From ADAPT: Call/Tweet Sanjay Gupta @CNN Now!

call cnn to report the news in their building at 404 827 1500
e-mail sanjay at sanjay.gupta@turner.com to tell him to address community choice on national tv

tweet sanjay gupta at @sanjayguptaCNN to say community choice is a topic of national debate

ADAPT Confronts CNN on Freedom for People with Disabilities

Who: ADAPT, National grassroots disability rights organization

When: NOW (9:30 a.m. Eastern time, and continuing)

Where: CNN HQ in CNN Center, Atlanta

Why:

Get the Facts Straight on the Community Choice Act!

For nearly 20 years, ADAPT has been fighting to eliminate the institutional bias that forces seniors and people with disabilities into nursing facilities and other institutions. With very rare exceptions, this issue has been ignored by the major national media.

Even now, when the country is discussing the need to reform health care, the national media has overwhelmingly failed to recognize this critical issue. Even worse, CNN got it wrong! In August of this year, Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN mentioned the Community Choice Act (S683/HR1670) during a segment on health care reform, but he stated that the legislation addressed the need for accessibility in medical settings. ADAPT contacted Dr. Gupta and CNN asking them to correct their inaccuracy and follow our efforts while we are here in Atlanta. They did not.

It is clear that the media plays a significant role in shaping American politics and public policy. We understand that if we want to change public policy, we need the media to understand this issue and call for change. ADAPT members have tried everything we can think of to raise awareness of the institutional bias and alternatives to institutionalization. Literally hundreds of us have been arrested. We have shut down streets, taken over buildings, and even marched 144 miles from Philadelphia to Washington, DC!


Because we are a grass-roots organization, ADAPT doesn't have the expensive public relations firms that can "place" our story in the national media. So ADAPT members have come directly to CNN's national headquarters to educate the network on our issues. We are here to ask CNN that:

* Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his colleagues at CNN meet with ADAPT to learn about the institutional bias, the Community Choice Act (S683/HR1670), and consumer-directed/community-based alternatives to institutionalization;
* Dr. Gupta correct his inaccurate report about the Community Choice Act;
* Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN acknowledge in their reporting that there are disability rights and civil rights issues embedded within healthcare issues;
* Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN report about the efforts of the disability community to eliminate the institutional bias and give people a REAL CHOICE in how and where they receive long term services and supports; and
* Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN report about community-based and consumer-directed models of assistance that are more cost-effective and give seniors and people with disabilities real control over their lives.