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���������� Note: In another stunning display of activism for the Community First Choice Option, a group from ADAPT held up proceedings in the Albany Assembly Chamber yesterday, demanding that legislation for the passage of CFCO be brought to the table. The Federal act would allow home health aides to be selected and trained by persons with disabilities in daily tasks, eliminating the need to hire nurses for assistance that is not clinical or requiring of professional training. Implementation of the act has the potential to draw down $350m in additional state funding from the Federal government, in addition to enhancing the dignity and community inclusion of persons with disabilities. With Governor Cuomo backing this legislation, it is a clear failure on the part of the legislature to neglect it in this year’s proceedings.

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Capitol Confidential, Times Union Blog; Casey Seiler, 6/11/2014

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Demanding legislative action, members of the disabled community and other activists stormed the Assembly chamber on Wednesday afternoon, prompting a shoving match with sergeants-at-arms and an ensuing standoff that derailed business in the chamber.

The protesters, including members of��, are seeking action on����put forth by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that would allow a new category of caregiver, called “advanced home health aides,” that would be allowed to perform certain duties by making exceptions to the state��

Activists argue that by failing to move on this issue, the state is leaving an estimated $350 million in federal dollars on the table — money freed up by the creation of the new caregiver category under the provisions of the federal����part of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Following March’s week-long activist occupation of the Latham headquarters of the state Nurses Association, the organization decided to support the bill while asking for numerous amendments that would keep any changes to the Nurse Practice Act minimal.

“Our main concern is that if this legislation is too broad it will open the door for profit-driven health care corporations to dilute quality of care,” said Eliza Bates, a spokeswoman for the Nurses Association, in an email. Among its concerns, the group wants to ensure that the new class of aides can only work in the sort of long-term setting laid out in the the Community First guidelines.

The bill would hand the development of regulations surrounding that new category over to the Health Commissioner and the Education Department.

“We’ve had trouble getting even interviews with our legislators about this issue,” said Sue Hoger, chair of the ���������� Association for Independent Living. “There seems to be a perception that once you’ve designated a professional licensure to do one thing, that is all they can do. And with that narrow mindset, we’re going to force people with disabilities to continue living in institutional settings when they could easily come out into the community.”

Hoger said one aide for an Assembly Democrat told her the change could create “a Willowbrook in the community” — a reference to the infamous Staten Island facility that was the subject of a 1972 expose on deplorable conditions. That exposure eventually led to a complete overhaul of state care for the profoundly disabled.

“I find that extremely offensive,” Hoger said. ” … It really goes back to the mindset that people with disabilities can’t make choices, that they can’t decide which aides are trustworthy, they can’t decide how to train an aide. … Those pieces of safety have been addressed.”

Hoger said the Senate was on board with the bill, though it has so far failed to act on it. A Senate Republican spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The protest began with advocates, including the able-bodied as well as those in wheelchairs, trying to enter the chamber through an open set of doors.��, executive director of the Center for Disability Rights, laid down across the threshold and resisted efforts to be removed as other protesters prevented the doors from being closed. Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle crouched down to talk with Darling and cool the scene down.

The situation remained static for the next two hours, as activists chanted and berated the Assembly for taking up trivial legislation — the designation of yogurt as the official state snack featured prominently in those denunciations — instead of the program bill.

Just before 5 p.m., a number of the activists including Darling were allowed into the chamber, and a delegation subsequently went into a meeting with the chamber’s leadership. That meeting did not go well — one activist described the leadership’s attitude as “patronizing” — and Darling was arrested and taken away by troopers as the chamber was emptied. It was not immediately clear what he would be charged with.

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