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While the CCA has widespread support from lawmakers in both parties, too often have politicans promised support and withdrawn it at the last second.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!

'Hostage' Ads Pulled

Okay, so I guess I really should make a post about this. The ransom notes ad campaign has been pulled.

http://thegimpparade.blogspot.com/2007/12/ransom-notes-ad-campaign-ends.html
http://crip-power.com/2007/12/20/victory/


As most people who follow psychiatric disability advocacy were aware, the NYU Child Study Center recently launched an ad campaign depicting children with psychiatric disorders (Autism-spectrum disorders were labeled psychiatric disorders for the purposes of this campaign) as hostages of their disorders. The advertisements depicted ransom notes sent by supposed kidnappers, including Autism, Bulimia, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=23

The Autism ransom note reads, "We have your son. We will make sure he will no longer be able to care for himself or interact socially as long as he lives. This is only the beginning…Autism."

For obvious reasons- let's start with the many, many autistic adults who lead independent, productive lives and interact socially- the ad campaign quickly came under fire from people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities of all sorts. Parents demanded an end to the campaign, signing a petition which made the point that, "Individuals with disabilities are not replacements for normal children that are stolen away by the disability in question."

The blogstorm, petition, and many letters, emails, and phone calls to the NYU Child Study Center made the desired impact. The advertising campaign has ended, and an almost-apology that falls short of admitting that the ads were offensive is posted on the same website that announced the launch of the ransom notes campaign.



http://www.aboutourkids.org/about_us/public_awareness



In part, the announcement reads, "We hope you will partner with us to bring the issues surrounding child and adolescent mental health to the top of America's agenda. Work with us as we fight to give children and their families equal access to health insurance, remove the stigma that the term "psychiatric disorder" so clearly still elicits, and, most importantly, support the drive to make research and science-based treatment a national priority."

Remove the stigma? Excellent idea. Let's start by removing the idea that children with psychiatric disabilities are 'imprisoned' by their disorders, and next let's get rid of that drive to make research and science based treatment a national priority; at least, until ending discrimation against children, teens, and adults with psychiatric disabilities is a national priority. Continually researching cures for disorders does nothing to remove the stigma that says to classmates of a child with a psychiatric disability, "This child is different, is sick, is defective, is unsuitable to be your friend."




Congratulations to those who participated in the drive to remove the ransom note ads, and please write to the NYU Child Study Center to thank them for taking a step forward by listening to the people who are experiencing, firsthand and as parents, friends, and relatives, the psychiatric conditions depicted as hostage-takers in their campaign. Please also ask them to take steps toward recognizing people with psychiatric disabilities as individuals, rather than as patients and test subjects.