Dumping the Disabled

by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

Ronald Reagan closed mental institutions back in the 1980s with no transitional plan putting a huge population of people on our streets across this country. Today some institutions, politicians, police and individuals are carrying out Reagan's policies of dumping people with disabilities in this country and around the world onto our streets.

"Chinese Gangs Dumping Disabled Children in Hong Kong, Lawmakers Says,"

"Disabled Woman Dumped at Inaccessible Shelter"

"Northwoods police Dumped a Homeless Man on the Street Corner in St. Louis"

"Paraplegic Allegedly 'Dumped' on Skid Row"

These latest news headlines tell us that dumping people with disabilities is not new and continues to be practiced by people from all walks of life, from political officers to Japanese gang members to hospital workers.

Although President Bush talked about domestic issues in his state of the Union Address and Californians voted for Prop 1c, Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006; the above headlines continue to fill up newspapers and homeless people with disabilities continue to get abused by institutions and individuals.

In the 1990s Californians witnessed a campaign for force treatment policy toward people with mental health disabilities. And this type of treatment still exists today. For example, a paraplegic homeless man was recently dumped on the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van. This is not the first time this hospital has dumped people who are homeless onto the streets. According to the LA Times Newspaper this practice occurred in 2005 by the same hospital. A disabled San Francisco journalist, Laure McElroy just wrote an article for the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper about how an African American woman was forced to leave the Potrero Health Clinic with no adequate reason while suffering severe health problems due to a high risk pregnancy. So what happen to the word, public, in public health?

When I was a teenager I saw New York police officers placing elderly and homeless people with mental health disabilities on Greyhound buses with a one way ticket across this country. And when I moved to San Francisco, I witnessed former Mayor Frank Jordan's Matrix Program that cited people who were homeless on petty charges and had vans that circled downtown San Francisco letting people back onto our streets because of a lack of space in nearby shelters.

Mayor after Mayor in cities across the country from New York to California have taken office with get tough on the homeless policies. This type of legislative thinking goes against solutions from local and national homeless advocates. For example The National Coalition on Homelessness has many campaigns and legislations proposals like The Bringing America Home Act (H.R. 4347) and the Health Care Access Resolution.

Michael Reinke, acting director of the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues and the Director of the National Coalition on Homelessness told me that hate crimes are increasing against people who are homeless due to many factors including institutional policies and actions that are abusive and create roadblocks to services, shelter and medical needs. This environment of hate, crime and violence is furthur fueled by the increase in the number of people with disabilities becoming homeless after being kicked out of hospitals and unable to access shelters.

During the Christmas holidays last year two Independent Living Centers held rallies at California's shelters bringing attention to a lack of accessibility in homeless shelters across the state. Also the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness has kicked off a campaign around improving homeless shelters.

Although it was stated in the LA Times article that the practice of dumping patients is not new, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and many other hospitals have a record of investigating themselves. I have seen the police investigate themselves in cases of police brutality and nine times out of ten it goes nowhere. I hope the city attorney of Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo continues with his case against several medical facilities on this issue! In the mean time, please get involved by getting in touch with the below homeless advocacy agencies.

(1) www.nationalhomeless.org for a copy of Hate Crime Bill

(2) Jessica Lehman at the Community Resources for Independent Living (510) 881-5743

(3) Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, Jennifer Fr (415)

(4) Los Angeles Homeless Service Coalition (310) 474-0222

(5) Los Angeles City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo (213) 978-8100

(6) Disabled People Outside, Danny McMullan (510) 688-2342 or danmcmullan@comcast.net

(7) Western Regional Advocacy Project 415-621-2533