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Disclosure Issue No. 96 January-February 1987 [Image] [no image caption] [Headline] Disabled Fight to Get on the Bus
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[Headline] Zealots on Wheels Every year the American Public Transit Association (APTA) meets to discuss the vagaries of American mass transit, and every year a group of protesters for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) stages a protest. People in wheelchairs park themselves in front of and other transit vehicles, and wait to be carted away by the local constabulary. The idea is to generate public sympathy for handicapped people implying that transit authorities callously neglect their needs. The tactic hasn't worked. Instead, ADAPT become one of those organizations, like rabid animal-rights groups that torture animals and blame medical researchers, that does more harm then good to its cause. The sad part is that ADAPT theoretically supports a good cause--ensuring that handicapped citizens have access to public transportation — but takes its crusade to an absurd extreme. ADAPT doesn't seek mere access to transportation. It wants "100-percent" access to all buses, subways, light rail cars, and other public conveyances. That means all buses would have to be fitted with hydraulic lifts for wheelchairs; all subway stations built with elevators; all rail cars constructed either with lifts or special "at grade" doors, etc. Such goodies inflate capital costs enormously, without providing equivalent benefits. Hydraulic lifts on buses, for instance, have a notorious record for breaking down — and they cost $15,000-20,000 per bus. And elevators on subways, which often cost tremendous amounts of money, go generally unused in cities like Washington and New York because they have become favorite haunts for muggers. In truth, there are many cheaper and more effective ways to grant access to transportation than to redesign every bus and train in America. Some cities, including Detroit, have special programs for carrying handicapped citizens from place to place. Others offer cab rides. Although these programs don't offer handicapped citizens the privilege of being mugged on empty buses, they do move people from point to point — which, after all, is the purpose of public transit. ADAPT's hysterical invocation of "rights" bears striking similarity to similarly excessive demands for "handicapped rights" in other areas. A good ex-ample occurred almost a decade ago, when a judge in North Carolina ordered a state university to lim-it the height of shelves to 3 feet in a new campus library. The idea was to allow all handicapped citizens to reach their own books that is, to en-joy "100 percent access." The stipulation also would have in-creased the cost of building the library by more than 100 percent. Common sense fortunately prevailed when some-one pointed out that the library could hire students to retrieve books for handicapped students, and for far less than it would cost to expand the library and purchase new shelves. ADAPT could learn from this example. If the judge had prevailed in North Carolina, the library might never have been built. Similarly, if someone demanded lifts on all buses, cities would have to cut back on transit services, which wouldn't help handicapped riders a bit. ADAPT's point about access to transportation is sensible, but its specific objectives and strategies are not. If ADAPT's wheelchair guerrillas really want to make some progress, they should shelve some of their sanctimony and use a little common sense. No serious person can accept its demands to install lifts on all public buses, but many people will support expanded van services for handicapped citizens. Rather than de ding the impossible, ADAPT should focus on reasonable ways to help handicapped people get from place to place. [Image] [Image caption] Detroit Police place an ADAPT protester in a specially equipped police van.
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[Headline] ADAPT Pushing Detroit Forward By Beverly Safford On October 6, 1986, an active, disciplined and effective civil rights movement came to town. Members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) arrived in Detroit to protest and demonstrate against the inaccessibility of public transportation for the disabled. Their primary target of protest and demonstration is the American Public Transit Authority (APTA) which was having a convention in Detroit over the weekend of October 6-8, 1986. APTA is a trade organization with a history of being a door closer to the civil rights of the disabled: APTA, in a dispute with the Caner Administration rules requiring city transit systems to equip up to one halt of their buses with wheelchair lifts, took the Department of Transportation to Court over its rules implementing the non-discrimination provisions of the Rehabilitation Act. The Court held for AMA's position of a "local option" — hitting local transit systems decide what is "best" for the disabled people in their communities. [Subheading] Detroit's Transit History In Detroit, public transportation has historically bee' dewed as the enemy of the auto industry. Accordingly a conscious or unconscious decision has been made that its "besi" for Detroit's disabled community not to consort with the enemy. Public transportation tar the disabled is all but non-existent in this community. We have seen or heard of the stories of the disabled crawling up the steps of city buses because there isn't a wheelchair lift or it doesn't work. While Denver and all of California require all new buses to be wheelchair accessible, Mayor Young proudly asserts that GE the 100 new Detroit buses, 20 are accessible to the disabled. He fails to mention that the City is unwilling or unable to repair the lifts that have become non-functional. Mayor Young, through an aide, suggested that the ADAPT members try out the new buses. The ADAPT members allege they could find no buses in Downtown Detroit that could accommodate the disabled. On October 6, 1986, they were arrested while engaged in the civil dis-obedience protest of climbing, en masse, up the steps of unaccessible buses and blocking their paths with wheelchairs and 'bodies. The Detroit Police Department has a wagon which has a working wheelchair lift. 150 dis-abled members demonstrated, 18 were arrested and subsequently released on $1,000.00 personal bonds. On October 7, 1986, 37 were arrested for continued peaceful protests, this time for trying to talk to folks in the Federal Building. There is a dispute as to the nature of the October 7th demonstrations. Several of the arrested wheelchair defendants state that they were ordered to disburse, but could not get out of the corridors of the Federal Building because of the limited facilities for wheelchair access. The 18 who were on personal bonds after the October 6th demonstrations were given $1,000.00 which they could not post; the remainder were released on personal bond. 13 cots of the 18 held on the 7th were confined to wheelchairs. The Detroit Chapter of the Nat boreal Lawyers Guild,. through the ePtorts oaf its president, Kathleen A. Gmeiner, head pre-arranged attorneys on call for any emergency legal representatIon necessary for ADAPT. [Subheading] ADAPT at 1300 Beaubien At 9:00 p.m., October 7, 1986, I received a call from Gmeiner to go to the Detroit Police Station at 1300 Beaubien to confirm the conditions under which the City of Detroit was holding the wheelchair bound prisoners. The allegations were that the 13 wheelchair bound prisoners were being held in the police gym at the 1300 Beaubien police station; they were not given medical attention, beds, heat, wheelchair accessible toilet facilities or catheters. When I arrived at the station at about 9:30 p.m., the station was surrounded by protesters in wheelchairs shouting "Let them go" and 'We will ride." As I entered the police station, the officers in charge communicated one over-riding concern: they wanted to get rid of the prisoners. At the time, it seemed facilitating. In retrospect, it seems offensive. I was escorted to the police department gym on the second floor. A system was immediately set up to dis-tribute the maintenance medicine necessary for the 13 wheelchair prisoners; an inventory of the situation was begun. We were in a large gym under the following conditions: No heat, though the temperature was below 50 degrees, three large windows were broken out, and the wind was carrying the protesters' voices into the jail/gym. No wheelchair accessible bathrooms, and the porta-john that the prisoners were required to use had become very soiled because it could not accommodate the needs of the prisoners; several of the prisoners waited up to five hours for a sterilized catheter; no place to wash their hands after using the porta-john and/ or before using the catheter. No medical supervision. No intention of providing beds, because of a prevailing assumption by the police department that the prisoners were in a chair therefore they didn't need a bed, although many of the prisoners were in pain From their confinement to their wheelchairs. After a period of time necessary to identity each prisoner and determine specific medical and comfort needs, one final encroachment of reality: the wheelchairs of the 13 prisoners were running out of power. Without specific battery rechargers, the 13 wheelchair prisoners were rapidly becoming totally immobile. Several phone calls later — the police instantly supplied me with a desk and trim-line phone — Neal Bush, &wine,- and Milton Henry directed my calls to Judge Roberts of Recorder's Court. The judge considered the physical reality of the conditions of the incarceration and the charges which brought the arrests. He readily offered to sign a writ of habeas corpus, on the condition that the prisoners must agree not to demonstrate until the 11:00 a.m. bond reduction hearing the following morning. I presented this otter to the 13 prisoners, who were cold, tired, often in pain and lacking appropriate medical attention. They informed me they needed to seriously discuss this matter. [Subheading] A Considered Response For one hour they discussed the con-sequences, good and bad, of accepting this offer. The 13 wheelchair bound prisoners assembled in a circle. Each consideration was heard and each position was respected. They encouraged the least verbal to express their opinion; everyone spoke. When necessary members of the circle repeated what they heard to clarify what was said. Two of the concerns which the group considered were: it they accepted the otter, would they be sending the message that it is OK for Detroit to he unable to accommodate the disabled in jail? Perhaps it they stayed, the system would have to address their needs. Several of the group mentioned that other group members were in extreme pain from the cold and being confined to their wheelchairs. A consensus was reached. They would agree to leave the jail it, and only it, the live ambulatory prisoners housed elsewhere — were also released. They would show up in court the next morning; the issue of midnight civil disobedience was moot. Through various and sundry background phone calls, about midnight, Judge George Crockett, Ill, Recorder's Court Judge, came to the station. Shortly after, Justin Ravitz, Detroit Guild members and former Judge Of Recorder's Court, came walking into the station with a writ in hand. Judge Crockett held an emergency hearing in the police gym. The station thoughtfully turned on the heat prior to the judge entering the gym. By 2:00 a.m. all parties were released on agreement to return to court in the morning. The following morning, on motion Ravitz, the $1,000.00 cash bond was reduced to $100.00 personal bond by Judge Crockett, Ill. Their on-going representation will be handled by Ravitz and Bush. As the ADAPT members wheeled out of Judge Crockett's court room, they excitedly talked of the up-coming APTA conventions which needed their attention: first Phoenix, April 4-8 then San Francisco, September 27-October 1. Beverly Safford, an attorney in private practice, is a member of the Detroit Chapter. In the struggle Nat. Lawyers Guild
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[This page contains two articles] [first article] In a 1977 protest, about 50 people with disabilities demanded that the federal government start enforcing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Among other things, the act outlaws discrimination on the basis of disability in all programs that get federal funds. After 28 days, the government issued new regulations to put the law into action. That, according to Johnson, was the longest occupation of a federal building in the history of the United States. Eleanor Smith remembers the excitement she felt when she learned of the 1977 protest. "I remember reading in a newspaper about people who occupied a federal building in San Francisco. To have an activist, civil-disobedience group of disabled people was brand new in history as far as I know. It was thrilling." The fight heated up in 1979, when the federal Department of Transportation mandated that all federally funded new transit buses and rail stations be wheelchair accessible. Immediately and fiercely, the American Public Transit Association (APTA) resisted. Claiming that bus lifts cost too much, APTA filed a lawsuit and won. The mandate was replaced with the much weaker principle of "local option", which says transit authorities can choose what kind of service to provide for riders with disabilities. While many local systems are working to become fully accessible, others offer only "paratransit", a separate system of minibuses that run door-to-door by appointment. Disability activists charge that while these special services do meet some needs, they are no substitute for access to the whole system. Says Smith, "separate always turns out not to be equal." ADAPT came on the scene to make this point In 1983 with a protest at APTA's annual meeting. Allowed a 20-minute presentation to the convention, the activists called for 100% accessibility throughout all public transit systems saying that "a society that can build MX missiles and puts people on the moon can surely put a wheelchair on a bus". APTA, however, stood behind local option— a position it has never changed. Since then, says Smith, ADAPT has been to APTA like fleas are to a dog. At fifteen APTA conventions and meetings In the past eight years, wheelchair users and other people with disabilities from all over the United States have joined local activist for rallies, picketing and civil disobedience. In 1988, 83 demonstrators were arrested at a St Louis convention. Last year, 28 were arrested in Atlanta. Blocking vehicle and pedestrian traffic seems to be ADAPT's most common illegal activity. The protestors intend to give able-bodied people a taste of inconvenience. "We have to come around the long way and go in the back door all the time," says Johnson. ADAPT groups have no dues or membership and Smith thinks It has about 25 hard-core people willing to hold elevator doors shut. However, the APTA protest in the fall of 1989 drew about 300 demonstrators. Many were from Georgia but even they were outnumbered by activists from all over the country— Including people from Hawaii and Alaska. The protest received extensive television and newspaper coverage. Nationally, with accessible facilities becoming common in public transit, ADAPT is now refocusing on private carriers. This year, protestors will converge on Dallas for ADAPT's first demonstration at a convention the the American Bus Association— the trade group that Includes Greyhound. Eleanor Smith believes that her activism with ADAPT is making a real difference. "Working through the system wasn't working," she says. "There was no change. Transit authorities thought the idea of lifts was ridiculous. ADAPT believes that disabled people have a right to access to public transit." This article reprinted with permission of writer Gareth Fenley. "Wheelchair Warriors With A Cause" first appeared in Southern Voice, an Atlanta publication focusing on gay and lesbian rights. [second article begins] [Headline] Memo of the Decade In 1955, a middle-aged black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. In challenging the Montgomery, Alabama system of segregating buses according to race, she became the catalyst for a long and bitter boycott of local transit...a boycott that disrupted Montgomery city services, "crippled" the public transportation system and catapulted the civil rights movement onto the front page of every newspaper in the country. In 1986, when ADAPT asked Parks to publicly support their campaign for transportation equality, here's how she replied... [the memo reads] October 3, 1996 ADAPT Atlantis Community Inc. Rev. Wade Blank 4536 E. Colfax Denver, Colorado 80220 Dear Rev. Blank, Mrs. Parks will not be participating in the press conference on October 5, 1986 at twelve noon for ADAPT because of the traumatic manner in which you choose to dramatize disabled Americans lack of access to public transportation. Mrs. Parks supports active peaceful protest of human rights issues not tactics that will embarrass the cities guest and cripple present transportation system. We do not wish any American to be discriminated against in transportation or any other form that reduces their equality and dignity, however, we cannot condone disruption of Detroit city services. Please excuse the sudden withdrawal from what we originally thought was a conference to present ADAPT s issues on equal rights for disabled Americans in public transportation to the City of Detroit. We wish you success in securing equal rights for all users of public transportation. Very truly yours, Elaine Steele Assistant to Rosa L. Parks Enc. cc: Media and Press
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[Headline] Riders in wheelchairs push buses to ADAPT The American Disabled for Public Transit (ADAPT) staged a series of dramatic demonstrations last week at the annual convention for the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in Detroit. ADAPT has pitted itself against APTA for the last four years, using civil disobedience to raise public awareness about the rights of severely physically disabled people. Highly dependent on public transit, people using wheelchairs have suffered under a 1981 federal court ruling that struck down provisions for equal access. APTA, the national lobbying group representing federally-funded public transit systems nation-wide, won that round. The Detroit demonstrations were designed to gain the -- attention of APTA guests and the city, which does not have wheelchair lifts in every bus. The city rescinded ADAPT's original parade permit after police accused the group of "disruptive tactics." ADAPT did gain permission to demonstrate behind high barricades outside the convention. The 100 wheelchaired and 50 able-bodied protesters stayed on the sidewalks except where curb cuts were lacking. Later, however, they converged at Dearborn's Henry Ford Museum and blocked buses, forcing more than 1,500 APTA guests to walk the last half mile to the convention's cocktail reception. At bus stops, ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs waited in front of the buses, held their doors open and tried to crawl into them. Several buses equipped with lifts did come, but the lifts reportedly were not working. Police arrested 17 people on charges of disorderly conduct. For the estimated 1-2 percent of the population that is severely physically disabled, social prejudice is compounded by segregative obstacles such as stairs, curbs and narrow doorways. ADAPT's ultimate goal is a federal accommodations law, and it is training people in wheelchairs to assert themselves politically so they can fight the isolation that keeps them out of sight, out of mind and out of the mainstream. "Either everyone gets in, or no one," says Molly Blank, who works with ADAPT at its main office in Denver. ADAPT and allied organizations point proudly to Denver and Seattle, where lifts have been installed in all buses. Upkeep of lifts in 'Denver's buses has cost less, than other cities may think. "[Maintenance workers] don't wait for the lifts to break down," says ADAPT's Wade Blank. "When they do an oil change, they check them for adjustments and do a lube job. Chicago estimates costs of up to $2,500 per bus per year, but Denver spends only $400." "The battle won't be won this week," Blank says. "We hope that in the next five years, the nation will reach a policy on accessibility." -Jennefer Pittman
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[Headline] Wheelchair Warriors with a Cause! By Hareth Fenley They smash curbs with sledgehammers to make curb-cuts, crawl up the stairs of city buses, chain themselves to steering wheels, block traffic with their bodies. They were carried off to jail in Atlanta, Georgia, this fall after shutting down the Greyhound terminal for six hours, chanting "We will ride!" They are the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, a national organization better known as ADAPT. The protesters say they have one simple goal: they want to ride the bus. It may be partly due to their efforts that 31 percent of the national transit bus fleet is now wheelchair accessible. Their demonstrations are replacing the poster-child idea of "poor, helpless cripples" with a new image of wheelchair warriors. Like the Atlanta-based AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), ADAPT is willing to break the law. The two controversial groups admire each other's tactics and sometimes work toward the same objectives. "Five years ago, my two oppressions were as far apart as the thumbs on my two hands," says Eleanor Smith, holding her hands out to the sides of her wheelchair. Smith, an activist in both organizations, says the spread of AIDS brought the two issues together for her. [Image] [no image caption] PHOTO BY KIMBERLY BOYD "Gay rights activists and disability rights activists are now fighting for the same issues in Congress, side by side, not just out of empathy, but out of absolutely parallel self-interest. Young people have been thrust into disability issues," she said "It's different than they ever would Chair have dreamed on the dance floor." AIDS and disability activists are pushing together for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The transit Ors w.th w provisions of this s comprehensive bill would require lifts on all new public buses and lifts on private carriers starting in five years. The Bush administration a Cause! backs the ADA and Congress is expected to pass it. The lobbying and reform that led up to the ADA are often credited to mainstream organizations such as the Paralyzed American Veterans. "We kind of give those people leverage," says Mark Johnson, a quadriplegic who helped start ADAPT in 1983. "Until there's an emotional change, no intellectual persuasion will work."