Monday Morning in Washington DC

Welcome to Monday Morning in Washington, D.C., published weekly by The Arc of the United States. We will bring to you news of interest to self advocates and their families, volunteers, professionals, and supporters of the disability movement. Please send any comments to mmwdc@thearc.org. You are welcome to reproduce and distribute items from Monday Morning in Washington, D.C., but please credit Monday Morning in Washington, D.C. (The Arc of the United States, 2007).

The Arc of the United States advocates for the rights and full participation of all children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Together with our network of members and affiliated chapters, we improve systems of supports and services; connect families; inspire communities; and influence public policy.

Improving Youths with Disabilities Outcomes for Postsecondary and Employment

The 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) called for states to set measurable targets for the progress of students with disabilities. Together with the No Child Left Behind Act, the IDEA is holding schools accountable for making sure students with disabilities achieve to high standards. We must ensure that all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, graduate from high school with the skills they need to successfully transition into postsecondary education and the workforce.

Youths with disabilities face significant challenges both in the school environment and in their transitions to adult life. National studies and reports have shown that, compared to their non-disabled peers, students with disabilities are less likely to receive a regular high school diploma; drop out twice as often; enroll in and complete postsecondary education programs at half the rate; and, up to two years after leaving high school, about four in 10 youths with disabilities are employed as compared to six in 10 same-age out-of-school youths in the general population. These and other related findings on the secondary and postsecondary outcomes of youths with disabilities have spurred federal and state efforts to improve transition policies and practices.

Federal and state efforts to improve the post school outcomes of youths with disabilities have resulted in some important gains over the past decade, including graduation rates, enrollment in postsecondary education and the number of youths entering the workforce; however, despite these gains, far too many youths with disabilities continue to experience difficulties in achieving successful post-school outcomes. We are making progress, but we still have work to do.

Toward that end, I am excited to share with you the Federal Register notice inviting public comment on the Notice of Proposed Priority and Definitions under the Rehabilitation Services Administrations Special Demonstration Programs Model Demonstration Projects Improving the Postsecondary and Employment Outcomes of Youths With Disabilities. This priority is intended to improve the post-school and employment outcomes of youths with disabilities. We invite you to submit comments to help ensure that it does. The NPP is open for public comment until Mar. 19, 2007.

The Federal Register notice, including relevant dates and directions on how to submit comments, may be viewed in HTML and PDF formats at www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/proprule/2007-1/021507a.html

You may view this notice, as well as all other Department of Education documents published in the Federal Register at http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.

Sincerely, John H. Hager, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education
Source: National Council on Disability News

MENTAL RETARDATION IS NO MORE*NEW NAME IS INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

Name change reflects societys efforts to appropriately address people with cognitive disabilities

Washington, DC (February 20, 2007)*After almost 5 decades of being called Mental Retardation, this influential journal in special education changed names to Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities under the leadership of Editor Steven J. Taylor. The journals name change is a microcosm of societys ongoing struggle to find a socially acceptable way of addressing persons with an intellectual disability. The new name comes close on the heels of the name change of its publisher, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, formerly AAMR, the worlds oldest organization representing professionals in developmental disabilities.

For all those who ask, Whats in a name? Dr. Taylor says, The term intellectual and developmental disabilities is simply less stigmatizing than mental retardation, mental deficiency, feeble-mindedness, idiocy, imbecility, and other terminology we have cast aside over the years. However, Taylor acknowledges that the crux of the issue here goes beyond language and terminology into the deeper issues of inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities in society. He explains, Anyone who believes that we have finally arrived at the perfect terminology will be proven wrong by history. I am sure that at some future point we will find the phrase intellectual and developmental disabilities to be inadequate and demeaning.

Vice-president of AAIDD, Steve Eidelman, like many other experts, goes a step further and calls for a public education campaign to foster more positive attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities. In an article published in a past issue of IDD (Vol.40, No.1), he said, Changing the term (mental retardation) will make many people happy. That happiness will quickly fade when the new term is used as a pejorative. Without a long-term effort to include everyone and to educate those with negative or neutral attitudes toward our constituents, a change in terminology will become the new pejorative very quickly. Eidelmans comments were made in the midst of a debate on the name change of AAMR to its current day name, AAIDD.

Founded in 1963, Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities quickly became the leading journal for research and opinion on practical issues faced by professionals working with people who have cognitive disabilities. The tagline of Journal of Policy, Practice, and Perspectives reflects the unique editorial role of IDD in the field of developmental disabilities. The journal is noteworthy for Perspectives, a selection of articles hand-picked by the editor to reflect voices not usually represented in empirical research. Also, the column Trends & Milestones contains ready-to-use, quantitative data for researchers and policymakers on pressing issues such as public funding of disability programs and the decline of population in state institutions over the past several decades.

Over the years, Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities has shaped public consensus in the disability field by featuring rigorous debates on contentious topics. A series of articles in the late 1990s on the mortality of people living in institutions dispelled the commonly held belief that the community was unsafe for people with intellectual disabilities (Vol. 36, No. 5). More recently, IDD featured studies on how family contact and consumer-directed supports had better economic, health, and social outcomes on lives of people with developmental disabilities as opposed to being confined to institutions (Vol. 44, No. 6). Arguably, among the most memorable are the impassioned articles by Robert Perske, a tireless advocate for people with intellectual disabilities in the criminal justice system. The powerful prose of Perske is reflected in articles such as, We Believe Richard Lapointe Did Not Kill Bernice Martin, (Vol. 39, No. 5) Search for Persons With Intellectual Disabilities Who Confessed to Serious Crimes They Did Not Commit, (Vol. 43, No. 1) and Deception in the Interrogation Room (Vol. 38, No. 6)

Readers of IDD welcomed the name change:

I think the new masthead on one of the most widely read and influential journals in our field will play an important role in promoting wider adoption of new, less offending terminologies, says Charlie Lakin, a noted researcher at the University of Minnesota.

It is heartening to anticipate the first issue of the journal flying under a new flag*IDD. The journal ... has recently extended its sweep to capture new knowledge across an array of topics: therapies, statistical data, the history of intellectual disabilities, ideas from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies and more ...becoming more global in scope. Long may it flourish, says Patricia Noonan Walsh, Professor at the Centre for Disability Studies in Ireland.

To read a list of articles in the current issue of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, visit http://www.responsetrack.net/lnk/allenpress786545/?135BE01S7D6. For subscription information call (785)-843-1235 or visit http://www.responsetrack.net/lnk/allenpress786546/?135BE01S7D6.

Founded in 1876, AAIDD promotes progressive policies, sound research, effective practices, and universal human rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. To learn about AAIDD, visit http://www.responsetrack.net/lnk/aaidd782575/?135BE01S7D6.

Source: NIDCD - Retrieved February 23, 2007
The problem of insufficient healthcare services for infants and young children identified with hearing loss and their families has reached crisis proportion in America. To address this issue the Office on Disability at the Department on Health and Human Services (DHHS) initiated the National Initiative to Close the Gaps in Health Care and Educational Services for Infants and Young Children with Hearing Loss. Based on recent recommendations from this initiative the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders/National Institutes of Health (NIDCD/NIH) held a workshop in December, 2006 entitled Outcomes Research in Children with Hearing Loss. The purpose of the workshop was to determine and prioritize research needs and discuss design considerations unique to outcomes research in children with hearing loss. A summary of the workshop is now available online at http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/funding/programs/hb/outcomes/

Images of Health and Disability 2006-2007WHO invites photographers and video producers to participate in this annual global photo and video contest in four categories: (1) Color photographs (digital or prints); (2) Black and white photographs (digital or prints); (3) Digital Art photographs (images created or drastically manipulated by computer software or electronic filters); and (4) short video clips. In each category, prizes will be awarded ranging from $100*$1,000. Submission Deadline: March 9, 2007 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2007/photo_video_contest/en/index.html

Bill Gaventa, M.Div., Associate Professor, Director, Community and Congregational Supports, The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, P.O. Box 2688, 335 George Street, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903, Phone: 732-235-9304,
FAX: 732-235-9330, Web Page: http://rwjms.umdnj.edu/boggscenter

NEW STUDY SHOWS MEDICAID SPENDING GROWTH CAN BE SUSTAINED BY EXPECTED INCREASES IN GOVERNMENT REVENUES

Medicaids Share of National Health Spending Projected to Remain Virtually Unchanged Until 2025 and Then Increase Slowly by 2045

WASHINGTON As Congress prepares to debate the Presidents budget and looks ahead to address the growing federal deficit and the future sustainability of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, a new study of future funding requirements for Medicaid by the Kaiser Family Foundations Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) projects a less dire situation than suggested by conventional wisdom. The study, authored by Richard Kronick of the University of California, San Diego and David Rousseau of KCMU and published by the journal Health Affairs today, concludes that expected growth in government revenues is likely to be large enough to sustain Medicaid spending increases over the next 40 years, while also allowing substantial real growth in spending for other public services. The study is available online at: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/healthaffairs/23feb07 .

Unlike the annual examination of the long-term financial status of the Medicare program via the Medicare Trustees report, there has been no comparable careful look at long-term Medicaid spending and the availability of government revenues to support it. This analysis fills that gap by providing a detailed forecast, based on historical trends, of projected spending over the next 40 years, 2005-2045, for Medicaid as currently structured and comparing projected Medicaid spending to projected overall health spending and federal and state revenue growth.

Even under pessimistic assumptions, the study provides a new perspective on Medicaids future financing, said study co-author Richard Kronick. While a substantial component of state government spending, Medicaid is not likely to be the financial burden squeezing out other public priorities that some policymakers fear.

After accounting for demographic and health coverage trends such as an aging population and declines in employer-sponsored insurance, the study finds that Medicaids share (16.5 percent in 2005) of national health expenditures (NHE) is expected to remain at an average 16.6 percent from 2005 to 2025 and slowly rise to 19 percent by 2045 (see Figure 1 on next page). However, as overall health spending increases as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2005 to 2045, there will be a commensurate increase in the share of GDP Medicaid spending represents, according to the study. The results lead the authors to conclude that there is little that is special about Medicaid spending: It is likely to increase with health spending more generally, neither much more quickly nor much more slowly.

As an integral part of the nations health care system, covering 55 million people, Medicaid experiences the strains and pressures of the overall health system. This first of its kind study of Medicaid makes it clear that the growth over the next 40 years in Medicaid spending will largely be driven by the growth of health spending as a share of the economy. If there is a culprit in the room, it is not Medicaid but ever rising health costs that threaten future sustainability, said Diane Rowland, executive director of KCMU. Efforts to reduce the growth in Medicaid without shifting costs or threatening coverage will ultimately require better controlling the rate of growth of health spending overall.

How Rapidly Will Medicaid Grow?

Although long-term projections always involve uncertainty, these estimates provide a framework for assessing how future Medicaid spending might be affected by demographic and programmatic changes. The study projects that over the next 40 years, as overall health spending grows, Medicaid will also grow but stay at roughly the same share of national health spending in the coming decades due to three key factors:

Medicaids Impact on State and Federal Spending

If Medicaid spending and state and federal revenue growth continue to follow long-term historical trends, then state revenues available for non-Medicaid public priorities are projected to grow at an inflation-adjusted 2.5 percent per year through 2025, roughly the projected rate of inflation-adjusted GDP growth. Even in a scenario where state revenues did not increase as a share of GDP and Medicaid spending grows more quickly, state revenues for non-Medicaid services would still rise through 2025. Spending pressures will be somewhat greater in the two decades following 2026, but under all but the most pessimistic scenarios, states can still expect substantial revenue growth for services other than Medicaid.

While some states in some years will no doubt experience significant fiscal strain due to Medicaid spending growth-particularly during periods of recession, the long range scenario for Medicaids impact on state revenues is not calamitous, said co-author David Rousseau.

The study shows a similar picture for federal revenues, with growth in revenues for non-Medicaid services averaging an inflation-adjusted 2.3 percent annually from 2006 to 2025, slightly lower than the inflation-adjusted 2.5 percent if Medicaid spending had remained constant as a share of GDP for the period.

The Health Affairs article, Is Medicaid Sustainable? Spending Projections for the Programs Second Forty Years and an interview with the authors is available at: http://www.kff.org/medicaid/kcmu022307pkg.cfm .

A webcast briefing featuring the articles findings can be viewed after 9 a.m. on Monday, February 26th at: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/healthaffairs/23feb07 .

NIDRR Announces New Grant Opportunities in Emergency Management and Disability

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in the U.S. Department of Education is pleased to announce notices inviting applications for two new research grants in the areas of: Emergency Evacuation and Individuals with Disabilities and Emergency Management Technologies.

Emergency Evacuation and Individuals with Disabilities is a three-year Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project (DRRP) with projected funding at $450,000 per year. Emergency Management Technologies is a five-year Rehabilitation Research and Engineering Center (RERC) with projected funding at $950,000 per year.

NIDRR will hold pre-application meetings (by teleconference) for anyone interested in applying for the grants. Please see the notices inviting applications for the dates and times of the pre-application meetings. We also will conduct peer-reviewed competitions to evaluate the applications we receive.

Notices inviting applications for these (and other) NIDRR grants were published in the Federal Register on February 14, 2007 and are available on the Department of Education website at http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/index.html.

Applicants: Complete grant application packages for both competitions are available at both http://www.grants.gov and http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html . Please note: When downloading the application package via Grants.gov you are given three boxes to fill in -- the FON; the CDFA and the ID -- you should only fill in one of these boxes in order to open the application package. If submitting electronically via Grants.gov you will have to read the instructions very carefully. Please log onto http://www.grants.gov early to register - this is a 3-5 day process. Institutes of Higher ED - Please check with your grants/sponsored programs office to see who there will be submitting them for you. Do not wait to the last hour on the closing date to apply. Electronic applications received at the Department via grants.gov must be received/logged in, on the due date, by 4:30 p.m. Washington, DC time in order to be considered.

Applications are due on or before MONDAY, April 16, 2007.

Peer Reviewers: Persons interested in being a peer reviewer for either of these competitions should send a detailed resume to OSERSPRS@ed.gov, with copies to bonnie.gracer@ed.gov and thomas.corfman@ed.gov. Please include a cover letter describing your areas of expertise. You must include your academic credentials, complete contact information and a description of your experience in relevant areas (e.g., research, engineering, emergency management, disability). If you already sent your resume to Bonnie Gracer you do not need to resend it. Federal employees are not eligible to be peer reviewers for these competitions.

The Minnesota Governors Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities, together with The Arc of MN and other partners, today released a study comparing 2007 attitudes and beliefs about people with developmental disabilities to a 1962 study of the same topic.

1962 / 2007 Minnesota Survey of Attitudes Regarding Developmental Disabilities: In 1962, a survey of the general population in Minnesota was conducted to determine the level of awareness and attitudes about developmental disabilities. In January 2007, an updated survey was conducted to determine changes that had occurred during the past 45 years.

Look on their news page http://www.mncdd.org/news/news.htm for this listing. The report is available in Flash, PDF, and text-only formats. Truly, 45 years have made a big difference.

The Department of Homeland Securitys Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking applicants who wish to be considered by the FEMA Administrator to sit on the National Advisory Council. The Council is being created to advise the FEMA Administrator to help ensure effective and ongoing coordination of the federal preparedness, protection, response, recovery and mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other man-made disasters. View the press release - http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=34152 This information has recently been updated, and is now available - http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=213

TEITAC is a federal advisory committee providing recommendations for updates of accessibility standards issued under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and guidelines under section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. This information is now available - http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=189

Adapt MiCASA List http://www.adapt.org
CMS Technical Assistance Database

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Launches Technical Assistance Database

Good news! CMS has just launched an exciting new database to showcase the efforts of many of the technical assistance providers serving CMS grantees. The Technical Assistance Database will allow you to see the wide range of activities that support and enrich the grantees under the New Freedom Initiative. The database will contain important information regarding existing and upcoming research products, conferences, and significant meetings as well as a wide variety of toolkits, surveys, and policy briefs, intended to be of interested to the disability and long-term care community.

All stakeholders will be able to view the database. CMS grantees, however, will be given access passcodes to enable them to post requests for technical assistance to the vast cadre of experts supporting CMS initiatives. To access the Technical Assistance Database, please go to www.DEHPG.net. The user name for the database is TAdatabase and the passcode is Readonly#1.

Grantees are strongly encouraged to utilize the Technical Assistance Database. To request a passcode, please e-mail your request to the CMS Resource Box at TAdatabase@cms.hhs.gov. Please indicate your name, type of grant you represent, and your phone number in the e-mail. In the near future, CMS will offer a training sessions, customized for the NFI grantees, to demonstrate the vast uses of this robust database. We encourage you to request your passcode soon, so that you can avail yourself of this dynamic training. Details regarding the trainings will be forthcoming.

Creating New Opportunities for Collaboration: A Shared Vision for Youth

Creating a Collaborative Approach to Prepare Youth for Success in a Global, Demand-Driven Economy

http://www.doleta.gov/ryf/

A Partnership between the U.S. Departments of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Justice, Education, Transportation; the U.S. Social Security Administration; and the Corporation for National and Community Service

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration developed a new strategic vision to serve at-risk youth in response to the 2003 White House Taskforce Report on Disadvantaged Youth. The White House Report recommended a need to increase collaboration among youth serving federal agencies to better coordinate how Federal programs serve the neediest youth.

The Shared Youth Vision Federal Collaborative Partnership was formed and composed of several federal agencies to improve outcomes for the neediest youth. The White House Report identified the neediest youth as dropouts, foster youth, juvenile offenders, children of incarcerated parents, and migrant youth. The Partnership expanded this definition to include American Indian and Alaska Native youth along with youth with disabilities. These youth are an important part of the new workforce supply pipeline needed by businesses to fill job vacancies in the knowledge economy.

Over the past three years, the Shared Youth Vision Federal Collaborative Partnership has worked with states to support teams at both the state and local level to meet the needs of the nations most vulnerable youth. Other activities undertaken by the partnership include sponsoring a series of forums in 2004 and 2006, selecting 16 states to serve as catalyst in the implementation of their shared youth vision, conducting a pilot project to demonstrate the effectiveness of state-level partnerships and programmatic outcomes, and developing an overall technical assistance plan to infuse the collaborative vision throughout the country.

Advanced Technical Assistance Forum Participating States

New Freedom Award to Honor Programs That Advance Employment of People With Disabilities

Deadline: April 30, 2007

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao has called on nonprofits, small businesses, corporations, and individuals who have demonstrated exemplary and innovative efforts in advancing the employment and workplace environment of people with disabilities to submit their entries for the 2007 Secretary of Labors New Freedom Initiative Award.

The award recognizes public-private partnerships and programs that have had a positive impact on the employment of people with disabilities through access to assistive technologies, the use of innovative training, and hiring and retention techniques. It also recognizes organizations, businesses, or individuals who develop comprehensive strategies to enhance the ability of Americans with disabilities to enter and advance within the workforce of the twenty-first century.

Additional information on the award and nomination criteria are available at the Department of Labor Web site. RFP Link: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10006361/dol

Amanda Baggs is a 26 year-old woman from Vermont with autism. Her videos on YouTube, which address how someone with autism experiences reality, prompted CNN to do several pieces (both online and on television) on autism as well as on Ms. Baggs specifically. Sanjay Gupta is a neurosurgeon and CNNs chief medical correspondent. Below, youll find a post from Sanjay Guptas blog regarding meeting Amanda Baggs and his now crumbling misperceptions of autism.

To view videos of several of the CNN television pieces on Amanda or to read Ms. Baggss responses to questions from viewers, visit: www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/22/autism.emails/index.html (To view the videos, click on the video links on the left side of the page a quarter of the way down the page.)

BIAA Partnership with ABC Journalist Bob Woodruff

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) has entered into a partnership with ABC Anchor Bob Woodruff and his family to raise awareness of brain injury and to administer the newly created Bob Woodruff Family Fund for TBI to assist servicemen and women and their families affected by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Woodruff sustained a serious brain injury as a result of an improvised explosive device while on assignment for ABC News in Iraq in January 2006. Although he received superior care, Bob, his wife Lee, and their extended family recognize that many individuals with brain injury do not receive the services and supports needed to regain their independence. They also understand the lack of funding in the public, private and military sectors, and best of all, they want to help.

Woodruff Family Fund for TBI
In an effort to give back to the people who saved Bobs life, the family has established the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for TBI. The Fund will raise money through events and other activities. Donations will be used to make grants to nonprofit organizations serving members of the military who have sustained a TBI. In some circumstances, funds may be used to provide direct financial assistance to military personnel and their families and/or grants for medical research, public education, awareness and prevention of TBI.

Brain Injury Awareness Month Reports
Bob Woodruff will file a series of reports for World News, Good Morning America and Nightline throughout the month of March. The reports will cover various aspects of brain injury and will include some of the individuals featured in BIAAs Brain Injury Awareness Month campaign, Living with Brain Injury: As Diverse as We Are. BIAA gratefully acknowledges Judy Avner from BIA of New York State and Philicia Deckard from BIA of Illinois for their assistance in coordinating participants. We are deeply indebted to Pat Radice from Constand Communications Group for her work with the ABC News producers.

Bob & Lee Woodruff as Honorary Spokespersons
Where appropriate, allowable and as time permits, Bob Woodruff and members of his family will serve as honorary spokespersons for BIAA by testifying before Congress and recording public service announcements. Please contact BIAA President/CEO Susan Connors for more information.

The Brain Injury Association of America is grateful to the researchers and clinicians at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York for introducing the Woodruffs to BIAA. We hope the familys willingness to partner with BIAA and discuss Bobs injuries will encourage other public figures to do so as well.

Susan H. Connors, President/CEO, Brain Injury Association of America, 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 611, McLean, VA 22102, 703.761.0750 ext 627 (Main), 703.761.0755 (Fax), 703.584.8627 (Direct), shconnors@biausa.org

Your support creates a better future through brain injury prevention, research, education and advocacy. Please give today at http://www.biausa.org. Source: Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA)

Washington, D.C. ADAPT, the national grassroots disability rights organization credited by former CMS Director Mark McClellan as the architect of Money Follows the Person, will hold a national fundraiser on April 29 in Upper Senate Park, Washington, D.C., to support its ongoing efforts to free people with disabilities of all ages from the threat of institutionalization. Everyone is invited to participate in the FUN*RUN for Disability Rights from 1 to 4 p.m. at the park located on the corner of Constitution Ave. and 1^stStreet.

By returning regularly to Washington, D.C. where national policy is made, ADAPT has worked with several administrations to increase Medicaid long-term care dollars going to support people in the community from only 10% to a current 35%, said Bob Kafka, National ADAPT Organizer. As we continue to push for increasingly more equitable spending, we will keep coming back to D.C., but its an expensive city, so we need to raise funds to continue our work. Our FUN*RUN for Disability Rights is an invitation to people all over the country to partner with us in furthering that work

The official ADAPT National Celebrity Fun*Runner will be the 2007 Betts Award winner, Mark Johnson, a long time ADAPT member from Georgia. Johnson, a nationally known disability rights leader who knows how to advocate within the system as well as engage in grassroots direct action, has agreed to match up to $5,000 in pledges from his supporters. All pledges are tax deductible. Joining Johnson as additional celebrity Fun *Runners will be New Mobilitys 2007 People of the Year, Bob Kafka and Stephanie Thomas of Texas. Kafka was also inducted into the SCI Hall of Fame as the 2006 Grassroots Organizer by the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA).

ADAPT brings something very unique to the disability rights landscape, said Rahnee Patrick of Chicago, ADAPTs Youth Outreach Coordinator. ADAPT has the ability to respond quickly and decisively to issues because, with all our amazing diversity as a loosely organized grassroots organization spread across the nation, we are held together by common values of inclusion, integration and independence, and a strong sense of disability pride.

ADAPT responds to a variety of critical issues as they arise, but directs the bulk of its effort to removing the institutional bias from the nations Medicaid program; assuring that people have the choice to receive long term support services in their own homes in the community; and pushing for more affordable, accessible, integrated permanent community housing. The ADAPT agenda is a weighty one, requiring constant pressure to gain a seat at the tables where law and policy are made. Funds raised from the FUN*RUN for Disability Rights will subsidize the cost for individuals living on disability benefits to participate in ADAPT actions and continue to be at the table where decisions about their lives are made.

The disability community and the general public have several options for partnership. People with and without disabilities can participate in the running, rolling, and walking; they can sign up to sponsor participants, pledging any amount they choose for each lap around the park completed; they can advertise in the Fun Run program; or they can provide an organizational level of sponsorship. Those interested in any of these options can find more information, including sponsor and pledge forms, on the ADAPT website at www.adapt.org, or by email from Bob Kafka at bob.adapt@sbcglobal.net.

[Want to read previous issues of the Monday Morning in Washington, DC? View them online.]

The Arc of the United States, 1010 Wayne Avenue, Ste. 650, Silver Spring, MD 20910, Phone: 3015653842, Fax: 3015653843, Email: mmwdc@info.thearc.org, Web: www.thearc.org

Disclaimer: MMWDC publishes information about issues and events that we believe to be important and likely to be of interest to advocates and others interested in inclusion of persons with disabilities in all parts of society. However, MMWDC and The Arc of the United States do not necessarily endorse all events, sponsoring organizations and reports which appear.