On Wednesday, 9/21, I attended a rally on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol bldg(where Congress meets). ADAPT (www.adapt.org) sponsored the rally. Why? Presently in the United States, over 54 million Americans receive MEDICAID.

MEDICAID is a government program to pays for medical care for people adults and children who have disabilities and cannot afford regular insurance. (Plus, most insurance companies will not give these people any health insurance!) Presently, trying to get on Medicaid takes a long time. Once you are in the system, it is still difficult at times to get the medical care the person needs. Now, some people in the Congress (and some people running for President) want to change the Medicaid system. Instead of providing medical care directly to the person, these politicians want to take the Medicaid monies and put them into what the government calls "Block Grants". These "Block Grants" would be tax money given to each state.Then, each state would decide who should get the money. Think about what this would mean in Illinois.
The state government of Illinois would get a "block" of money. Immediately, the state woluld take 20-25% for "administrative costs". Then, the state of Illinois would give most of the monies to nursing homes, NOT people who are disabled. This would force people with disabilities to go into nursing homes to receive medical care!
AMBER SMOCK from Chicago (hard of hearing advocate who does amazing work) invited me to go to the rally, "MY MEDICAID MATTERS"(you can Google this), in DC on the 21st. (Just so people know, I paid for this trip MYSELF. I did NOT use a penny from the Church.) The rally was terrific. It began at Noon, right in front of where Congress meets. Over 300 people attended. Most were in wheel-chairs or had other severe disabilities. There were deaf people there from New York, Philadelphia, Illinois, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia. Several of the deaf came up to me and asked what a Catholic priest was doing at this Rally? They were surprised I signed. Everything was interpreted in ASL! I ran into LINDA MYERS. LINDA grew up in Chicago and, for many years, was a counselor for the deaf with Jewish Family Services. Then, HOWARD ROSENBLUM (CEO of NAD) also came, so we had a mini "Chicago Reunion." HOWARD got up and gave a great talk about why MEDICAID is important to many people in the deaf community. He pointed out that some insurance companies still discriminate against anyone who is deaf and/or disabled. (Funny thing: both Linda and Howard told me how much they miss Chicago! My experience has been that when I travel around the USA and meet deaf people from Chicago, they all tell me the same thing: they miss Chicago pizza, Chicago sports' teams, but mostly they miss the Chicago deaf community. They often sign to me, "there is NO deaf community anywhere as great as the Chicago folks!")
During the Rally, there were several U.S. Representatives(2 from Chicago: Schakowsky and Davis) and two U.S. Senators(HARKIN & SANDERS) who talked.(SENATOR HARKIN from IOWA has a deaf brother and the Senator himself knows how to sign!) ALL of them said that there are many people in the Congress and Senate who want to cut Medicaid. These politicians against Medicaid do not care about people with disabilities, only about money! (Several parents spoke about how MEDICAID is the ONLY way they can get health care for their severely disabled sons/daughters. One mother said it plainly, "cut Medicaid; you kill my son!") All of the speakers said the same thing: everyone who wants to save SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE & MEDICAID must:
a) be registered to vote;
b) contact their Representatives in Washington, DC and tell them NOT to change MEDICAID; not to change MEDICARE or SOCIAL SECURITY;
c) get the government to investigate and arrest people who steal money from MEDICAID/MEDICARE by fraud and lies and over-charging the government. Punish them, NOT people who are deaf and/or disabled.
At the end of the rally, the organizers asked me to offer a prayer for the people gathered there. I felt very humbled to be asked.
The economy is making life difficult for everyone. People in the government say, "we cannot afford to take care of people with disabilities. Too bad you are disabled, but we will not help you anymore." Most people who are disabled never asked to be disabled. Yet, this is their life. Why do some politicians want to punish innocent people who never chose this life, but are doing their best to survive in the world?
Sometimes, I get very frustrated and tired. I have been involved with the deaf and disabled communities for almost all of my priesthood and adult life. I really do not wish to be anywhere except where I am. The problems and barriers we face are NOT because people are deaf and/or disabled. The problems we encounter are because people who are NOT deaf or disabled think there is something "wrong" with a person because a person cannot hear or see or walk or communicate the way non-disabled people do. Our responsibility is to continue to live and serve and love one another as brothers and sisters no matter who we are, what we look like, and how "different"we seem to be from one another. We need to PRAY for each other for perseverance(don't give up!). We need to SUPPORT families who have children who are deaf and/or disabled. We also need to pray for those who have no understanding of our community that somehow, someway, GOD will help them to "wake up" and realize we all belong to the same family: GOD'S FAMILY, and are therefore brothers and sisters to each other!