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Αρχική / Λευκώματα 1815
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Εβδομαδιαία λίστα
Ημερομηνία δημιουργίας / 2013
- ADAPT (1839)
[Headline] Champion of disabled, son drown By Judith Brimberg Denver Post Staff Writer Wade Blank, a Denver resident who use civil-rights tactics to win accessible transportation for the handicapped, has died in a swimming accident in Mexico that also claimed the life of his 8-year-old son, Lincoln. The 52-year-old onetime Presbyterian minister had been vacationing with his family in Todos Santos at the tip of the Baja California peninsula when tragedy struck Monday morning, an associate said. Lincoln was caught in a Pacific Ocean undertow and when Blank went to the child's rescue, he too was sucked under. Blank's body had been recovered, but Lincoln's still was missing as of last night. A Denver resident since 1971, the able-bodied Blank was the spark plug for handicapped activism locally and elsewhere. Recognized by his blond hair worn long the style of the 1960s, the tall, lanky advocate was the driving force behind numerous demonstrations. He led protests in federal buildings and downtown Denver streets to advance independent living for the disabled; in Washington, D.C., to obtain passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act; and throughout the nation to liberate the disabled from nursing homes. "He is the one who cut the path through [text cuts off] [image] [image caption] Blank family: Left to right, Caitlin Blank, Wade Blank, Lincoln Blank, and Mollie Blank in a picture taken July 26, 1992. Wade and Lincoln died Monday in a swimming accident in Mexico. Special to The Denver Post. Tom Olin. [text resumes] the jungle to provide opportunity for the disabled and to educate the broader community about their rights," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, who first met Blank in 1982 when Pena ran for Denver mayor. Blank asked Pena whether he would drop charges if the handicapped were arrested for civil disobedience. When Pena hedged, Blank told him: "That's the wrong answer. We want to be treated like everybody else. Don't give us any break." A native of Pittsburgh, Blank received a divinity degree from McCormick Seminary in Chicago. In the late 1960s, he was pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Akron, Ohio, and was involved in the anti-war movement at Kent State University. Admittedly burned out when he came to Denver, Blank worked in the youth wing of a nursing home before helping launch the Atlantis Community for the disabled in 1975. "I decided to move people out of the nursing home and do the care myself," Blank recalled in a recent interview. "You try moving eight people who are severely disabled into their own apartments and be responsible for dressing them, feeding them, bowel programs, bathing them. I think if I were sane, I probably wouldn't have done it, but within the first six months, I'd moved 18 people out. So now I was wedded to the concept." Atlantis today has about 100 disabled people who receive attendant services. From there, it was an easy step to civil rights activism. On July 5, 1978, under Blank's tutelage, 19 handicapped people in wheelchairs blocked two RTD buses for 24 hours to force public accommodations to be made accessible to people in wheelchairs. It was the start of a campaign that tasted victory in 1983 when RTD's first elected board rescinded an earlier action and voted to make 89 new RTD buses handicapped accessible. "That was major turning point in the way RTD responded to Blank's efforts," recalled former RTD Chairman Jack McCroskey. That same year, Blank and his cohorts formed a new umbrella organization--American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation--ADAPT--and began picketing meetings of the American Public Transportation Association. In 1990, to spur passage of ADA legislation, ADAPT organized a massive demonstration capped by 200 handicapped people crawling up the steps of the Capitol building to block the rotunda. "I do not think that was an extreme action," said Justin Dart Jr., chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. "Homeless people with disabilities were dying in the streets or were incarcerated in nursing homes or institutions without due process of law." Saddened by Blank's death, Dart said: "I don't think the ADA would have passed as a civil rights law without him." Recently, ADAPT has taken a new name, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, and has a new goal, that of making home health care a right so the disabled can live in their own homes. Despite his successes, Blank never collected more than $18,000 a year in salary. "Wade was one of those people you saw going on forever," said Mike Auberger, a paraplegic who is co-director of the Atlantis Community. "He was 52, but he was 18 years old as far as energy and drive were concerned. He kicked us into a whole other gear. He was a real center for the disabled community and a real focus of where disability rights needed to go." Blank is survived by his wife, Mollie; two daughters, Heather a 22-year0old handicapped woman whom he adopted 12 years ago, and Caitlin, 6; his mother Ruth, of Canton, Ohio, and two sisters. Funeral arrangements are pending. - ADAPT (1838)
- ADAPT (1837)
- ADAPT (1837)
[image] [image caption] Wade was always ready to lend a hand. Photo Tom Olin - ADAPT (1836)
"...I'll never forget the first day of work. The black community just hated me. I walked in the door and Luke White, who was the assistant director there, sent me out with a real old lady on the staff named Mims, and she was about a 68-year-old black woman, and I spent the entire day visiting other old black women in the community, and talked about knitting and stuff. When I came back, Luke was just laughing because he was going to show "whitey." He really stuck it to me. That was his was of getting to me..." -Wade Blank, 1992, about Twinsburg, Ohio - ADAPT (1835)
- ADAPT (1834)
- ADAPT (1833)
[Headline] RELIGION AND THE DISABLED .. . LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND THE DISABLED MOVEMENT by Rev. Wade Blank In the 1950's and 1960's, as the Black communities organized for freedom, we saw many church leaders become heavily involved In the civil rights issue. The core of the civil rights movement was the Black church, and as time went on, more and more white churches joined the struggle. While the oppression of the Black communities was economic, political, and social, and the goals of the movement were integration, and equality in American society, the rationale for this work for justice was based on theological thinking. The Creator had made all people equal, and there-fore love for each other among all humanity would bring about a community of justice and liberty for all. This was the message of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., which so stirred the country and the world, and it was this theological basis that gave momentum to the anti-war effort during Viet Nam in the 1960's and early 1970's. If the message of Dr. King and the church was so compelling on issues of justice and equality for people of color, then is the message not just as imperative now for the disability rights movement? Why have we not adopted the theological springboard for our civil rights movement"? There are several reasons: 1) All liberation movements evolve as people in history seek justice. This is called "salvation history" in which all humanity seeks equality and justice. This yearning that evolves into struggle is just now beginning to stir in the souls of people with disabilities. 2) People who are disabled are just now beginning to understand that the physical characteristics of disability are not more different that the fact of colored skin — a physical characteristic that locked millions of people out of society. The physical functioning, appearance, or difference should not determine if s/he receives justice and equality. In order for the disability rights movement to become powerful the disabled per-son must "own" his/her disability, as Black people own their Black skin. "This is what I am. I am proud of what I am. I need and demand what other members of my society have. The barriers erected against me in my own community are not the fault of my disability. They were built by others in their ignorance, prejudice, and paternalism." Until that perception becomes reality, we will not have the power of our own convictions to change anything! 3) Once the righteousness of our position is held in our guts — steadfast and unwavering it will begin to transmit itself to the larger society and church leadership will begin to deal with the issues. The church is getting a paternalistic message from the disability movement at this time. Church people honestly believe that all we want are ramps into churches! They don't understand that we are working for empowerment. Therefore, the liberation theology that the church applies to other oppressed groups is not realized for people with disabilities. It is up to us to make our position clear. While we are talking about access, we also demand the right to ride all public transportation, the right to keep our own children, the right to join our neighbors at the polling place, the right to an equal education, the right to eat in public places — entering through the front door with our friends and families, not around back by the garbage cans. These issues are identical to those the Black liberation movement addressed there is no difference and the church must hear that message! American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) has received substantial support from the Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Lutherans because we have taken the time to extensively explain our issues to them. If we are to be successful in all communities, every member of the disabled community must see him/herself as a worker in a true liberation movement —steadfast and unwavering—able to triumph over every argument used against us — from "God's will!", through cost effectiveness, special treatment, architectural integrity, tradition, fear and loathing, holding firm until we, too, shall overcome. WE WILL RIDE NEW WORLD / MARCH 1988 - ADAPT (1832)
[image] drawing of Wade Blank mid-stride, carrying two children with the wind flowing behind him [image caption] [handwritten] Wade on the run....... - ADAPT (1831)
[This page continues the article from Image 1839. Full text is available on 1839 for easier reading.] - ADAPT (1830)
[image] [image caption] News photo by Linda McConnell [Headline] Meeting of the minds Wade Blank, director of Atlantis Community for the handicapped, addresses a meeting of Social Security representatives and Disabled American Workers Security. Blank said the meeting Tuesday was a good start but only a beginning toward solving the problems of people whose disability payments have been cut off. Social Security representatives promised to look into a dozen cutoff cases. - ADAPT (1829)
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 15TH ANNIVSERSARY ISSUE [image] drawing of a wheelchair April 29, 1987 [Headline] Wheels of Fortune [Subheading] Michael Smith finally found justice for the disabled this spring-twelve years after his death. By Frank Hogan (Wade) Blank sat with Smith from midnight to morning during his last months. The Atlantis office was set up in the living room of Smith's apartment, and Blank would write down the poetry of Smith composed in his head. Poems like this: TO TED I woke up on a cold evening And found you Sitting beside my bed. You looked into my eyes And I saw that death was on its way. You grabbed my hand And put your head on my chest. And began to sob. And all I could do Was put my hands in your hair And cry Until my heart was sore I tried to calm your soul And this seemed strange, in a way, Because I was the one Who was dying. This memory Of you letting your tears flow, Letting me see the real you, Will remain deep within my heart. Smith died in his Atlantis Community apartment on October 1, 1975. His mother was at his bedside. He'd had plenty of time to plan his funeral; Blank conducted the service at Olinger's (which was wheelchair accessible), friends read Smith's poetry poetry and Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" played. Afterward everybody drove up to the Tollgate in Central City and got loaded. Smith was at rest, but his ghost would haunt the courts for twelve more years. Wade Blank would probably puke at the idea, but the Atlantis Community disabled rights activist is the closest approximation to a saint that I encountered while writing stories for Westword. Blank was instrumental in creating the Atlantis Community. He was constantly at Michael Patrick Smith's bedside during the former muscular dystrophy poster child's final days. That was after Smith moved out of a nursing home and into an apartment and filed a lawsuit against Heritage House for violating his civil rights and denying him the care he was entitled to under the Medicaid Act. But it wasn't Blank's tenacity in pursuing the lawsuit for over a dozen years and to a victory on Smith's behalf that most impresses me. Blank's utter fearlessness is what's amazing. In the early years of Atlantis' development, Blank's van was torched, a cinderblock was hurled through his living room window and he was continually threatened and harassed. Through all the obstacles, Blank kept shepherding the disabled rights movement forwards. On July 5, 1978, Blank and nineteen disabled activists in wheelchairs blocked buses at the corner of Broadway and Colfax, demanding wheelchair access to public transportation. Since then they've traveled to major cities throughout the U.S. and Europe, performing acts of civil disobedience to make their point. Twelve years after that historic night in downtown Denver, President George Bush signed legislation guaranteeing the disabled equality in the workplace and ordering all public transportation to be wheelchair-accessible. "A few weeks ago, the City of Denver erected a plaque to commemorate that protest," says Blank. "Next time you're down at Colfax and Broadway, take a look at it. The tourist bureau put out a brochure listing it as a sight to see in Denver." Blank isn't resting on his laurels, though. In October, he'll be in San Francisco, leading 400 wheelchair activists as they try to shut down the national nursing home administrators' convention. "We're going to lock all the doors at the Moscone Center and let them know what it feels like to be locked in a nursing home," Blank says. "Then we'll hit California Clinton headquarters unless we get a position paper by October 1 spelling out that if he's elected, Clinton can and will implement a national attendant service program." That program is Blank's main focus these days. "We need to rethink nursing homes," he says. "The patient is a commodity. You can talk quality care, but when you're a commodity you're not really talking about humanity. It's like saying we want o have nice clean barns before we slaughter the cattle. It's not bad service, it's the system." That's another thing I like about Blank: He's not afraid of hyperbole. His only fault is that he's a Cleveland Browns fan. He stand up to the system and wins. He embodies everything that was good about the Sixties, with a Nineties addition: Blank has a publicity coordinator in Hollywood. Michael Smith's story was made into a television movie a few years ago, and Blank is talking to Quantum Leap producers about dramatizing the 1978 standoff in downtown Denver. And still Blank defects all credit to disabled activists. Even the PR agent furthers the cause of the Atlantis Community rather than Blank's personal triumphs. "Mike [Smith] is the acorn of the oak tree, says Blank. "He left quite a legacy." Blank's leaving quite a legacy himself. Westword 9/2/93 - ADAPT (1828)
Looking down on Wade's funeral. It's a big hotel ballroom with ADAPT folks, Atlantis folks and friends and colleages are sitting in several sections with aisles in the center and on the sides. There is a stage at the front of the room with an ADAPT flag draped on the fron and flowers all along the front. A line of 14 people sit at the back of the stage. Among them you can see Mike Auberger and Justin Dart with his cowboy hat. - ADAPT (1827)
- ADAPT (1826)