Disability rights activists ordered to return to DC for court appearance [View all]

[KamaAina]

A while back, I and others posted the news that ADAPT, the radical disability rights group, had held sit-ins on Capitol Hill. There were dozens arrested, including actor Noah Wyle (which was probably why this particular action got M$M coverage while the many previous ones had not).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101723620

Now comes word that a Federal judge is ordering those arrested to return to DC for a court date, rather than having ADAPT's legal counsel represent them, as has always been the case in the past.

http://www.adapt.org/main.backtodc

A U.S. District Court judge has ordered 74 ADAPT activists from around the nation to appear in person in court in Washington on Tuesday, May 22. They were arrested in the Cannon House Office Building in DC on April 23rd as part of ADAPT’s My Medicaid Matters Campaign because they were protesting the U.S. House’s proposed plan to cut $800 billion from the federal Medicaid budget. Among the arrestees was actor Noah Wyle, currently starring in the series Falling Skies and best known for his role as Dr. John Carter in the television show ER. The judge refused to allow ADAPT’s attorney to appear on behalf of his clients.

“This is unprecedented and the single most punitive act on disability activists in more than 20 years,” said Marsha Katz of Montana ADAPT. “ADAPT has been committing nonviolent civil disobedience to bring attention to disability rights issues since 1984, and never before has the entire group been recalled from across the nation at short notice to appear in court.”

Rahnee Patrick of Chicago ADAPT pointed out that the majority of those due to appear are among the poorest of the poor. “Many of the people who were arrested are living on fixed incomes of less than $700 a month,” she said. “The judge is ordering us to pay thousands of dollars in plane and hotel costs to appear in court at short notice. The state and federal government are trying to cut the limited Medicaid services and supports we get, and now the courts are personally penalizing us for trying to defend ourselves against these vicious attacks.”

Whether or not disability activism is your thing, the implied threat to any form of civil disobedience (e.g. Occupy) is very real.