By now, most of the out-of-town ADAPT activists have returned home. That means that after a day or two of recuperation – maybe – it’s time for everyone to get back to work again. That means follow-up and continuation of the advocacy for community-based services here in Illinois and in all other states as well.
NDY will be getting back to its usual work as well. There might even be an entry later today that’s back to the range of topics we usually cover here.
But we thought it would be a good idea post a list of links to visit for pictures, accounts and other info related to ADAPT and the protests in Chicago. This is not an exhaustive list. Apologies to anyone who was missed. If you want me to put a link up just email me and I’ll edit it in later, although it may be a few days.
First and foremost, you should visit and revisit the ADAPT Action Report – which currently features links to photos, youtube videos, reports, and the action blog, featuring daily accounts of Galen Smith.
Kay Olson has provided commentary, video links and photos at the Gimp Parade (and managed to figure out a way to fix a link I used that is kind of glitchy). Check here, here, and here.
Cilla Sluga, who writes at Big Noise, has returned after her first national ADAPT action. She was only able to stay one day and when she returned, she followed the comments on blogs in which the ADAPT action was being discussed. She “comments on the comments” in her entry Collectively They Are Pretty Spectacular.
Larry Wanger at the DisabilityNation blog has announced the audio magazine will feature coverage of the ADAPT action in Chicago. It’s scheduled to air on Sunday, September 16th. You can get more information on DisabilityNation and how to listen to the episodes offered by visiting the main website.
Donna Harnett joined ADAPT for the protest at AFSCME. She writes about it in the entry Wow, wow and wow! Donna and her family became important allies and friends during the protests launched by FRIDA during the “Ashley X” attack on people with disabilities.
Huffington Post blogger Robert Koehler writes about Martin and Donna Harnett – and why the fight she and ADAPT are fighting is important in Martin’s World.
Finally, my favorite comment from a member of the nondisabled public who whose plans were interrupted by the shutdown of the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago:
A blogger named Rudy hosts a blog that is titled the “Lager Beer Riot.” It’s explained on the blog:
Know-Nothing Mayor of Chicago Levi (great nephew of Daniel) Boone incited the Lager Beer Riots of 1855 when, in a conscious attempt to curtail German immigrants’ ability to associate and organize, he prohibited the beer gardens from opening on Sunday after church. He was voted out of office the next year. To those who would defend our inalienable rights of free association and worship, good government, and quality beer, I say, Prosit!
So please go read his account of being blocked from his planned visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles. It’s worth the visit.
Update: September 17 –
Second account by Cilla Sluga at Big Noise, this one titled March On, ADAPT.
Feminist Response In Disability Activism (F.R.I.D.A.) has a day-by-day account written by disability activist Amber Smock. It covers the preparations for the arrival of ADAPT activists coming into Chicago and Amber’s own accounts of the daily protests in Chicago in the FRIDA Report from the ADAPT National Action in Chicago.
Update: September 18 –
There are two ADAPT-related accounts on Mike Meiselman’s Magitator blog, AFSCME: Lost Its Way and The “Perils” of Being Inconvenienced.