From the Austin American Statesman and the paper’s Postcards blog:

Disability activists were among the crowd that turned out to greet the President in Texas Monday, shouting protests about an unfulfilled campaign promise to ensure home-based support programs.

“Our homes, not nursing homes,” they chanted, waving a banner from a curbside perch along the route of the president’s Austin motorcade.

Bob Kafka of the disability rights group ADAPT said the activists were urging Obama to make good his promise to help pass the Community Choice Act. The measure would give people with disabilities the option of receiving federal support services while living on their own rather than in institutions.

From Dana Milbank in the Washington Post;  Politico.com, CBS News:

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to address a progressive conference in Washington Tuesday, her speech was disrupted by the raucous and sustained shouts of angry protesters.

Among the loudest were disability rights advocates fighting for passage of the Community Choice Act. The measure would allow eligible people to receive care in their own homes rather than in nursing homes.

The protesters, many wearing orange shirts and using wheelchairs, chanted “our homes, not nursing homes,” repeatedly as Pelosi struggled to be heard over the din. They said they were affiliated with the advocacy group ADAPT. Excerpts:

Pelosi said she supports the hecklers’ legislation, a long-languishing proposal to increase access to community services for the disabled, who say it would allow more of them to live at home. But the protest wasn’t about reason; it was about rage. Pelosi finally finished her speech to a mixture of cheers and boos.

… Demonstrators from ADAPT have followed Pelosi to other speaking engagements in recent weeks, organizers said. But Robert L. Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future and one of the conference organizers, said it is an unusual tactic to protest Pelosi because she is one of the group’s few lawmakers on Capitol Hill to support their position.

“The bizarre thing is the speaker is their ally,” Borosage said. “She just needs a coalition.”

(Image from Washington Post video)

From AP/USA Today, ABC News, Politico.com,  Washington Post:

Authorities say they have arrested 91 people who gathered at the White House, many in wheelchairs, to protest what they termed the administration’s failure to provide sufficient support for the Community Choice Act. The legislation would allow people with long-term disabilities to use federal funding to pay for attendant care in their own homes rather than just in nursing facilities.

An estimated 400 people came from across the country for the event, sponsored by the national disability advocacy group ADAPT, and some reportedly chained themselves to the White House fence. An estimated 200 ADAPT protesters also gathered outside the American Hospital Association’s annual meeting in Washington, waving protest signs that read “Stop the nursing homes!”

A White House spokesperson said the president supports CCA, but said it “hasn’t been decided” whether the measure will be included in the health care reform effort.

“This is about choosing to live in our homes in our communities instead of nursing homes,” says Milagros Franco, from the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled.

Related posts here.

Writing in ProPublica.com, Jennifer LaFleur says President Obama endorsed the wording in the UN disability treaty guaranteeing equal access to community life, but has backed off his earlier promises to mandate such access in the United States.

Obama co-sponsored the Community Choice Act while a member of the Senate.

But since he has been in the White House, Obama has not said he will support moves to make community services mandatory.

… A White House spokesman told ProPublica “the President believes that investing in health and long-term services for people with disabilities is an important national priority,” but would not say whether the President will support legislation to make community services mandatory.

“Ultimately this becomes a bureaucratic conversation about spending health care dollars,” said Bruce Darling, a disability activist with ADAPT. “And we completely lose the concept that this is a civil rights issue for Americans. No other group gets locked up like this. No one would stand for it.”

From the [Salt Lake City] Deseret News:

Forty members of the disability rights advocacy group ADAPT have been blocking the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in Washington, seeking support for the Community Choice Act. Other members of the group have been staging protests in state Democratic Party headquarters around the country.

The measure would allow people with disabilities who are receiving Medicaid benefits the ability to choose between nursing home care and long-term support services in the community.

See also: Obama backs helping hand for long-term care — NPR/Kaiser Health News

From ProPublica/St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A decade after the Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling aimed at helping people with disabilities move out of institutions, hundreds of thousands of people who want to live on their own are still waiting to be released from nursing homes, rehab centers and state hospitals.

Disability rights advocates worry that President Obama won’t deliver on his promise to give more people with disabilities the option to live at home. Some 270,000 nursing home residents surveyed recently said they would prefer community-based services, and advocates say demand is rising as baby boomers increasingly demand alternatives to nursing home care.

“If you can’t hear the thunderstorm coming, you’re not listening,” said disability advocate Mark Johnson of Atlanta. Living at home “is what people would want for themselves and their families.”

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C., which held that the unnecessary segregation of individuals with disabilities in institutions may constitute discrimination based on disability. The Court said limiting services for Medicaid recipients to institutional settings was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

See also:

• Tenth anniversary of freedom for people with disabilities, by Mike Ervin in The Progressive
• Columbus rally to celebrate disability ruling — Columbus [GA] Ledger-Inquirer

Earlier posts here.

From the CBS News Political Hotsheet, the Boston Globe, and Reuters:

Leading Democratic senators say the expansion of federal assistance for people with disabilities must be included in the proposal to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

“The way I see it, [this] is a civil rights issue,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no health reform without the Community Choice Act.”

Two proposed bills tied to the health care reform initiative:

• The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act sponsored by Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, chair of the HELP Committee. The CLASS Act would create a new, nationwide insurance program, financed through payroll deductions with opt-out enrollment.

• The Community Choice Act sponsored by Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a member of the HELP committee. The Community Choice Act would reform Medicaid to give recipients eligible for institutional-level care the choice of receiving in-home or community-based assistance rather than nursing home care.

Harkin said the Community Choice Act is estimated to cost between $2 billion to $4 billion a year.

“That’s a lot of money, but we’re talking about a $1 trillion health reform bill,” he said. “I’m here to tell you, 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 percent is not too much to ask to provide civil rights.”