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Subject: Stolen Lives Campaign

Friends of Community Services::

A little background on the Campaign:
STOLEN LIVES: Real People, Real Voices, Real Choices!

ADAPT and other disability rights activists will be
gathering in
Washington,DC Saturday, May 10th through Thursday May
15th.

To put a human face on the need to reform the
institutionally biased
long term care system we are collecting, from every
state in the country,
the pictures and stories of people who have been
unnecessarily
institutionalized in nursing homes and other
institutions.

We will be making a "human collage" and demand a
formal apology from
President Bush and the leadership of Congress for the
policies that
resulted
in a portion of these people's lives to be stolen. We
will also be
calling
for their support and passage of MiCASSA.

We are encouraging every person who has been in a
nursing home or other
institution to join us in Washington, DC. May
10th-15th (see form
below)
If you can't please send us a picture and a short
summary of how
your life has changed after leaving the institution.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

The next phase of the STOLEN LIVES Campaign will be
a March from the Liberty Bell to the Capitol
September 4th through 17th - ADAPT's Free Our People
March

Join us in May and again in September!

The ADAPT Community

************************************************** ******************
STOLEN LIVES: Real People, Real Voices, Real Choices!

The long term care policies of the United States
unnecessarily
institutionalized hundreds of thousands of people with
disabilities
and older Americans. With the appropriate services
and supports, these
people could have been living in the community.

I am one of the people who was forced by past and
current Medicaid
policies to live in an institutionalized setting. It
stole from me my
dignity, my independence and caused me great harm.

I am now proudly living in the community with dignity,
and I control my life.

I would like a formal apology from the President of
the United
States, George W. Bush, and the Republican and
Democratic
leadership of the Congress for the long term care
policies that
unnecessarily institutionalized me.

I support the MiCASSA legislation that will reform the
long-term
care system so no other person has to be unnecessarily
institutionalized,

and have to go through what I went through.

NAME ____________________________________

ADDRESS ______________________________

CITY ________________

STATE ________________

ZIP ________________

AGE ______

PHONE ________________

e-mail ___________________________________

Type of institution:

_____ Nursing home
_____ State institution/Developmental Disablity
_____ State mental hospital
_____ Group home
_____ Rehabilitation facility

How long institutionalized? _________

Please attach a short summary of your time in the
nursing home or
other institution, and how your life has changed now
you are out. We
would appreciate a picture (mostly of your face) that
we will use in a
collage to deliver to the President and Congress.

Please return to: Stolen Lives, 412 State St.
Rochester, NY 14608
fax: 585/546-5643 email BDarling@RochesterCDR.org

For more information: http://www.tash.org
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Viva la evolution!