Disability activists injured by police while protesting Medicaid cuts in Indiana
The Republicans’ health care bill would do drastic damage to Medicaid, and visit grievous harm on millions of Americans, including those with disabilities. When activists with the grassroots disability rights organization ADAPT showed up to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office, they were physically and violently removed by security, with some of them even dragged out […]
When activists with the grassroots disability rights organization ADAPT showed up to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office, they were physically and violently removed by security, with some of them even dragged out of their wheelchairs, and arrested.
And when ADAPT activists converged on Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young’s office, to demand that he vote against the repeal plan and its proposed cuts to Medicaid, they were again met with hostility and physical aggression.
Disability activist Stephanie Woodward noted that an ambulance was on site to attend to injuries inflicted by the harsh treatment of the protestors.
ADAPT documented the scene on the national organization’s Twitter account, where they stated that protestors were forced out of Young’s office, and that police officers dragged one activist so forcefully that she re-injured her knee.
Many of the images and reports were deeply troubling:
Adapt of Indiana got kicked out of @SenToddYoung ‘s Indianapolis office #adaptandresist #nocutsnocaps pic.twitter.com/xS4AAWt5dB
— NationalADAPT (@NationalADAPT) June 26, 2017
At @SenToddYoung office, police dragged an ADAPTer so hard they reinjuted her knee, post knee surgery. #ADAPTandRESIST #nocutsnocaps pic.twitter.com/IiGi5GE7sZ
— NationalADAPT (@NationalADAPT) June 26, 2017
Leader of protest at @SenToddYoung ‘s office taken in ambulance. Group claims police knocked her into wall. She was inside the building. pic.twitter.com/WI3fbSAdWt
— 93 WIBC Indianapolis (@93wibc) June 26, 2017
But the activists were undeterred, proving that no matter what the Republicans say or do — or don’t say or do, as the case may be — they will not be silenced, and they will not go away.
Renae from Indiana holding strong outside Senator Young’s office #adaptandresist #nocutsnocaps pic.twitter.com/qpYzPA8Yyt
— NationalADAPT (@NationalADAPT) June 26, 2017
Leslie of Indiana ADAPT being interviewed by CBS on why Medicaid matters. #adaptandresist pic.twitter.com/jDWFArauOA
— NationalADAPT (@NationalADAPT) June 26, 2017
WISH TV interviewing ADAPT in Indianapolis #adaptandresist pic.twitter.com/eASwkYTztE
— NationalADAPT (@NationalADAPT) June 26, 2017
When President Barack Obama blasted the GOP’s repeal plan for its “fundamental meanness,” he was exactly right — and sadly, each day in this ongoing debacle only proves his point more.
Mike Pence likes to talk about “freedom” and “personal responsibility” in his defense of the plan, but freedom must include the ability to stand up for one’s rights, and personal responsibility has nothing to do with one’s physical or mental ability status.
Organizations like ADAPT are going to keep reminding the nation what is truly at stake, putting their own bodies on the line to do so.
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