Michigan Disability Resistance

Activists from the disability rights organization ADAPT are gathering at Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions’ apartment in DC to demand that he make the integration and civil rights of disabled Americans a priority at the Department of Justice.

“Attorney General Sessions is in a unique position to advocate for disabled people,” said Jennifer McPheal. “Millions of Americans are forced into institutions simply because they are disabled. Disabled Americans have fewer due process protections before being locked in institutions than people who have been accused of crimes. ADAPT has petitioned the Justice Department under Obama but did not see deinstitutionalization being made a priority. We are demanding that the new Administration be responsive to the Disability Community.”

ADAPT issued a list of demands for the Justice Department, including:

• Acknowledge that unwanted institutionalization denies Disabled Americans their Constitutional right to Liberty;
• Work with ADAPT and the Disability Rights community to pursue high-profile Olmstead/ADA enforcement actions in every state to address the institutionalization of thousands of people with disabilities – of all ages – in nursing facilities;
• Work with ADAPT and Autistic advocates to stop the torture of Disabled Americans in the Judge Rotenberg Center who are subjected to electric shocks and other painful aversives; and
• Work with ADAPT and the National Council on Independent Living to ensure that the ADA is enforced in such a way that Americans with Disabilities are not discriminated against or institutionalized in the event of a natural disaster.

Right now, many people are getting involved in political advocacy for the first time. People are going to town hall meetings and making phone calls to their members of Congress. They’re writing letters and using social media to organize advocacy groups.

This new wave of political advocacy is incredible. And people with disabilities need to be a part of that.That’s why we’re pleased to announce a new series of plain language toolkits. These toolkits focus on the basics of civic engagement. Civic engagement means actively participating in our democracy. In a democracy, regular people choose, or elect, who gets to be in government. The people we elect should listen to our concerns and advocate for us in the government. But when they don’t do that, we have the right to make our voices heard. In short, civic engagement means:

• learning about how the government works, and
• making sure that the people we elect to government listen to us.

They Work For Us: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Getting Through to your Elected Officials

The first toolkit is “They Work For Us: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Getting Through to your Elected Officials.” This toolkit is about:

• who our elected officials are, and
• what strategies self-advocates can use to get our voices heard by the people we elect to represent us.

They Work For Us covers:

1. Who our elected officials are
2. How to contact your elected officials
3. Strategies, scripts, and templates to help you effectively communicate with your elected officials
4. How to use social media for political advocacy

A new study associates the lead-poisoned water in Flint, Michigan, with a “horrifyingly large” increase in fetal deaths and miscarriages, after the city changed its public water supply in 2014. The Washington Post reports:

During this time period, residents in Flint were generally unaware of the amount of lead in their water. “Because the higher lead content of the new water supply was unknown at the time, this decrease in [the general fertility rate] is likely a reflection of an increase in fetal deaths and miscarriages and not a behavior change in sexual behavior related to conception like contraceptive use,” Grossman and Slusky conclude.