As I started to type up this post, I heard a representative from the group ADAPT on the Thom Hartmann show, and was so gratified to see that they’re getting some attention.

This was pretty much what I heard during that segment, and kudos to the American Independent for writing it up:

Advocates for people with disabilities flooded the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., Monday to protest the GOP 2012 budget proposal (PDF), authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which includes approximately 35 percent in funding cuts to Medicaid and a complete overhaul of the program by turning the states’ federal shares into block grants.

Mike Ervin, an organizer for the national disability-advocacy group ADAPT and founder of its Chicago branch, is one of about 300 protesters from 25 different states who traveled to Capitol Hill to tell congressional leaders how Ryan’s proposal would impact the disability community.

“The idea of block granting really scares us, because a lot of people with disabilities rely on Medicaid in order to stay out of institutions,” Ervin said. “Block granting … gets rid of the idea that people are entitled to a minimun amount, no matter what their situation is. Now there will be less money available.”

And 200 of those 300 protesters were in wheelchairs. As you can see, ADAPT is concerned that Medicaid recipients with disabilities would have to give up their homes and move into institutions or nursing homes because they don’t have steady work and/or enough money to make up for what the GOP plan would cut.

To say a protest was in order is an understatement.

Ryan sent out his chief of staff to speak to the protesters but, ahem, John Boehner refused to speak to anyone. Surprise!

However, Democrats John Lewis, Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky, and Barney Frank all spoke to them, and just as importantly, listened to them.

And of those 300 protesters, so far about 100 have been arrested. They were chanting “I’d rather be in jail than in a nursing home! “Good visual, huh?

Please read more here.

And here is an article about one of the ADAPT founders… who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.

H/t: @Peary85