Concrete Week: The Arnieville IHSS Encampment

Original Author
Tiny
Original Body

Friday, July 16, 2010;

Bruce-

In May 2010, from the 21st to the 25th, the Arnieville IHSS encampment appeared

to protest Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts to In-Home Supportive

Services (IHSS) and other programs. June 22nd, 2010, the anniversary of the 1999 U.S.

Supreme Court’s “Olmstead Decision”, ruling that “the unnecessary segregation of

individuals with disabilities in institutions constitutes discrimination based on disability”,

brought Arnieville back to life. The participants in the encampment intend to keep it

going “until a just and fair budget is signed”.

I arrived early, June 22nd, 2010, to scout out the area, at Adeline and Russell Streets,

one block from the Ashby BART station in Berkeley, and walked right by the location

of the “Arnieville” encampment. A man in a wheelchair, Dan McMillan (co-founder of

Disabled People Outside), appeared to help a port-a-potty truck driver, and me, figure

out where to find it. Arnieville was started because of California Governor Arnold

Schwarzenegger’s actions, taking $75 out of monthly SSI checks, removing foot care,

chiropractors and acupuncture from the list of allowable health care—among other

We started talking. We discovered we have many things in common, like getting our SSI

faster than usual. Dan was denied SSI for 10 years, being told his amputated leg would

re-grow in a year. He slept on the streets until someone told him to sleep in front of the

Social Security office and apply again—he got the first ticket the next day. Rinse and

repeat 12 times until the director of that S.S. office told him he’d get his case expedited to

get him out of their hair.

At Noon, other campers arrived. I helped put up three tents, despite the written

instructions. We broke for lunch, and began to get to know each other. We were an

eclectic bunch of people: the KPFA radio station “Pushing Limits” disability program

host; an anarchist named “Fireball Dragonspit”; and an 80-year-old deaf activist named

Bob (a member of ADAPT: Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit). Three

people in wheelchairs from the neighborhood rolled in to give support.

At 2 p.m. we had a staff meeting to talk about the next day’s activities, who would do

what (washing dishes, greeting the public, etc). We also wrote a letter to the rest of the

people living in the neighborhood, explaining Arnieville and that we didn’t want to cause

them any problems.

At 6 p.m. we had a vegan soup dinner enjoyed by around 20 people. This elderscholar

reporter isn’t a vegan skolah, but the soup hit the spot. We had a mic-less poetry reading

and went to bed.

Day two, in the morning, an unfriendly passing driver (the day before the score was 100

friendly toots on car horns) told us “Communists” to get outta Dodge. We (including

new friends who showed up to serve breakfast) laughed. Strangers walking by during the

day were shocked by our information about the threat to eliminate In Home Supportive

Services altogether, and other nastiness.


Thornton-

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010, before going to the poormagazine office, I heard on the radio

(National Public Radio) that a class-action lawsuit brought against Skilled Healthcare

Group, Inc (SHG), which runs many eldercare facilities in California, was not only won

by the plaintiffs, but a massive penalty, $600 million, was levied against the corporation

for failing to have enough staff to give even barely adequate care of elders. The case was

brought because SHG didn’t meet state standards for staffing levels in such institutional

housing.

Of course, SHG is “vigorously” defending itself against having to pay that much money,

$500 per affected elder per day they had to suffer choosing either to sit in their own pee,

or get staff to help them and then sit alone where they got the “help”, for hours--or other

outrageous indignities.

The “Governator” can’t, or won’t figure out how to do this stuff either. The corporate

folks don’t care, why should he?


Bruce-

Later on the encampment population shot up to 30-ish. We were visited by a wheelchair

and ventilator-equipped Disabled Studies Professor from Stanford University, and we

all talked about the press conference planned for the next day. Disability activist Jean

Stewart, author of the novel THE BODY’S MEMORY, read from the “Swimming in the

ocean” chapter (and discovered new fans of her writing) during the poetry part of Night

Day Two’s dinner had a choice between carnivorous and vegan diets via a professional

caterer. This elderscholar won’t complain (much) as long as the food tastes good!

The press conference happened at Noon on Day Three, drawing a 100-person crowd.

Channels 2, 5 and 14 interviewed Arnieville participants (and put the encampment

on their 6 p.m. newscasts), Channel 7’s crew was there until a murder in Vallejo sent

them racing for a more “interesting” “if it bleeds, it leads” story. Night Three we saw

THE PEOPLE SPEAK, a documentary based on historian Howard Zinn’s celebrated

alternative history book A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Day Four I left (concrete and 60-year-old bones don't get along for very long...), returning July 4th weekend (Saturday) after getting info for a future story.

All the usual suspects were there, plus some new friends, including a college student

who nicknamed me “the Noam Chomsky of In Home Support Services”, which had to be

explained to me. I found out later it was a compliment.


Arnieville continues. Anyone who wants to be part of the encampment, help

out with food, etc, has several ways to contact the camp. The email address is

arnieville@gmail.com.


It can also be reached at the CUIDO (COMMUNITIES UNITED in DEFENSE OF

OLMSTEAD) website at

www.cuido-arnieville.blogspot.com

or at

510-684-5866
 

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