(theme music playing) Welcome to "The Gene & Dave Show," Austin Channel's first captioned TV show. You'll have to bear with us, we're new at captioning, but I think we've got it figured out. Now, we can't tell exactly how the captions look until this show is broadcast. So, you may see some different size fonts and different styles. But once we see it captioned on TV, we'll know how to change it, how to improve it. Well, we want to be totally accessible for you, our viewers. That's right, Gene. And we're being the first here on Channel Austin to do closed-captioning, and we're quite proud of that. We've also got a Web site, it's called www.thegeneanddaveshow.com. So, go check it out, too, for other tips on accessibility. If you haven't guessed by now, our first show is on politics. We've got some great interviews lined up for you. But first of all, Dave and I decided to have a little bit of fun. We decided to go celebrity-hunting. At the capitol, we hung out there one day to see who we could meet. Why don't you join us and see what happens? Dave, I'm telling you, this is a great place to sit. I know celebrities come through here all the time. Right here in the capitol, this corner? You darn betcha. And once in a while, we get real lucky and see a legislator. Hey, who's that? Well, that's Patrick Rose. Oh, man... Mr. Rose... Hi, fellas. ...do you mind, can we get a picture together? Absolutely, absolutely. Dave, I can't wait till our friends see a picture of us together. Yeah, you can help him with that, thank you. Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that would be super. Just take a step back, middle button, press down there. Yeah, alright, one, two, three. Great, alright. Thanks. Thank you so much. Have a good day. We really appreciate that, really appreciate your time. Welcome to your capitol. Thank you, thank you. Alright, thank you. This will be great to show our friends. Look, here it is, here it is. Look, here we go. Just you and me. No Patrick Rose. No Patrick. (laughter) (applause) Picture taking didn't go exactly like we wanted. But we didn't let Patrick Rose get away completely. That's right. We talked to his office and his staff, and set up an interview. And he let us in for an afternoon of some good fun. Join us now when we talk to Patrick Rose, an see what politics is like in the capitol. That's right. Then we could maybe get some, get some legitimate legislative commitment of out me here before we start... We're here today with Representative Patrick Rose, who is the chairman of the Human Service Committee. Patrick Rose has been a great friend for folks with disabilities here in Texas. You might remember that a few years ago in 2005, Representative Rose sponsored HB 2819, which mandated accessible information technology here in Texas. It's been a great help for those of us with disabilities. Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Rose. It's my pleasure to be here. Thanks for your time. We really do appreciate it. As we roll in and start 2009, President Obama ran his campaign on the idea of change. What change are you most looking forward to? Well, specifically in the statehouse, I think we have an opportunity for more bipartisan atmosphere that will allow issues of merit that are compelling to Texas, present and future, middle and long-term future, to succeed. And fortunately for our community, we have an opportunity, I think, because there's great merit behind the proposals and the issues that we want to champion. So, I think we're gonna have a fair hearing in the House, and I think we'll have an opportunity because you have friends on both sides of the party aisle that want to help you, including me, to have a very good session. And I'm excited about being a part of it. That's great. That's fantastic. Many of us with disabilities are concerned about the waiting list for in-home health services. Absolutely. And we know you're working on a long-term care reform. And the word on the street is, you're working on a big-ass bill for this session. What can you tell us about that? Well, specifically, we need to better balance our institutional versus community settings for the care we receive. On a state school front, for example, we have a great deal of investment that we, I believe, need to do in the community, and I think we have an excess of state schools today. Thirteen are too many in the state centers and schools. And really, we have a system more by accident than we do by design. And we overspend in settings that happen to be more expensive and less desirable. And so, by putting the Health and Human Services Commission on a committee together to do a long-term plan, I think we have an opportunity, all of us, to be at the table as we develop a plan that makes sense as we rebalance the system. Working with Dennis Borel and others, I think we have a real opportunity to do it. Fantastic. That sounds great. So, what is the latest news against the inappropriate caring for Texas state schools? Well, as many of your viewers know, and you both know, the Department of Justice investigation that began in Lubbock, extended to Denton, and now involves all 11 of our our remaining facilities is real, and they're pointing to issues and highlighting issues that are unacceptable. As we get a better handle on how to better provide services in the state school setting, I think we ought not let the opportunity pass to take a hard look at where we ought to be moving forward. And in that process, have an opportunity to put community settings and community delivery of care and less restrictive environments on the front burner from the state policy perspective. I'm committed to doing it. We're committed to building a coalition in the House and Senate to do it. And Senator Ellis and I have begun to work, and our team has been working with his. And I think we have an opportunity this session. It's not gonna be easy, but it's important, and we're gonna be focused on it. So, you're talking about some important issues, and it's not gonna be easy. There's a lot of folks out there with disabilities that would like to help. What can the public do to help you further the issues? I think one thing is to get to know your state legislator, your statehouse member and your state senator. This goverment is yours. The people who work in this building at the capitol work for you, each of you and your viewers. Each of you, you hire and fire your state reps and state senators. They ought to be accountable to us. And I think we have an opportunity to better, better develop those relationships. Because ultimately, people I serve with, they want to do what's right, and they want to do what's right for the state and their constituents. The mistakes that are made are often made more out of ignorance, than they are out of intentional, you know, wrongly directed behavior. So, educating through better building of relationships is gonna be important. And that's the best way you can do, yeah, you could be involved. And if people want to learn more about you, they can go to your Web site, patrickrose.com, and your office is E2.602. Yes, sir. Here at the capitol. And we've got a very good staff and team, and I've been focused on these issues and will continue to be. And I think we have an opportunity this session to make real headway. That's fantastic. Well, we appreciate your time. Is there any issue that you'd like to bring up that you think the public should know about? I do wanna praise Representative Mark Strama on his ADA compliance bill, State ADA compliance bill. I've signed on to be a first joint author of that bill, and I'm gonna help him move that forward. I think it's abysmal that we, as a state, have taken the position that we don't need to comply. And I'm focused on also helping Mark Strama on that. It's his bill primarily. So, I want to tell each of you who are viewing, Representative Strama is a champion on this issue, and we look forward to working with him this session, to hopefully get that over the finish line. What's going on right now is not right, and I think we have an opportunity to fix it this session. Fantastic. Thank you very much, Representative Rose. That's great. Thank you both for having me. Now, Patrick Rose is a one sharp cookie. And, uh, I got to tell you, he's more of a statesman than a politician. A politician is concerned more about the next election. I think Patrick Rose is concerned more about the next generation. He's got a lot of support. You could talk everyone at the capitol, they all love him. He was offered several committee chairs, but he chose the Human Service Committee. And this committee has got a lot of headaches to it, but he chose it, I think, because he wants to make a difference. Yeah, and he was real welcoming to us, just Gene and I, which is amazing. We went right into his office, and they made room for us. And you know, he took time out of his busy day just to speak with us. And that says a lot to me about Patrick Rose, who will take time-out to just talk and chat about the future of Austin and the state of Texas. Yeah. And you know, Dave, I wouldn't be surprise if he runs for governor someday. He's that sharp. Well, he's got my vote. Mine, too. We want to learn a little bit more about public policy and politics. So, who else to go to but Dennis Borel, director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities? We had a great afternoon with him, too. Check out this tape. I was thinking about this when you asked me to interview, you said your topic was politics. You know, a lot of people think about politics, they think of nominations and campaigns and elections. And I think that maybe that's not what we want to talk about. I think, we want to talk about public policy. Public policy in the sense of how we, as a community, can influence it. And I think that's what we do here at the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities. We're a state-wide nonprofit organization, cross-disability, which means we have members throughout the state and member organizations throughout the state. And we represent them to the legislature and the state agency. And what we try to do is influence public policy so that people with disabilities can, as we say, live, learn, work, play and participate fully in the community of their choice. We do that by direct advocacy. We do that by public awareness campaigns. We do that by publishing position papers. We do that by collaborating with like-minded companies, individuals and organizations out there. Well, take through the process. Perhaps, let's use a real-life example, like a several years ago, when we worked together on the HB 2819, mandating accessible information technology. Take us through the process. What exactly happened to make, to bring that into a law? That's an excellent example. I know that you were at the meeting of a group that's called here in Austin Tech Lunch, a bunch of people who are interested in assistive technology for people with disabilities. And in that group, there are some people with highly developed Web skills. And we'd go there, and they would talk about, "Yeah, but these Web sites aren't accessible. They don't meet the gold standard of accessibility." We got to thinking about that one day at that meeting. "And, well, why not?" And the reason why not is that the state of Texas had never adopted laws to meet and mandate those standards of accessibility. So, what we did is, not being experts in technology, is we went to these experts in technology, and they provided us with information. We were able to craft language, identify how to change the statute. Then the next step was to find a legislator who would file this legislation at our request. And I'll get to this photograph a little bit later. We were able to find a second-term legislator at that time named Patrick Rose, a state representative, who, at that time, had not had disability legislation in his portfolio that he was going after. He was not really a legislator that was pursuing bills in the interest of people with disabilities. But he seized on this opportunity. So, what he did is we identified a couple of key advocates, you, being one of them, and William Greer, who is legally blind. So, what we had is a person with a physical disability and a person with a sensory disability, who could explain to legislators why accessibility is so important. Representative Rose filed that bill. We met with the various legislators. We got the bill out of committee, got it down to the House floor, passed it through there and it went over to the Senate. And we had a Senate sponsor waiting over there who picked it up. Now, there was some trouble in the Senate, I don't know if you remember this, there was a lot of alarm thrown up that this legislation was going to mandate huge costs by the state of Texas. And we had to fight that pretty hard to get them to realize that those estimates of cost were completely out of line. You really shepherded that, you were able to head that off so we didn't have a huge problem. I know it seemed like it was. It could be a roadblock, but you were able to manage to steer clear of those. Well, I think that's one of the advantages of... I think that's kind of bit what I provide is there's a continuity of presence in the capitol that, you know, you have a certain... I don't know, if certain people know who you are and they know they can get reliable information from you, and then when they meet people like yourself and William, who embody the beneficiaries of a legislation, then you have a win-win situation. And we were able to pass that. Interestingly enough, that that bill passed the Senate on their final night of the legislative session. That was a real nail-biter. Yeah, that was a photo finish. Ad in fact, this photograph here is the bill signing. And there's Gene and William and the governor and Representative Rose and myself there for that. And you know, one thing about legislation like this is when you pass good legislation, that, in and of itself, is meaningful. But you also make friends along the way. So, as it happened, Representative Rose, the following session, was named chairman of the Human Services Committee, and became a focal point for a lot of disability legislation. And he turned to us to work with and advise him on content and effect of this legislation, so... And as you know, he is preparing at this time right now to file a major reform legislation in the next legislative session. For long-term care? That's correct. You know, of course, we have always advocated for community services, community-based services for people with disabilities. That's where they want to receive their services. They don't want to go to a nursing home. They don't want to go to a state school. They don't go to an intermediate care facility. They want to be out doing stuff. Doing stuff like this, or going and having a beer with a friend, going to church, whatever it is, getting a job, you know. But what I'm seeing this session that's particularly creating a window of opportunity is there's a convergence of things happening. For one thing, the economic times are tough. This is already a conservative state. I see them now looking at community services as being a better buy for the taxpayer dollar. In the past, they've known that, but they still haven't embraced that. The first thing that I get to mention to when asking someone to sign a petition or wanting to tell someone about getting people out of nursing homes and facilities of the like, they say, "Oh, that's gonna be so much more expensive. Can't afford it." But really, the cost is half of what it normally is. That's correct, Dave. And you know the legislative budget board, which are the top budget legislators in the state of Texas, actually released a report in November verifying that exact statement about half the cost. So now, this is beginning to look pretty interesting. And on top of that, the United States Department of Justice released a scathing report on the state institutions for people with cognitive disability in the state, documenting abuse and neglect, civil rights violations, sytemic in every single one of these institutions. So, now we're starting to see that issue. Then we had this high-profile case of a young man who was beaten to near-death in Denton State School. That young man finally was able to return to the community last fall and received a considerable media attention. So, now there's a lot of focus on this stuff. Now, Representative Rose's bill is major. No question. And he's addressing not only, you know, "Let's move, let's get rid of these institutions, but let's take that money and bolster our community services." And that's the right answer. Let's not close institutions and take the money for something else. Let's continue to serve people with disabilities in the locations they wanna be served. On top of that, he's gonna address things like reforming our waiver system to make it more based on functional need rather than type of disability, which is not very good. Well, the system does allow for all kinds of public input. Certainly, there's ways to... They can do things as simple as contact their own state representative and state senator and speak to their support or opposition to legislation. They can go visit them personally. They can get involved with advocacy organization like CTD, like ADAPT, you know, who are out there advocating. They can come and give testimony, they can sign up for online alerts through www.cotwd.org. You can sign up there. And you can actually send e-mails to your legislators right through there in minutes. Raise Your Voice, we call that page. And that's what we want people to do is raise your voice. And then, you know, there's always a possibility if there's some issue out there that really grabs you, a certain bill, find out who the advocates who are working that bill, and become like Gene and William did on this bill. They became the symbol of that bill. And when they spoke to the legislators, they, the legislators, listened. And Team Everest is a wonderful example of how awareness converts into positive public policy for people with disabilities. While you and the team were on Mt. Everest, I was here wishing I were there. But I was here advocating at the capitol and... Not me, I like my warmth. Yeah, it was a little cold up there by all accounts. But it got tremendous media coverage. In fact, it was in "Time," "Newsweek," "Sports Illustrated," "ABC World News Tonight," and regularly on the front pages of most of the major newspapers in Texas. We had a reporter and a photographer on that expedition, you might recall, and they were sending satellite transmissions. And this grabbed the attention of, certainly, the entire state and people around the world, but also many key people in the capitol. So, I'd be over there in the capitol, and I'd be walking down the hall, heading off to an office, and an aide or a state rep would pop out and say, "Hey, Dennis, how are the guys doing on Everest today?" I'd say, "Well, they're doing fine. Now, let me talk to you about this bill I got coming up in the committee." So, it was a great door opener. It really was, including... I mean, there's a photograph there of Governor Perry, who is, um... A big supporter of that? Who is a big supporter of that. And I'll get to tell a Governor Perry story about this. We were invited to go over there with Gary Guller, the summiteer, and the governor had invited us. And we met with him, had some photographs taken. And at the end of the meeting, I asked him for three minutes of private time to talk about CTD issues. Now, this was after the session had ended, '03 session at which services to 100,000 people with disabilities were cut. Attendant care services were cut to 100,000 Texans with disabilites. And I went into the governor's office with him, it was a private meeting, the other folks stayed outside. He asked me, you know, what this was about? And I said, "Here's what the legislature did, and here's what I want you to do. I want you to use the power of your office to restore that funding." And that was something like $145 million to move. And he kind of hemmed and hawed a little bit and said, "I'll let you know. I'll let you know." And a week later, there was an announcement from the governor's office that those services cut to those people were fully restored. Oh, that's incredible. That's fantastic. Yeah, it is incredible. Dennis is also pretty sharp. He has won a number of awards. He's won the Barbara Jordan Award several times in displaying of people with disabilities in a real positive light. He won it, I think, for Team Everest a few years ago. He also did Cinema Touching Disability as a way of public awareness for what people with disabilities are all about. And he and our friend, Mikail Davenport, publicized in his hand-cycling across Texas, more than 900... Team Everest, what an amazing concept. And you went on that, you were part of that team. And I see the pictures of you up there. And I can't imagine how cold it was. And just really, what Dennis did with his organization to, you know, lay his rear on the line, so to speak. 'Cause if anything would've happened up there to anybody, it really could have backfired on him, all the publicity. You're right, Dave. And it was cold up there. It was colder than a pawnbroker's heart. And Dennis did put his neck on the line, and he's not afraid to step out and do something that's never been done before. So, our hats off to Dennis, as well. Thank you, Katie. Welcome to the 2008 Duke It Out Debate. This is an important day for the candidates as we work closer to selecting the top two candidates that will face off in the general election. All three candidates are here tonight, and they boast the slogan, "Change, you got any?" (laughter) Allow me to introduce Dave Stepontopofus. He's the political analyst for "The Washington Post." And our Republican analyst is Terry Rushit. Candidates included in the debate is: Rip Rompney, Republican front runner, Democratic senator, Mallory O'Binton, And Independent candidate, H. Ross Godot. Welcome, and let's get started. I'm interested to know what the Independent candidate's platform says about the issues of disability. Mr. Godot, we've been waiting for some time to hear you speak on this issue. But tonight, we're going to have to hurry because it looks like particularly nasty weather. What do you mean you wanna tickle my ass with a feather? (laughter) Do something. What a nut. No, she said there's particulary nasty weather and the skies are kinda gray. What do you mean this guy is gay? What guy? Gentlemen, please. Dave Stepontopofus, do you have a question? Yes, I certainly do. Governor Rompney, this question is for you. Your economic plan is outstanding. I mean, far superior than those panty-waist, budget-busting Democrats, and much better than those tree-hugging Liberals. To what do you attest your fantastic plan to? I have to thank my fellow Republicans in Congress for their guidance and foresight. They thought of damn near everything. Not that good on the disability angle, but you can't be pandering to special interest. I am not a social centrist. I am embedded in the left, and far more left than anybody here. My second question goes to the honorable and vastly experienced guest, Senator Mallory O'Binton. Your healthcare plan is certainly head-and-shoulders above anything those warmongering Republicans have offered. How did you do it? Well, you know, I have had lots of experience. It was due to the foresight and intelligence of my Democratic congressmen. You know, I've been working for 35 years to make my healthcare plan affordable. That is, until somebody actually gets sick. Senator, can you tell me, though, why you don't even mention disability on your Web site? Well, I mean, you know, I didn't think I had to actually propose anything on disability. I mean, I had all those inspiring images of disabled vets all over my television ads. Can I speak to that? I had inspiring images all over my ads, and I even got a haircut for less than $400. And I'm still not winning. What's disability got to do with anything anyway? Uh, let's take a question from the audience. I want to direct this question to Governor Rompney. What are your thoughts on national security? Can we count on you to defend our country at 3:00 a.m.? Honestly, I'm lucky to get my pants on by 6:00 a.m. (laughter) But I can push that red button in the Oval Office even in my underwear. (laughter) This one is for H. Ross Godot. If you can't hear, how do we know you'll be able to answer that 3:00 a.m. call? It's not that hard. You just adapt the phone. A flashing light will wake you up. Hey, buddy, remember that dream team idea I pitched to you last week? Well, honey, when that phone rings at 3:00 a.m., I'll wake you up. And then you can go down to the Oval Office and show 'em what you got. Somebody got shot? Who got shot? No. She said go down to the Oval Office and show 'em what you got. I got something? Bitch, what did you give me? (laughter) Well, there's something that you have and the rest of us don't. And that's time. Thanks for tuning in to the 2008 Duke It Out Debate. Candidates, any last words? Change, you got any? We'll be right back with New Frontiers right after this commercial break. That Martha and Mescoe, what a team they make, huh? Really, Mescoe is a real card. He needs to be dealt with. So out of character, but, man, that was so funny. At least, Martha's piece was. Mescoe? Yeah, it was just like him. "Huh?" Exactly. Well, we still need to learn a lot about politics. And we've got a friend, Bob Kafka of ADAPT, who's gonna teach us about politics the way grassroots folks do it. We spent a day with Bob and the whole ADAPT Team at the capitol, and this is what happened. We're here at the state capitol today with Bob Kafka of ADAPT. Bob, thanks for being with us today. Thank you, Gene, Dave. It's great to be here. Bob, why don't you tell us about ADAPT? What is it, and how did you get started? ADAPT is a national disability rights group that is focused on people with disabilities integrating into the community. We are a nonviolent, direct acton organizaton. ADAPT of Texas is just one many groups from around the country that are working on issues that will get us back and keep us in the community. We started on the issue of access to mainline transportation, and now have moved on to working, to getting and keeping people out of nursing homes and institutions. Its primary focus is really getting people with disabilities to start, you know, standing up for their rights, taking action, saying, "We won't take it any longer." You know, "I'm mad and I won't take it any longer," is basically our philosophy. It's very modeled after the independent living philosophy of controlling your environment. You know, we sort of are the antithesis of the old Jerry's Kids and Jerry Lewis Telethon model. It's basically standing up to authority saying, "We're mad and we won't take it any longer." But done in a nonviolent approach. Yes, definitely nonviolent, it's in a nonviolent civil disobedience in the tradition. You know, it's not Gandhian, exactly, but it basically is modeled very much more on the Martin Luther King model of people who have been oppressed taking action. And, you know, it's been difficult in terms of the disability community to see the analogy to the civil rights movement because a lot of times, we're seen more in the healthcare model. You know, we're broke and society is gonna fix us. What ADAPT stands for is basically people are proud of their disability, they want their rights like any other citizen, and we're gonna fight for them, and they won't stand to be discriminated against. So, we got to take part a little bit this morning in the roundtable discussion that you have in the cafeteria, which, I believe, is every morning? Every Tuesday and Thursday, during the legislative session. The Texas legislative session meets once every 2 years for 140 days, so we have a very concentrated time to try and get our message across. And the way we do it is through our members coming every Tuesday and Thursday, and we basically make ourselves known to the various committees. We do it in some unique type of lobbying, I suppose, or educating the legislators sometimes. We've done protests in the state capitol for two governors: Governor Ann Richards, Governor Rick Perry. We've taken over their offices demanding services for people with disabilities. And we've done traditional lobbying, testifying at hearings, just doing door-to-door visits in terms of various committees. We like to keep 'em off balance. We call it the pitchfork approach to advocacy. Dennis Borel said you're his hero in terms of getting a disability legislation passed here because you're so organized. How do you do it? Well, it's really... This is gonna sound simplistic. But to organize, you need something to organize around. And so, even though, we don't need to be policy wonks, we do need to know the system and the issue so that we can make what we call our demand. And our demand is basically the policy we want to change. So, what really throws people off balance is because they like to see groups like ADAPT that do direct-action type activities, as sort of all we want to do is either get arrested, or get our names in the paper. So, then when you totally understand the issue and put it in a simple way so that the average disabled person can understand it. Because, this is such... The issues are so complex. Medicaid, you know, and the budget process itself. So, the real key is to make it simple so the average person won't feel, you know, so left out of the process that they won't come. And that's what I think we do. You know, we do have flyers that are simple and one-page. We try to do something fun. Uh, this flyer that we made for today, you know, has specific information on the front side. But on the back side, we have you know, a person... A skeleton in a wheelchair saying, "Awaiting for services." Now, it's amazing how confrontational most offices think the skeleton picture is. But it gets the message across. It gets their attention, as well as people with disabilities. 'Cause in this building, the vast majority of people wear suits, paid lobbyists who are there, or it's a special day, Sugar Beet Day. Today, just happens to be Senior Advocacy Day. There'll be People With Disabilities Day. So, that happens all the time, but we are here every Tuesday and Thursday and other days when they'll be testifying. This week, on Thursday, we will be testifying at the Budget Committee. There'll be some of us that will talk very technical policy. But then there'll be people who speak from their gut, people who talk about not having an attendant, not having services, lying on their own feces, attendants who are getting low wages, talking about, you know, no vacation, no sick leave, basically, having to go to health clinics to get their own healthcare. So, we mix and match. And everybody that comes gets to talk. I mean, the legislators say, "Well, if you all have the same thing to say, just have one representative." That's not the way ADAPT operates. If you come and are gonna spend your time to sit here all day, then when your time comes up to speak, you should speak. And you may just basically tell your personal experience, but you have to bring some humanity back to this process. So, you've talked with us about some of the actions that you've been on. And they've not only been here in Texas, but you guys travel and help other, um... Other of your affiliates, so to speak, to get onboard with some type of campaign. Can you tell us anything about your most memorable action, or maybe the action that had the most impact on something? Well, there's been a few, you know, in terms of... We like to do a lot of different things. I mean, the one that sticks in my mind, it was before the American Disabilities Act was passed. And you can still go into the State Capitol without going through top security. We had about 150 people in the Rotunda of the nation's Capitol, and we developed concentric rings in the Capitol, in the Rotunda. We got the inner circle that were willing to get arrested. Those around them that were a little they would or wouldn't, and then the outer ring of people who, for no reason, would they want to get arrested. And we had brought in chains and handcuffs. And our demand was to speak to the Speaker of the House and the Majority leader. And it just went like clockwork, and it was really very powerful. Another one of the Washington groups that is traditional lobbyist, who have good communication with the Speaker's office, help facilitate and brought the Speaker down with Steny Hoyer, then Majority Leader of the House. And we had right there, in the Rotunda, a great dialogue. It wasn't too long after that that the ADA... Sometimes ADAPT is given credit for the passage of the ADA, but really it wasn't just us. It was a lot of groups, but that was really memorable. The other is when we did a whole campaign nationally when Newt Gingrich was the Speaker or the House. And everywhere he went around the country, we had people protesting. And then, once we were in D.C., we captured him again in the Rotunda and had a face-to-face meeting, and that got a piece of legislation ultimately introduced, it was the the Medicaid Community Attendant Support Act, MiCASSA, my home, which is a bill that would equalize the choice for home- and community-based services rather than nursing homes. So, those are two that stick in my mind. But we've done other things. We marched from Philadelphia, from the Liberty Bell to Washington, D.C., 144 miles. About 200 people did that. We just recently did one called the DUH City. DUH is the Housing and Urban Development backwards. And we put up a city basically on the plaza of the HUD Building in Washington, D.C. We occupied that for four days, day and night. So, we have a very mixed group of people that are very committed, willing to go to jail, willing to put their lives on the line because they feel this passion. And that's really what we continue to try to do. These are not paid organizers, these are people that are doing it in their own time, making grassroots fund-raising, they're putting their energy and their time into doing it. And we've seen some remarkable results, in terms of not only access to public transportation, access to public accommodations, but also now getting and keeping people out of nursing homes and other institutions. Bob, Austin ranks consistently among the top three most accessible cities in the country. And a large part of that has to do with ADAPT in our city bounds, of course. But it seems like city hall doesn't make a move until they talk to ADAPT to make sure that... Right. I mean, it's just amazing in terms of the impact that some of our folks have done in terms of, you know... We've done again very much like we do here at the state capital, we've done traditional protesting, taken over a city council, done theater about curb cuts, and we've brought bags of cement, wore hard hats. And we've also, you know, done the traditional visits and basic testifying, giving them information and pushing forth curb cut access to the transit bus stops, trying to get a visibility ordinance, which we now have in the public dollar-funded housing. But now we're trying to get it in the private sector. So, there's the whole range of things. And we use exact same techniques that we've used here at the capitol trying to get people into the offices, getting known as people trying to understand the issue, coming up with a demand, and then basically finding out who can say yes to that demand. And so, that's been our process that we use on everything else. Identify the issue, identify the people who are interested in that issue, who can say yes to getting what we want, then developing a strategy to make that happen. Very methodical, that's great. Yeah. I mean, it seems very ragtag sometimes, but there really is, you know, a method in the madness, so to speak. But the key, the real key are the people. And that is just something that is of some concern long-term. With the increase of technology, Facebook, YouTube, the face-to-face organizing, it may be losing a little bit of its emphasis. So, you know, again, a lot of the younger disabled people are sort of not as involved as we would like them to be. So, that's one of the things that we're working on, to try to get new people. Not necessarily just young people but even new people who want to be interested and take action. Because we're just not like your traditional group, I mean, there are a million groups that do good system advocacy. We need people who confront and get into people's face and demand for their rights. It almost seems like since the ADA was passed that people are saying, "Well, now we have equal rights, why do we have to continue all these efforts?" Yeah. In fact, what you see a lot, and even our organization is guilty of it, too, is giving off our power to the lawyers. Well, the ADA says, and the lawyer wills sue, and then, 10 years later, it hasn't changed, or the lawyer is doing all that. I mean, again, I have this thing on my wall, "Do something even if it's wrong." And, you know, it's really important because if people are not involved, and they just give off their power to anybody else than themselves, you know, you just lose your dignity. You'll lose, what I think, is the essense of making change in the society. Yes, you get some short-term change, but he who giveth can taketh away. And we're seeing some of that go on now in disability rights. And unless you have the organizational structure in states and cities, I think we're gonna be seeing a major retrenching. I hope it doesn't lead to that. That's what we're fighting to resist. But that's the challenge over the next, I think, 5 to 10 years. So, if someone has an issue in the community with an inaccessible restaurant or a part of town, are you the people that they can turn to? You know, a lot of times we'll get, "Will ADAPT do this?" You know, I have this, you know, "Well, only if you're willing to help organize it, join with us, do something. It's not that you just call us up, and we're going to do it, you know." So, you're asking for more people to get involved. Right. I mean, and then, if they're willing to get involved, then we can start taking action. 'Cause, like I said, there are a lot of things. And we try to work on things that'll have some broader effect. I mean, you know, there are a lot of individual problems that are very narrowly focused and it's important. You know, those things need to be resolved. But from a community organizing perspective, we'd like to see things broad-based. I mean, like if you have a problem at a certain bus stop, that is, the bus stop accesibility is an issue that affects all people who use the bus. So, even though you may just have a personal issue on that one place, it can be made into a much broader that'll affect the larger. That's exactly what's happened. We're doing a lot of advocacy with Capitol Metro, a transit system, to basically make all the bus stops accessible. And we've had some success, and we have some funding to make that happen. So, if I want to get involved in ADAPT, what kind of qualifications do I have to have? Do I have to be disabled? No, all you have to do is feel passion, feel some of the issues that we're working on, and willing to get involved. That really is. Everyone always asks, "What does it take to be an ADAPT member?" I always kid around that you have to be excommunicated from about three or four different organizations and be weird. And then, you're made for ADAPT. But, you know, the weirdness, you know, if Austin's bumper sticker, "Keep Austin weird," hey, ADAPT's got it 'cause we're just made up of a collection of very, very weird people. So, you don't have to have disability. You can be just a family member, a supporter, just somebody that feels this issue that we've organizing recently, attendants, people that do the hands-on work. That has been sort of exciting. Slow but exciting because it's very linked to our other issue of getting and keeping people out of the institutions. So, the attendants feel it very strongly because of their wage and benefits. We feel very strongly because we know somebody that's better paid, benefits has been staid. And we need more numbers in the first place 'cause there's a shortage so that there's some synergy there, and really work together. So, we encourage folks to just contact us and come to our meetings and... What's the best way to contact? Do you have a Web site, phone numbers? Yeah, the phone number is 512-442-0252, and our Web site is www.adaptoftexas, all in one word, .org. And so, if they're interested, the phone is the best way, or they can email at adapt@adapt.org. So, that's three ways they can get in touch with us. Bob, let's talk a little bit about your legislative priorities. Ahem, excuse me. You and ADAPT have developed nine priorities. The first one you have is reduction of waiting list, 25% for Medicaid waivers including demographic growth. Tell us a little bit about that priority. Yeah. Right now, in Texas, there is approximately 100,000 people waiting for what they call Medicaid waivers. Those are home- and community-based services that are alternatives to nursing homes and other institutions. So, if people don't get these services, they will end up in nursing homes. Potentially, their only choice is for a nursing home or a state institution. And the bizarre thing is that there's an entitlement federally to nursing homes and other institutions, where all home- and community-based services are optional. So, when there's a shortage of dollars, states have to put the first dollar into the institutions. And then, what's left is for home and community. That is why Texas, who is as a fiscally conservative state, has such a long waiting list. So, we understand that we can't eliminate the waiting list all at one time, though, we would like to, is 25% reduction would be over four legislative sessions will bring us to zero. That's that 25% plus demographic growth. That's not only the people who are currently on, but as people come off, other people are getting on the list. So, when we talk about demographic growth, we're talking about not only just the current 100,000 but those that are coming behind it. So, it's an extremely important issue in terms of our group because if you can't get services, you're not gonna be able to get involved, you're not gonna be able to participate in the community. The second one is equity of service packages of funding across the multiple Medicaid waivers for people with significant disabilities. What is that about? Free policy wonking. It really is. I'm having trouble digesting. Yeah, I know. What that's about is all those Medicaid waivers we talked about, and Texas has approximately nine of them. And you can spend more money in some waivers than you can in others. And so, people with significant disabilities that are eligible for the lower-capped waivers, basically, are getting screwed. So, what we want to bring is equity so that those individuals that, a small number but who have significant disabilities but aren't eligible for the higher-capped waivers, then this would allow them to stay in community. Right now, their only alternative is institutionalization. So, like I say, it's policy wonking, but it's a very important issue for those people with significant disabilities. You may be aware that Patrick Rose, who we interviewed earlier, is working on a long-term care reform. Will you be working with his office at all? Yeah, we have. One of the things that we've been really strong about is that Texas has one of the worst state institution, they call them state schools. And so, the Department of Justice has come down and said that the schools are really in a terrible shape. And so, the political focus has been mostly on the state institution than those community services for people with the label of mental retardation. We support that, and we want to get people and keep people out of those institutions. But our message to Representative Rose, and he's taking it, is that you have to look at the system above and beyond just that population, about older people, people with physical disabilities. Because if you only look at one population and fund that thing at the expense of others, then we're going to see "us and them" type of thing. 'Cause the bill, basically, we didn't understand it 'cause we haven't seen the final draft is gonna cover all long-term services. And so, both people with cognitive disabilities, people with physical disabilities, who are older, will need long-term services and ongoing services. So, yes, his office has been very receptive in terms of that, though, his focus has been mainly on the state institutions. That's it. Unless there's anything else that you wanted to talk about that we didn't ask you. No, the only thing is that if there are any young people out there watching this and who are interested, or people who have not previously been involved, please get in touch with us at 512-442-0252. 'Cause obviously, you're really not weird until you join ADAPT. That's right. That's true. We'll give you a "Keep Austin weird," or "Keep, you know..." And I would venture to say, Bob, you could probably teach college courses on community organization, getting organized or community planning. That sort of thing. So, if folks out there need to get some internship hours for those kind of classes, Bob's a great teacher. Yeah, and the best way to learn and the way I learned, even though I did have some classroom from this community organizer out of Chicago, Shel Trapp... Shel Trapp. Yeah, which you know, Gene. You know, you really more learn by doing. You know, I mean, again, there's a lot of paper classes on community organizing, and they're good. They give you a sort of background of what you're doing very much, like you can look at a playbook in terms of basketball and how to do a zone defense. But until you're out there playing and really doing it, it doesn't come alive, and it doesn't gets in your brain. So, it's the combination of classroom and on-the-job training, so to speak. And that's how I got involved, and I think that works. And for those people that are wed to the Internet and Facebook and YouTube and Twitter and all that, we can use those as tools, but it should not obviate getting involved physically and getting with your brothers and sisters and making change. Good deal. Fantastic. And free our people. Free our people. Thanks for being a part of The Dave & Gene Show. We really appreciate it. It's supposed to be The Gene and Dave Show. Okay. We're working on that. Yeah, yeah. Well, a working process. Alright, thanks. Boy, Gene, what a smart guy. Yeah, and I don't know where he gets his energy. I mean, I think he's going through some kind of time warp 'cause he does more in 24 hours than most of us do in a week. So, he really amazes me. And thank God, he's here in Austin. We have a... Austin is consistently rated among the top three accessible cities in the country. And a lot of that is, in part, due to Bob and ADAPT of Texas. Absolutely, it's a great organization to be a part of. I'm proud to be a part of it. Absolutely. Yeah. We both have been active in ADAPT. You know, Dave, I should mention the one thing that I've learned from ADAPT is you never accept a "No" from someone that doesn't have the authority to tell you "Yes". And I've remembered that in a lot of negotiations with folks, and it really does help a lot. Well, we hope you folks have enjoyed this for a show. And please join us on our Web site, as Dave said, thegeneanddaveshow.com, to keep up-to-date with our calendar of events, when our shows are happening and what channel, what time. And it's great place to go to for accessibility hints. We'll be telling you how to make your own caption, do a show, accessible PDFs and just other types of media so that we can share what we've got going on in our lives with everyone with disabilities. That's right. And if you've missed any part of this show, you can also tune in to the Web site. See it there, and it's also closed-captioned. Click on the closed-caption button for directions on how to turn on closed-captioning. There you go. You can also join our contact list by going to the Contact Us section. E-mail us, let us know what you think. Love it or hate it, we wanna know. Send us an e-mail and join our list. We'll keep you up-to-date on what's going on with The Gene and Dave Show. Now, before we go, we should let you know, Patrick Rose decided to have some fun at my expense. So, let's take a look at this and enjoy the closing credits. Yeah, that's what I meant to say. Well, let me ask you. Who's Gene? Oh. (theme music playing)