Wisconsin ADAPT, a non profit group of disability activists, invites you to a Fundraiser on Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 6:00 pm.  We will be celebrating the 19th Anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and the 10 year Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead Decision.  The Fundraiser will be held at the Brink Lounge on East Washington Ave. in Madison.  The party starts at 6:00 pm and goes until 9:00 pm, there will be music, food, a silent auction, and a lot of information about ways to get involved.  The price for all of this?  A mere $4 cover charge.  We hope to see you there!  To RSVP Please call Kory Tabor at 237-6090.

While this is a time for celebration we must be aware of the need to continue fighting for our rights.  Even with all the progress the disability community has made over the past 30 years, there are still many of our brothers and sisters that remain in nursing homes and other institutions.  Nationally, ADAPT has had legislation introduced known as the Community Choice Act that would end the Institutional Bias and allow for Home and Community Based Services to be better funded, however there are still major barriers to full inclusion that must be addressed.  It is for this reason that we must continue to organize to ensure the equal opportunity to live in the community by fighting for Accessible Affordable Integrated Housing, better education and employment for people with disabilities, and adequate supports both at home and in the community.

Fighting for change is a costly time consuming process, and many of our members are not employees of disability agencies, but people who face the effects of service cuts, and inadequate support every day.  Granted, this gives us the freedom to push where other groups can’t it also means that we struggle to fund the fight and are asking you, our supporters, to help out in any way possible.