ADAPT of Texas members protested on June 28th in front of St. David’s Hospital in Austin where they refused treatment and starved to death Michael Hickson, a black disabled man who died on June 11th, 2020. ADAPT of Texas reported that Michael Hickson was a quadriplegic with a brain injury who was refused treatment for […]
COVID-19 continues to rage through America, but not many of us outside the media and disability rights and justice groups are talking about an overlooked population – residents of nursing facilities and institutions for disabled people, who are dying of COVID-19. To date, more than 51,000 residents and employees of nursing homes and long-term care […]
Thanks to the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies for alerting disability advocates to proposed federal rule changes that would make it easier to put disabled people of all ages into nursing “homes” and other facilities, as well as make it harder for them to move back out to the community. The deadline for comments is […]
NDY member Carol Cleigh’s timely and pointed letter below will appear in her local North Carolina paper, Clay County Progress: For those who are advocating for lifting of restrictions due to Covid-19 before or without considering the WHO criteria for safely lifting those restrictions, please understand that you’re asking for a devil’s bargain. What you, […]
The following is expanded from remarks prepared for oral testimony at the April 22 hearing. I am adding information from the hearing testimony of the Massachusetts Coalition on Health Equity. Additional information is drawn from the Bay State Banner article on the hearing. A hearing on the proposed guidelines for ventilator distribution and ICU beds […]
Among the rationing plans being discussed to respond to the strain the surge in coronavirus cases is expected to place on the capabilities of hospitals in some cases, the Pittsburgh Model Plan Regarding the Allocation of Scarce Critical Care Resources during a Public Health Emergency (1) is being given the most play. The Plan would […]
On this day, April 27, 24 years ago, I was at a national disability rights conference in Dallas. ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka called out to me and said, “I’ve got a name for your group,” a group that increasingly seemed to be needed to combat the growing public sentiment that disabled people are better off […]
Racial disparities in healthcare have always existed but it’s only been recently that it has been openly discussed as a serious issue in this country. Blacks and communities of color have always known about it because we experience it ourselves, first-hand. Studies show that we receive inferior healthcare compared to Whites. Little by little, the […]
I first wrote on March 17th about my fear that the non-invasive ventilator I use everyday might be taken from me if I sought hospital care during this pandemic. The New York “Ventilator Allocation Guidelines”, developed in 2015 to address shortages in a pandemic, specifically state at page 42: In its consideration to protect vulnerable […]
ADAPT’s Bob Kafka is a long time activist with Not Dead Yet, and is the person who actually suggested our name, based on a running gag in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The interview excerpted below was broadcast on April 4, 2020 and the audio is archived here. Below is a long excerpt of […]
