http://www.drivemomcrazy.com/
All That is Dazlious (Marla) http://www.marlabaltes.blogspot.com/
Growing Up with a Disabilty (David) http://growingupwithadisability.blogspot.com/
Wheelchair Dancer (WCD) http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/
Stirring the Pot (Sandy) http://stirthis.blogspot.com/
The Gimp Parade (Kay) http://thegimpparade.blogspot.com/
Andrea's Buzzing About (Andrea) http://qw88nb88.wordpress.com/
Blogging Against Disablism (Nilesh) http://myblogs.nileshsingit.org/
Perserveration (Jeff) http://perseveration.org/
Roadhogs Ruminations (Dawn) http://roadhogsruminations.blogspot.com/
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" — MLK (Nick) http://nickdupree.blogspot.com
Speaking for the Dead (Dustin) http://www.speaking4thedead.com/
Whose Planet is it Anyway? (abfh) http://autisticbfh.blogspot.com/
Multichiropter (Fledchen) http://multichiropter.blogspot.com/
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network's NorthernVirginia (Paula) http://asannorthernva.blogspot.com/
PhilosopherCrip (Joe) http://www.philosophercrip.com/

Please visit the blogs on this list often, and link to DUH City on your own blog if you have one. Whether you're old or young, able-bodied or disabled, Republican or Democrat, we can all agree that making affordable, accessible, integrated housing available and providing home care (which, again, SAVES money), is absolutely a necessity. FREE OUR PEOPLE-- and all people!