For decades, ADAPTers have been on a quest. We have been fighting to end the institutional bias even before people understood what the institutional bias was. Although we fought hard, many of us couldn’t imagine the day when ADAPT’s signature legislation would have a majority of House members signed on as cosponsors. Honestly, it was enough to be united in the fight for justice, sharing the camaraderie, and knowing that we were part of something so much bigger than ourselves.
Today, it’s official. The Disability Integration Act (HR.555) has 224 cosponsors in the House of Representatives! A majority of every committee relevant to the bill and the full House of Representatives are now cosponsors of DIA.
This day comes from the hard work and sacrifices of so many, including some who aren’t physically with us anymore. Every single one of those people – whether they filed a Office of Civil Rights complaint, wrote a report, helped someone transition into the community, met with Hill staffers, were arrested on the street or were locked away in an institution – helped make this day happen.
Today, we have the honor to wake up to an amazing day in the history of our movement in our struggle for Disability Justice. We should all take a moment to think about the amazing collective that we are connected to and feel it’s power and strength. Then take a moment to celebrate and be thankful.
We have the votes, now we need a hearing and the vote!
Today, changes everything with Congress. With the level of support we have secured in Congress, it is now up to Democratic Leadership in the House of Representatives to advance our bill through regular order. Right now, Congresswoman Eshoo – as chair of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee – decides whether the Disability Integration Act gets a hearing and moves to the full committee. She cosponsored the bill during the last Congress and said she would vote for it this time, but has not yet agreed to hold the required hearing or move the bill out of her subcommittee so we can get to a full floor vote this July.
TAKE ACTION!
Call Congresswoman Eshoo at 650-323-2984 (Palo Alto, CA) or 202-225-8104 (Washington, DC) and urge her: “Give the Disability Integration Act a hearing during the week of the Olmstead anniversary and hold a subcommittee vote to move the bill from the Health subcommittee to the full Energy and Commerce Committee.
We’ve come so far, if we stay united, we can take this all the way.
Fight harder.
Be relentless.
Lead on and…
FREE OUR PEOPLE!!!!
The ADAPT Community
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