Decisions

Hi all,

After Marty resigned, I have decided to take next Monday through Thursday with my own funds if I cannot get any donations, and go lobby in Sacramento and make our voices heard. I am very excited to know that on Thursday there will be a direct action. All my clients depend on IHSS and the regional center (another 7% cut across the board for providers). For the first time in my life as an advocate, I need to find hope that people believe in social change, and that we can still make a difference, and stop these cuts. I do not want to see mass graves of deceased disabled people who have died in their own filth and waste because instead of going to a nursing home, they would rather live in their own homes at the sacrifice of their lives.

I hate the feeling of the hundreds of thousands of providers who have spent years fighting for a living wage, and health insurance, only to be set back...when I got involved, Hannah and I went to San Francisco and Sacramento for the wages of IHSS to go up, and to get health insurance. The time has come to get out from behind our computer screens and do what needs to be done. Remember, it took all those people climbing up the stairs to get the ADA to pass. It took thousands of assistants, but we also got Olmstead through the courts. And now we have the biggest fight of our lives-and I really do mean OUR lives-no one is around to call themselves the leader, so we all must join together and be each other's leaders. We must realize that we have been called out on all of our vulnerabilities and this will be the hardest fight we've ever had, but we must prevail, if not for ourselves, then for the voices that cannot fight.

Everyone has their role. We must inform people to keep writing letters, to keep making phone calls, to keep talking to the neighbors, and to keep spreading the word. We have to let the secret out of the bag that we will not take this lackadaisical and apathetic approach as our lives are slowly getting stripped of dignity and respect.

I think the mood right now is scared to death all over. I think we have no choice but to take direct action. Psychologically this has done something weird to all of us. I know I personally could use some phone calls of assurance that other people are willing to demonstrate and advocate. I feel this dark cloud in my stomach of just mere basic survival and losing control. Institutions for some people are not out of the question, and that right there is justice for one, justice for all, and when what I mean to say is that institutions are going to be overcrowded, and understaffed, and some of my own friends can't end up there because the feeling of depression alone will kill them. I worry about the SSI that people use to put food on their tables, and most of all, the children. The children of our future, with and without disabilities will suffer, and so will families. I am really upset and concerned that we are not doing more. I don't mean just going to Sacramento, I mean having meetings with each other, developing phone trees, having guerrilla theater, and most of all, screaming "WE WON'T TAKE THESE CUTS ANYMORE!"

Getting all of the non-profits and ILCs involved is critical as well. I am hoping that Thursday will bring about some real change. I don't like doing this, but I will be very happy to open up my home for meetings all weekend. I just need to know the 5 Ws. Free our people now!

Nick