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The fall saw ADAPT, the national disability rights organization, lead a Rolling Freedom Express campaign through 10 cities to Washington, D.C. The campaign supported their goal: to make it possible for people with disabilities to live in the community instead of being warehoused in nursing homes.

Federal subsidies for nursing homes currently make it more likely a person who may only need help with getting out of bed in the morning, eating, and similar activities can only receive those services in a nursing home. This fall some 400 people, mainly wheelchair users, chained themselves to the White House fence. They won a meeting with President Clinton that netted victories on the group's agenda such as $70 million in the federal budget to help transition people out of nursing homes and a commitment to target some Section 8 housing vouchers for folks coming out of institutions. The money marks additional support for the group's national piece of legislation, the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act. The bill would fund community services for people with disabilities who don't want to live in nursing homes.

Clinton also committed to drop a billion-dollar funding bonanza for nursing homes that had been in the budget. Nursing homes are among the most powerful lobbies in Washington. As ADAPT's two representatives left the meeting, Clinton told Mike Auberger, director of Denver's Atlantis Community, "ADAPT is really good at what you do."

After the White House action, the group spearheaded a rally that drew 5,000 people to support the Birmingham, Alabama plaintiffs in a Supreme Court case attacking the rights of disabled people under the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA. Another protest at Republican Party headquarters caused party staff to cancel a George W. Bush fundraiser set for that evening.

The Rolling Freedom express started in Birmingham. The week-long event saw ADAPTers pass through Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Each city held an event that garnered media attention and local support for disability rights. ADAPT actions in recent months also netted the organization's leaders opportunities to speak at both the Democratic and Republican party conventions.