There are two websites where you can get information about how to support the right of disabled people to live in the community:
- The tried and true source is National Adapt https://nationaladapt.org/
- Our Right to Remain – Our homes. Our communities. Our right to remain.
What I like about them both is their coordinated support for SB 5321.
In 1965, when Medicare and Medicaid enabling legislation was passed, anyone who needs one was guaranteed the right to a nursing home bed but community-based services remain an eligibility-based program not an entitlement. This bill will change all that.
We have worked to change this for years and never had traction, but at this point, this legislation is as important as the ADA.
This may sound like a broken record to my regular readers, but community-based living is cheaper than institutions and what everyone wants. Cuts in Medicaid will actually increase public debt because of increased institutionalization. Costs associated to supporting people with disabilities can hardly be regarded as a “problem” when we are wasting billions on a war, and millions on renovations to the White House. All we want is equal access to the cheaper alternative.
Finally, because some people experience differences there is no good reason for denying us the basic human right to live in the community. Don’t you want to age in place?
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