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Home / Albums / ADAPT the beginning with APTA, 1983 -1984 24
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ADAPT (148)
Name of newspaper illegible Los Angeles Times? November 19,1984 Handicapped Stage Protests to Publicize Transportation Needs by Miles Harvey, Times Staff Writer PHOTO: Mary Frampton / Los Angeles Times A tidy looking woman in pants and a vest, with a slight smile on her face, sits in a manual wheelchair on a bus. She is sitting in the accessible doorway, the access symbol visible on the side of the doorway. Below and beneath her is a metal panel, like the barrier on some lifts that keeps the person from rolling off the front of the lift. Caption reads: Barbara Trigg rides a hydraulic lift onto a Los Angeles bus. Article reads: Washington -- It was a scene reminiscent of the 1960s civil rights demonstrations as angry protesters chanted slogans, picketed the White House and stopped traffic before they were finally dragged away by police. And the series of confrontations that ended with 27 arrests last month seemed to come down to a similar central issue— the right to sit on a bus, to have full access to public transportation. There was one striking difference, however. Unlike Rosa Parks and the black civil rights activist who battered down the Jim Crow barriers in the South, these protesters were in wheelchairs, and their goal was equal access for the physically handicapped. “It's a civil right to be able to ride public transportation," said Julia Haraksin, a wheelchair-bound Los Angeles resident who participated in the demonstrations. “In the ‘60s, the blacks had to ride in the back—and we can't even get on the buses." New, Radical Tactics Organizations representing handicapped persons long have urged Washington to require that new buses and rail systems built with funds from the Department of Transportation's Urban Mass Transportation Administration be equipped to accommodate handicapped riders. But Haraksin and other handicapped individuals like her now are beginning to press the old arguments with new, more radical tactics. Frustrated by years of negotiating, lobbying in Washington, going through the courts and staging non-confrontational protests, some members of the handicapped community now are resorting more actively to confrontations and civil disobedience. Thus, early in October, 100 members of a newly formed coalition called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit confronted a national meeting of city transportation heads here, using the kind of civil disobedience tactics used 30 years earlier by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Protesters were arrested when they blocked entrances and buses of those attending the American Public Transit Assn. convention. The strategy was to physically be a barrier because handicapped people have to face barriers all their lives," Wade Blank, a founder of Denver-based ADAPT said. Calling the protests here " Selma," leaders of ADAPT claimed victory and promised that their struggle has only begun. They already are focusing their efforts on what they hope will be a larger demonstration at the next meeting of the American Public Transportation Assn. a year from now in Los Angeles. But they and their cause may be in for a tough battle. Their opposition comes from the Reagan Administration, from many city governments and even from within the handicapped community. And as public attention focuses on the underlying budget choices involved, the opposition may swell with the addition of taxpayers concerned about the possible costs of a national full-access program. ADAPT argues that a legal right to full access for the handicapped already exists. Federal law states that Urban Mass Transportation Administration funds — which account for about 80% of the costs of new and replacement equipment in most municipal transportation systems—cannot be spent on programs that discriminate against, or exclude, the handicapped. The law does not make clear, however, whether handicapped persons must be provided with access to regular bus lines or whether they can instead be provided with alternative transportation systems. Nor does it indicate who should make that decision. Cities Make Decisions Current Transportation Department policy, which is strongly supported by the American Public Transportation Assn., allows each city to make its own decision on what type of transportation it will provide for the handicapped. This is in sharp contrast with Carter Administration policy, which in 1979 interpreted federal regulation to mean full access. Members of ADAPT, opposing the separate-but-equal philosophy of paratransit argue that it does not meet the needs of the handicapped and that it is inherently discriminatory. "It segregates the disabled people from the able-bodied community," Mike Auberger, an organizer for ADAPT, said. Because paratrasit requires advanced scheduling [unreadable] a ride is needed, he said, “you have to schedule your life according to the system. No one else has to do that. That shows the inequality right there." He and other members of ADAPT contend that because of long waiting lists for paratransit, some cities refuse to offer the service to new users - thus cutting off thousands of handicapped persons from any public transportation. Transit authorities, on the other hand, argue that full access can be too expensive, given the low percentage of handicapped riders in many cities. Lift-fitted buses cost an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 more than regular buses. Furthermore, lift systems are often unreliable and time-consuming to operate and maintain, transit administrators say. In Denver, for example, the transportation district has spent $63 million to purchase or retrofit buses with lifts. 80% of which was paid for by the federal government, according to spokesman Gene Towne. Since it started mainline access in 1982, the district has spent close to $1 million in maintenance of the lifts and expects to spend an additional $900,000 this year. Yet of the district's total annual ridership of 38 million, only 12,000 use the lifts, according to Towne. ADAPT counters that the issue is not cost but civil liberties. “In America we have a way of hiding, our prejudices with pragmatism," said Blank, a Presbyterian minister and veteran of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s who now supports handicapped activists. Variety of Approaches Across the country, cities are using a variety of approaches to the problems of providing mass transit for the handicapped. In Los Angeles, mainline access is required by state law. Although 1,850 of the Southern California Rapid Transit District‘s 2,400 buses are fitted with wheelchair lifts some local advocates charge that the RTD gives only "lip service" to access, complaining of broken lifts, drivers who do not know how to use the equipment or refuse to do so and an overall lack of commitment to providing access. The system provides only about 1,400 rides a month according to the RTD. Handicapped activists charge that the low ridership is attributable to the system's poor management. There were and are people in the operation department (of the RTD) back there who were and are opposed to the idea of access from day one," Dennis Cannon, a Washington-based expert who helped to plan the RTD's access program in the 1970s said. But in the last six months, the RTD has made "a major effort" to overcome the problem, according to RTD General Manager John A. Dyer. The system boosted its fiscal year 1985 budget for handicapped service by $3 million, to $4.9 million, to provide for a program to educate drivers and upgrade the quality of equipment and service. In Oakland, half the city's 800 buses are lift-equipped and all of the Alameda — Contra Costa Transit District's new buses will be lift-equipped. Seattle’s Services In Seattle, 570 of 1,100 buses are accessible to the handicapped, providing about 5,900 rides a month. The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle also contracts with private groups to supply paratransit bus and half-fare cab service, providing a total of 8,400 rides a month in Denver. 432 of the city's 744 buses are lift- or ramp-equipped, providing more than 1,000 rides per month. The city also uses 13 vans and small buses in a paratransit system that provides 3,200 rides a month. In New York City, where an estimated 35% of all the transit passengers in the country use Metropolitan Transportation Authority vehicles each day. half of the city's 4,333 buses are fitted with lifts. The city has no figures on how many handicapped riders use the system, but one official calls the number minuscule. A new state law calls for $40 million over the next eight years to retrofit “in the neighborhood of 30" subway stops for handicapped use, according to a transit authority official. In addition the law will increase the percentage of lift-equipped buses to 65% of the fleet, as well as provide a paratransit system in the city by 1988. Minneapolis-St. Paul uses 45 paratransit buses and contracts with private cab companies to carry handicapped persons in all, the city provides 40.000 trips a month. None of Chicago's 2.400 regular buses are fitted with lifts. Instead the city provides 42 paratransit buses, which offer 12,000 rides a month. Additionally, 14 of the city's subway stops have been retrofitted for handicapped access and 300 of Chicago's 1,100 subway cars are accessible. If there is a diversity of approaches to the problem, there is also a diversity of views on the militant new tactics used by ADAPT and its supporters. The views of the handicapped people are all over the lot on what type of transport they'd like," Bob Batchelder, counsel for the APTA, said. But transit specialist Cannon, himself a wheelchair user, counters: “I'm talking to disabled people who wouldn't do what ADAPT does ... but who support what they are doing and think it needs being done." Whether ADAPT's controversial style will work remains an open question. While no negotiations are scheduled, ADAPT leaders vow to continue to harass association meetings. But in Los Angeles, the RTD's Dyer indicated that he hopes demonstrations will be replaced at next year's convention with “serious dialogue and discussion of the issues." "It’s a new thing for the disabled to see themselves with power," ADAPT's Auberger said, "but it's also a new experience for the powers that be."
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THE HANDICAPPED COLORADAN Volume 7, No. 3 Boulder, Colorado October 1984 PHOTO: A man in a leather brimmed hat, long hair beard and moustache down vest and jeans, seated in a motorized wheelchair (Mike Auberger), leans to his right as he is surrounded by abled bodied people. Back to the camera, a man plain clothes is partially in front of him, papers sticking out from his back pocket. A uniformed officer is also back to the camera and is holding Mike's arm which in front of Mike. A second uniformed officer is doing something behind Mike's back while a woman stands up on the sidewalk to his side watching with her hands on her hips. (She was an organizer with National Training and Information Center and was assisting with the Access Institute.) cation reads: D.C. Police Arrest Denver Disabled Protestor MIKE AUBERGER, a community organizer for the Atlantis Community in Denver and a member of the American Disabled for Accessible Transit (ADAPT) is arrested by Washington, D.C., police outside the Washington Convention Center where the national convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) was just getting under way. A spokesperson for APTA said that the demonstrations only delayed the start of the convention by a few minutes. Inside the convention hall Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole abandoned her prepared text and said the administration was working to provide public transit for the disabled. Outside the hall, demonstrators branded the secretary's plan as another “separate but equal" scheme and demanded that the federal government require all public transit systems be made accessible to the handicapped. Demonstrators not only blocked the entrances to the convention but also surrounded chartered buses that took delegates from their hotel to the convention center. The disabled activists represented a number of cities, including Denver, Syracuse, N.Y., Boston, El Paso, Los Angeles and Chicago. Additional photo on page 4. 28 Busted in D.C. The 28 disabled activists who were arrested for civil disobedience during the national convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in Washington, D.C., last month are trying to raise $1500 to make their bail money by a Dec. 3 deadline. At the same time, they're preparing to carry their demand that the APTA members buy only wheelchair-lift equipped buses to the transit organization's regional convention in San Antonio on April 20. The Texas contingent from the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) under the leadership of Jim Parker of El Paso has been especially militant in their demands. Taking their lead from an editorial in the September Handicapped Coloradan, a coalition of of Texas disabled groups met in San Antonio and voted to ask transit systems in Texas to withdraw from APTA unless it goes on record supporting accessibility. The Colorado chapter of ADAPT was planning to introduce a similar resolution to Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD). APTA's position is that accessibility should be left to the discretion of the local transit provider, Although the Carter administration mandated accessibility in public transit, APTA was successful in getting that ruling thrown out in a l98l court battle. ADAPT maintains that the disabled have a civil right to public transit. Jack Gilstrap, APTA's executive vice president, reiterated that position as wheelchair demonstrators seized buses in front of the White House and hurled their chairs at police lines outside the Washington Hilton and Washington Convention Center during APTA's late September meeting. Gilstrap said that the funds just weren't there to support a mandatory system, adding that the additional burden might jeopardize some transit systems. However, since the convention ADAPT has been approached by APTA's new president, Warren Franks, the director of the Syracuse, N.Y., transit system, who has requested a meeting in Denver with wheelchair activists. "The Syracuse ADAPT group has been pretty active," said ADAPT spokesperson Wade Blank. "Franks must be pretty worried about what might happen there if he wants to meet with us.“ ADAPT was organized in Denver one year ago by some of the same groups and individuals who had been involved in forcing RTD to adopt a pro-accessibility policy when purchasing new buses. That battle too was highlighted by militant demonstrations with wheelers chaining themselves to the doors of RTD headquarters. In contrast, demonstrators restricted themselves to orderly pickets when APTA held its national convention in Denver in 1983. But ADAPT only abandoned its plans for civil disobedience after APTA met its demands to address the entire convention on accessibility. APTA's national staff fought that request and allegedly threatened to pull the convention out of Denver at the last minute, but finally agreed to allow ADAPT to address the meeting after Denver Mayor Federico Pena intervened. There was no question that ADAPT would be offered the same treatment at the Washington convention. Although they didn't get a spot on the agenda Blank said his group made their point by capturing the attention of the capital's media. Even before the convention opened, ADAPT made its presence known by joining forces with local D.C. activists to seize seven Metrobuses and block the five blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House during the afternoon rush hour. Demonstrators released the buses an hour later when D.C.’s Metro General Manager Carmen E. Turner agreed to meet with Washington disabled leaders to discuss their demands for a fully accessible system. No date has yet been set for that meeting, which ADAPT said marked an historic first in the Washington area. No arrests were made during that demonstration, although Washington police moved several demonstrators out of the street. But on the following Monday and Tuesday 28 demonstrators were arrested as they tried to block buses leaving the Washington Hilton for the convention center and again at the convention center itself. The police threw up lines as picketers arrived but were unable to halt the advance of the demonstrators, who wedged their chairs in the hall's doors or hurled their bodies onto the ground. Mike Auberger, one of those arrested, said the police "were abusive -- there's no doubt of that," but he added that this was probably pretty typical. “Let's face it," he said, "these guys probably have to deal with demonstrators all the time." They don't mess around when they get started. Auberger said he was grabbed by the hair and pulled back so that his chair was resting on its back wheels. Two other demonstrators were thrown from their chairs and taken to local hospitals where they were released after being treated for minor injuries. Police had to bring in special vans with wheelchair lifts in order to cart demonstrators off to jail, where they were fingerprinted and rushed into court. "Only the doorway between the holding cells and the courtroom was too narrow to get our chairs through," Auberger said, "so they had to take us in the back way." Some of the disabled picketers were surprised that the police reacted with such force, according to Auberger. "l think it opened a few eyes," he said. ADAPT filmed the demonstration, and a 20-minute edited version is being shown as part of a fundraiser to pay the bails of those arrested, about half of whom were from Denver. Congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-Denver) has agreed tn help raise money, but because of previous campaign commitments said she would be unable to participate until after the first of the year.
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[Headline] Disabled Advocates Are Rolling on Washington D.C. For the second year in a row wheelchair pickets will surround the national convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA). Some 150 to 200 wheelchair demonstrators are expected to join the picket lines, although that number could increase dramatically by the time the four day long convention opens Sept. 30 in Washington, D.C., according to a spokesperson for the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). But, unlike the convention held in Denver last year, ADAPT will not be allowed to argue the case for accessibility on the convention floor. “Gilstrap (APTA executive vice president Jack Gilstrap) told us there was no way we were going to speak this year,” Wade Blank said. Nor does Blank expect APTA to vote on a resolution introduced at the 1983 convention calling upon APTA members to purchase only lift-equipped buses. When the Carter administration mandated accessibility in the late 1970s, it was APTA that successfully fought those regulations in court, arguing that it was a judgment best left to the discretion of the local transit provider. Some cities, like Seattle and San Jose, California, and-to a lesser extent-Denver, chose to make their systems accessible, but the vast majority refused, claiming the lifts were impractical and too expensive. However, accessibility advocates say that the technology is available to design both economical and reliable lifts, but that bus manufacturers will not use it as long as there is little demand for lifts from transit providers. APTA argues that in many, if not most cases paratransit systems can offer better and more economical services to disabled riders. ADAPT maintains that isn't so, arguing that cities such as Seattle are experiencing a steady drop in the per ride cost for lift-assisted trips while paratransit costs are constant, regardless of the number of trips. At the Denver convention, APTA's position was championed by Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, who told the delegates that the country couldn't afford to equip all its buses with lifts and continue as a great nation. New York City Mayor Ed Koch is expected to take a similar tack at this year's convention. In 1983, Denver Mayor Federico Pena, who was instrumental in getting ADAPT a place on the convention agenda, supported accessibility, just as this year's host mayor, Marion Berry, is expected to do. Access/Denver will send 43 wheelchair demonstrators to Washington, although at press time they were short $4,400 of the $15,000 needed to provide them with transportation, food and lodging. Among the individuals contributing to the fund drive was Wellington Webb, an unsuccessful 1983 candidate for mayor of Denver. In addition, Denver's HAIL, Inc., will be sending five representatives. Several other cities, including Dallas, El Paso, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Little Rock, Arkansas, Poughkeepsie, New York, and Chicago have confirmed that they will have representatives on the picket line. Boston's Disabled Liberation Front announced that it was sending eight pickets. ADAPT intends to provide a training session in confrontational politics in Washington on September 26. Ironically, one problem that demonstrators flying into Washington's Dulles International Airport will face is a lack of accessible buses between the airport and downtown Washington. "We were going to file a complaint," Blank said, "but it turns out that the Department of Transportation runs the bus system there and they say that they are the administrators, not the recipients, of federal funds, and therefor are not required to provide accessible service."
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Rocky Mountain News Tues. Oct. 2, 1984 Denver, Colo. PHOTO (AP LASER PHOTO): A protester in a manual wheelchair and a puffy coat (Renata Conrad), screams as police force her arms behind her back. One uniformed officer stands behind her forcing her forward. One stands in front, his arms stretched in front. The third stands watching with his notebook in his hand and his pen or maybe a cigarette in his mouth. Caption reads: Washington police restrain wheelchair-bound women during protest at transit conference. [Headline] Disabled Denverites held at D.C. protest By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer WASHINGTON — Fourteen wailing handicapped protesters, including some from Denver, were arrested here Monday when they used their wheelchairs, crutches and limp bodies to briefly blockade a national meeting of transit executives. Among those arrested were Mike Auberger, Bob Conrad, Mark Ball and Glen Damen, all of Denver. Richard Male of Denver, an able-bodied demonstrator, also was arrested, as were nine other protesters from New York, Texas, Illinois and Connecticut. The 14 were among more than 35 people who converged on the annual meeting of the American Public Transit Association at the Washington Convention Center. They were fined $50 apiece for blocking a public building. ADAPT, a Denver-based militant handicapped rights group, raised an estimated $30,000 this year to send the protesters to Washington and to train disabled groups nationwide in political demonstration and lobbying techniques. Two of the protesters who were arrested and fined were treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and released. "The police got pretty physical,“ said ADAPT spokesman Wade Blank of Denver. "We had been causing civil disobedience all week. We expected it (the arrests) to happen. It was just a matter of when." Monday's arrests capped a year of growing tension between handicapped activists and transit officials over the issue of accessibility to the handicapped. “This is not something that we are especially proud of,"said ADAPT member Mark Johnson, as he pounded on the plexiglass door of the convention center with a wooden crutch. "We are here because there has been a resistance to us," said Johnson, who ran unsuccessfully for the RTD Board of Directors in 1980. Johnson said ADAPT is demanding that the transit convention vote to make all public transit systems accessible to the handicapped, that those systems only purchase buses equipped with wheelchair lifts, and that the Federal Government reinstate a regulation mandating accessibility. Convention officials said the demonstrators delayed their program for a few minutes, but caused no damage. Last year, RTD hosted the annual transit convention. Although handicapped activists picketed the meeting, their protests were less forceful. In addition, the protesters last year were allowed to address the convention, a privilege refused them this year. "They requested a slot, but we already had everything filled," convention spokesman Albert Engelken said. "There have been some problems. They (protesters) have been pretty aggressive." The demonstrators suddenly appeared at 10 a.m, just as hundreds of transit executives arrived at the convention center on a convoy of shuttle buses from their hotels. Washington police tried to block the advancing wheelchairs. However, they quickly became entangled with the front line of handicapped men and women and were outflanked by the rest of the demonstrators. Chanting "we will ride. it's our right," the protesters wedged their wheelchairs between the doors of the convention center. Many of them threw themselves out of their chairs and sprawled on the sidewalk to block the doors. Monday's demonstration was the third in a series of protests organized by ADAPT. On Thursday, a dozen protesters blocked seven Washington Metro buses in front of the White House during the evening rush hour. On Sunday, another contingent blocked a chartered bus carrying the spouses of 50 transit executives who were touring the nation's capital. After being trapped for an hour, the spouses finally crawled over the crippled protesters to get to their hotel. The protest overshadowed the speeches to the packed convention by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole and New York City Mayor Ed Koch. Dole abandoned much of her highly partisan prepared speech, choosing instead to repeat the Reagan administration's compromise offer for accessible public transit. "Transit authorities receiving federal funds would be required to make at least half of their peak hour bus fleet accessible, provide para-transit for special services or offer some combination of these options," Dole said. Both sides are cool to the proposal. Transit executives complain it will cost too much considering that only 5 percent of the country's transit passengers are disabled. Many disabled groups, meanwhile, reject Dole's offer because they say it endorses separate but equal service.
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Rocky Mountain News 10/26/83 Two PHOTOS (by Rocky Mountain News staff photographer David Cornwell). PHOTO 1: Close up of a man (Mark Johnson) and a woman (Renata Conrad aka Rabe) looking down at a paper, as if conferring. She is holding a microphone in her hand. Beside them sits another man. Caption reads: Mark Johnson and Renate Rabe speak at meeting with transit officials. PHOTO 2: Down a long institutional looking hallway a group of people in wheelchairs and people walking head away from the camera. caption reads: After the meeting, some in wheelchairs exit via hotel's freight elevator. [Headline] Freight elevator raises ill will at meeting By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer The dispute over access by the handicapped to public transportation crystallized Wednesday when wheelchair-bound speakers at a transit convention resisted suggestions that they use the freight elevator at the Denver Hilton to reach the upstairs meeting. “They (transit officials) told us to ride up the elevator that will later take down the garbage and trash from your lunch," Trudy Knutson of Denver told hundreds of bus and rail operators at a meeting of the American Public Transit Association. "This was ordered by ... your leadership," she told the transit operators. APTA officials said they suggest using the freight elevator because it is about 20 feet from the banquet hall where the convention was being held. They said lobby elevators were farther away and were packed with many of the convention‘s 3.500 delegates. "They were free to use whichever (elevator) they wanted." said Jack Gilstrap, APTA executive vice president. “The freight elevator is much larger. You can fit only a couple of wheelchairs in a (lobby) elevator at a time." About 50 handicapped persons from ll states and Washington, D.C., attended the convention‘s morning session as Knutson and others called on APTA to pass a resolution endorsing complete handicapped access on all public transit and other demands. Many of the disabled in the audience used the freight elevator to leave the hotel following the presentation of their demands. Gilstrap said it showed that APTA's suggestion was a practical one. However, Knutson and others said the freight elevator issue was indicative of the way many rail and bus systems treat their disabled riders as a nuisance or an afterthought. She said access to public transit is a civil right, a position many transit operators reject. "A society that puts a man on the moon can surely put a person who is in a wheelchair on a bus," Knutson said. The handicapped protesters received a boost from Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who met with the disabled outside the hotel after he spoke to the convention. "We have to design public transit to take care of everyone from (ages) 10 to 100," Young said. According to an agreement signed by APTA, handicapped groups and Mayor Federico Pena‘s office, handicapped activists were allowed limited picketing rights outside the Hilton during the convention and a 20-minute presentation during the general session Wednesday. Handicapped speakers asked for federally mandated 100 percent accessibility and a notice by APTA to bus manufacturers that its members will buy only accessible vehicles. Gilstrap said the group's demands would be referred to study groups and a resolution considered late. APTA has resisted 100 percent accessibility requirement because wheelchair lifts, elevators and other equipment are expensive and the number of handicapped riders is comparatively low. "It's tough to put money into services that aren't used" Gilstrap said. “It's a manager's dilemma. It‘s used so lightly that it‘s almost ridiculous." For example, Gilstrap said the Regional Transportation District is one of the leaders in handicapped transportation with 50 percent of its buses accessible during peak hours and 100 percent accessible off-peak. Yet, in 1982, he said, each of those buses averaged only 25 handicapped trips per year. Gilstrap said special van service where handicapped riders call in advance and get picked up at home is a better, albeit expensive, idea. "At least the money spent is spent on carrying people,“ he said. Denver also offers demand service. The trips-per year average is 1,490, making it far more popular than regular bus service. Handicapped groups believe van service is unconstitutional because it is separate but equal service.
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Rocky Mountain News Fri. Aug. 19, 1993, Denver, Colo. Text box reads: The handicapped group wants the transit association to support equal access for all public transportation riders and lifts on buses. Article -- Pena intervenes in handicapped-transit spat By Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Mayor Federico Pena’s office is intervening in a dispute between handicapped groups and a national transit association over threatened demonstrations during the association’s October convention in Denver. Kathy Archuleta, an aide to Pena, said she set up a meeting for Friday with Wade Blank, handicapped activist leader, after an official from the American Public Transit Association (APTA) called the mayor’s office expressing concern about Blank’s plans to picket the convention. “We’ll act as facilitators,” said Archuleta. “APTA has called us and now we’re going to talk to Wade.” Blank, one of the leaders of the newly formed American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, said the group is protesting APTA’s refusal to endorse wheelchair lifts on all buses and subways. The group represents disabled associations across the country. Blank also is co-director of Atlantis, a self-help group for the disabled. Blank said the plans call for about 30 handicapped people to picket the convention each day and possibly conduct civil disobedience, such as disabled chaining themselves to the convention’s headquarters at the Denver Hilton. About 3,000 representatives from transit districts throughout the United States are expected to attend the convention, Oct. 23 to 27. Blank said the group wants the convention to support equal access for all transit riders on public transportation and inform bus manufacturers that transit districts will buy only buses equipped with wheel-chair lifts. Jack Gilstrap, executive vice president of APTA, said the organization called Pena’s office just to inform of the planned demonstrations and “expressing the hope that they would be orderly.” “We’re used to demonstrations,” said Gilstrap. He said the protests have not changed APTA’s plans to hold the convention in Denver.
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The Handicapped Coloradan, December, 1983 [Headline] Access institute Has Grant to Train 12 Disabled Activists A new Denver based group received a grant to train disabled activists from across the country in the techniques needed to make their home cities accessible to persons with disabilities. The American Lutheran Church has given the Access Institute $8,000 to start a pilot program. Three disabled persons from each of four cities will be selected for the initial program. Grant applications are currently out to the Hunt Alternative Fund for $5,000 and to the Campaign for Human Development for $100,000. Institute founders hope eventually to create a network of advocacy groups across the country. Access Institute is in part an outgrowth of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT), a group formed this past summer in Denver to lobby bus companies and the federal government to equip all public transit systems with wheelchair lifts. ADAPT attempted to assist similar groups in other cities to push for accessible transit systems but has so far met with disappointing results. ADAPT founder Wade Blank said leaders of the disabled community in Chicago were reluctant to involve themselves with "outside agitators" while another group in Salt Lake City "folded when two newspapers editorially attacked them." The two sponsoring organizations behind the Access Institute say they believe their training program will prevent such problems in the future. Formal training for the participants will be the responsibility of the Community Resource Center (CRC), while non-classroom fieldwork will be handled by the Atlantis Community. Atlantis and CRC have worked together in the past. Five staff organizers at Atlantis received their training from CRC, whose training techniques are based on grassroots procedures developed by community organizer Saul Alinsky. In its 10 year history Atlantis has attempted to move away from the traditional "individual advocacy" method of dealing with inequities where a single complainant's problem is handled while "the larger problem of an inherently inequitable and irrational system is never addressed," according to the grant proposal. The proposal says Atlantis' "direct action" has been successful in gaining improved conditions for Denver's disabled populations and that every week the group receives requests for advice from groups and individuals in other cities. The Atlantis approach often involves confrontational policies with more than a touch of the dramatic. Tired of what they termed endless meetings with local transit officials that failed to put a single lift on a bus, members of Atlantis climbed out of their wheelchairs and lay in front of buses parked at the city's busiest downtown intersection. The two day demonstration generated immense publicity for their cause and eventually led to a commitment on the part of the regional transportation district to a 100 percent accessible bus system. They took a similar approach to curb cuts. When the city failed to respond to their request for cuts near their office and local hospitals, Atlantis members rolled down to the curbs in their wheelchairs and used sledgehammers to create their own cuts. Today the city of Denver has an aggressive policy to expand the number of curb cuts. The Access Institute will also train participants in how to deal with local government officials and how to raise money to promote their programs. Some of the fieldwork will involve moving in with severely disabled clients of Atlantis' home health care agency along with visits to institutions which exploit and oppress people such as nursing homes and workshops. Participants must come from cities with a population of at least 150,000, with individuals or groups that have already demonstrated an interest in local issues dealing with the disabled. The participants must be physically disabled themselves, have leadership abilities, be versed in disability civil rights, and have the backing of an agency or concerned individuals willing to support organizing efforts. A mass mailing to potential candidates is now being prepared. The Institute hopes to begin operations by April 1984.
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The Washington Post, Friday, September 28, 1934 PHOTO (by Harry Naltchayan, The Washington Post): Three men in wheelchairs (left to right - Claude Holcomb, Bob Conrad, and Mike Auberger) discuss something as they block two Metro buses sitting next to each other. Caption reads: Handicapped demonstrators block Metrobuses on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. [Headline] Buses Captured In Demonstration By Handicapped By Ronald Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer A dozen handicapped protesters, some in wheelchairs and others walking with crutches or canes, stopped rush-hour traffic in front of the White House yesterday by "capturing" seven Metrobuses. The hour-long protest was aimed at demonstrating the lack of access to buses that handicapped persons endure both locally and nationwide. The demonstrators agreed to release the buses—by abandoning their position in front of the vehicles—only after Metro General Manager Carmen E. Turner agreed to meet with them. The demonstrators. representing a national group called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, said they wanted all new Metrobuses to be equipped with power equipment that lifts wheelchairs into buses. AIso, they said, they want the Department of Transportation to allocate more funds for equipping buses nationwide with the lifts. "We say it's a civil right, just as they denied black people the right to get on a bus and now allow them access." said Mike Auberger of Denver, a spokesman for the group. “It's a right like being able to go to school." Presently, Metro schedules a limited number of runs with buses equipped with lifts, or dispatches the buses if a handicapped person requests on the day before. The protesters said a lift costs $8,000 on a $180,000 new bus. an amount they said is far below the cost of an air conditioner. "I’ve called for buses, and they break down said Ronald L. Smith, who sat in a wheelchair in front of the Old Executive Office Building. "We want all the buses to be for the handicapped." Beverly Silverburg, director of public affairs for Metro, said last night that the group will meet with Assistant General Manager Theodore Weigle and Turner "will probably meet with the group." The protest began at 1:15 p.m., when the demonstrators announced to reporters that they were going to surround the next bus that stopped in front of the White House. It happened to be one marked "Brookland." Several demonstrators lay down on the street or leaned against the front of the bus while supporting themselves on crutches. A second contingent blocked another bus that had just pulled up behind the first. "What's going on?" Theodore R. Wright, the driver of the Brookland bus, said to no one in particular. The protesters told him they wanted to meet with Turner to present their grievances. As riders disembarked, Wright called his dispatcher. "I'm looking at two buses that are blocked," he said "They want Carmen Turner." Wright said he once drove a bus equipped with a power lift for six months and never had a handicapped rider. But he added, "l sympathize with these people. Probably they have some legitimate beefs." As the impasse dragged on, the protesters took over a third bus as it was trying to pass the first two. Police persuaded the protesters to let it go, but they became more agitated and began blocking buses across the street in front of Lafayette Square. By 5 p.m., police had cordoned off the section of Pennsylvania Avenue NW in front of the White House, disrupting rush-hour traffic in all directions. Metro supervisors came and went, and one protester was taken to George Washington Hospital after he fell off his wheelchair. By 5:30 p.m., the protesters had corralled seven buses, would-be passengers were complaining that they could not find a bus, and bus drivers were lining the streets. At 5:35 pm., D.C. Police Lt. W.R. Sarvis passed the word that Turner had agreed to the meeting. The demonstrators uttered whoops of joy and hugged each other. “No confrontations, no problems," said Sarvis. The protesters said they also plan to present their demands to the American Public Transit Association, which meets here Sunday.
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First Recruitment Poster/Flyer: A drawing of a toilet with a bus sticking out of the toilet bowl, front end first. On the side of the bus is a large access symbol. Text reads: ADAPT cordially invites you to an uproar WHO: WHEELCHAIR USERS FROM EVERY STATE WHOSE DREAM IS TOTALLY ACCESSIBLE BUS SYSTEM! WHERE: DENVER, COLORADO- AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSIT ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONVENTION- EVERY BIG BUS BOSS & HOT SHOT FED INVOLVED IN PUBLIC TRANSIT. WHEN: OCTOBER 23-26, 1983 WHY: OUR CHANCE TO DEMAND OUR RIGHT TO BOARD EVERY PUBLIC BUS IN THE NATION; TO MEET AND GREET & LEAN ON: SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Elizabeth Dole VICE PRESIDENT: George Bush PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: John Glenn, Gary Hart, Walter Mondale, Allen Cranston, AND OTHERS TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION FUN & GAMES INCLUDE (BUT NOT LIMITED TO…) (1) PICKET SIGN CONTEST (2) RALLIES & DEMONSTRATIONS (3) SCREAMING MATCHES & NATIONAL NEWS-MAKING (4) HANDS-ON TRAINING IN RADICAL CHANGE (8) WILD PARTIES WE’RE GONNA HAVE A BLAST CAPTION: AMERICAN DISABLED FOR ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TRANSIT AMERICAN DISABLED FOR ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TRANSIT CONTACT: WADE OR MOLLY BLANK (303) 321-7269 JOE CARLE OR MIKE AUBERGER (303) 393-0630
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The Handicapped Coloradan, November 1983, Volume 6, No. 4, Boulder Colorado A Cartoon and Picture Top, Cartoon [signature might be Faniul?]: A bus is seen from the rear and labeled "ACCESSIBLE BUSLINES" and "Dept. of Transportation." Behind it, tied to the rear bumper is a little kids wagon labeled "Special Transit." In that wagon sits a person with under-the-arm crutches, holding on for his life, and his feet in the air as the wagon bounces along behind the bus. Inside the bus, someone who looks a heck of a lot like President Reagan is saying "Wow! Look at that. He's separate but EQUAL!" Bottom, photo by Gary Handschumacher: Shot from below looking up into a dark room, a line of people with disabilities facing forward with two microphones on stands in front of them. Mark Johnson, far left, looks on with the mike right in front of him. Beside him is Renate Conrad. Bob Conrad sits next to her and speaks into another mike. Two other people in wheelchairs are on his other side, the farthest one appears to be Mike Auberger. Caption reads: Mark JOHNSON and Trudy Knutson listen as Bob Conrad tells delegates at the national convention of the American Public Transit Association that the handicapped will be satisfied with nothing less than 100 percent accessibility to public transportation.
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Washington Post 10/2/84 PHOTO (Associated Press photo): Up in the air, Mike Auberger, long hair and a beard, in a wheelchair yells in passion from a van lift. Below him the police who are loading him into the van look at each other with a startled expression. Caption reads: Protester in wheelchair is lifted into a van after his arrest at convention center. [Headline] Dole Praises Plan For 39.5-Mile Metro As ‘Positive Step’ By Stephen J. Lynton Washington Post Staff Writer Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole yesterday praised Metro's new plan for completing 89.5 miles of the proposed rail system, calling it a “highly positive step." Nevertheless, in her first comment on the transit agency's proposal, Dole stopped short of saying whether the Reagan administration would approve the plan. The administration has limited federal construction funds to 76.4 miles of the proposed 101-mile Metro system. The new Metro plan calls for using federal funds previously authorized by Congress to complete 89.5 miles, including a long-delayed Green Line branch connecting Fort Totten with Greenbelt in Prince George's County and a Yellow Line spur to a proposed Van Dorn Street station in Alexandria. Metro officials have said they will eventually seek an additional congressional authorization of more than $1 billion to complete the rest of the planned 101-mile system. Dole cited the new Metro plan in a speech to the American Public Transit Association, which opened its annual meeting at the Convention Center here yesterday. The association, which represents the nation's transit systems, is holding its three-day conference in Washington for the first time in recent years. About 8,000 officials are expected to attend the sessions. Shortly after Dole spoke, 14 handicapped demonstrators, including several in wheelchairs, were arrested outside the Convention Center, according to D.C. police. The protesters were charged with blocking entrances to a public building and disorderly conduct. Since last week, members of a Denver-based group called ADAPT, an acronym for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, have staged demonstrations here to demand improved access to buses and trains for handicapped patrons in transit systems throughout the nation. The group contends that all buses should be equipped with special lifts for wheelchairs. ln her speech, Dole expressed "deep concern for the plight of the handicapped" and argued that proposed regulations now under review by federal officials would provide "adequate access" to transit services for disabled riders. The federal proposals are less stringent than those sought by ADAPT, but they appear largely acceptable to the transit association. Several years ago, the association sued federal officials to block stricter requirements. Jack R. Gilstrap, the association's executive vice president, said the new proposals would provide flexibility for local governments. "We support the local option concept," Gilstrap said. Dole described the 89.5-mile Metro plan as evidence that "there can be progress" in state and local efforts to devise new methods to finance transit projects. The Metro plan still must be ratified by county and city governments, in the Washington area. and Dole indicated the administration would withhold a decision on the plan until local governments act. Federal financing of the nation's transit systems is expected to be a focus of debate at the convention. Dole indicated no shift in policies, and she reiterated the administration's reluctance to subsidize operating costs, a controversial issue. "The most crucial issue facing public transit today is funding." Metro General Manager Carmen E. Turner told the conference. Twelve of the handicapped demonstrators were arraigned before a U.S. commissioner and released pending further hearings. Two protesters forfeited collateral of $l0 each. Police said one policeman suffered several broken fingers after being rammed by a protester's wheelchair. Staff writer Alfred E. Lewis contributed to this story.
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Denver Post PHOTO by Fred Nelson, The Denver Post: Disabled people form a line as they picket. 3 face away, one of whom has an ADAPT NOW! sign on the back of his wheelchair. Facing forward, a man with a very short haircut wearing a baseball type jacket and necktie, has a sign that reads "Let us USE tokens, not BE tokens. Accessibility Now!" caption reads: Kent Jones of Chicago travelled to Denver to participate in this week's demonstration urging accessibility to public transit for the handicapped. [Headline] Handicapped Seek Change in Public Transit By George Lane, Denver Post Staff Writer Several dozen wheelchairs jammed the sidewalk of the Denver Hilton Hotel on Sunday afternoon as disabled activists from throughout the country urged public transportation be made more accessible to the handicapped. The rolling demonstration took place in front of the Hilton because the hotel is the headquarters for about 3,000 U.S and Canadian transportation officials attending the national meeting of the American Public Transit Association. Representatives of the group, the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, are scheduled to speak to the transit officials Wednesday, but a spokesman said they were on the sidewalks Sunday “to let them know they were serious.” Bob Conrad, an executive of Denver Atlantis Community Inc. and one of the wheelchair-bound demonstrators, said the purpose of attending the transit convention was to call the need for accessible public transportation to the attention of transit officials and bus manufacturers. “California has had a law for about 12 years saying all buses purchased must be accessible to all person, including riders in wheelchairs,” said Lew Nau of Los Angeles. “Michigan is the only other state I know of with a similar law.” Nau and his wife, Yvonne, both in wheelchairs, said they have devoted all their efforts since retirement to the issue. The couple said that during the Carter administration all public transit agencies were subject to a regulation that said 50 percent of all buses purchased had to be accessible to handicapped people. “The (regulation) was our civil rights act,” Mrs. Nau said. “Now Reagan has in effect rolled it back.”
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PROCLAMATION Federico Pena, Mayor City and County of Denver City and County Building - Denver, Colorado 80202 Area Code 303-575-2721 Whereas, It is imperative that citizens who use wheelchairs for mobility to be able to use public transportation if they are to participate equally in society; and Whereas, The technology is available to make buses accessible to wheelchairs; and Whereas, A number of cities have made their buses accessible and found the program to be highly successful; and Whereas, Offering only special transportation to disabled people further segregates and alienates them, underscoring the truth that "separate is not equal"; and Whereas, The American Public Transportation Association represents almost all transit authorities and has the power to encourage its members to make their systems accessible as well as to encourage bus manufacturers to design and build accessible buses: Now, therefore, I, Federico Pena, Mayor of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, by virtue of the authority vested in me, do hereby proclaim that: 1) The American Public Transportation Association goes on record calling for 100% accessibility by all public transit systems, 2) The American Public Transportation Association serves notice on all manufacturers that its members will buy only wheelchair accessible buses, and 3) The American Public Transportation Association urges the federal government to reinstate the 504 regulation mandating that all public transit system buses be accessible; and LET'S MAKE PUBLIC TRANSIT PUBLIC! In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City and County of Denver this 18th day of 1983. signed by Federico Pena, Mayor [And there is a dark seal in the corner of the proclamation, but details are not visible.]
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Patricia Schroeder, 1st District, Denver, Colorado Washington Office: 2410 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-4431 District Office: 1767 High Street, Denver, Colorado 80218 (303) 837-23 Armed Services Committee Post Office and Civil Service Committee Judiciary Committee Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, Co-Chair Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 October 5, 1983 Wade Blank, Michael Berger [sic] Atlantis Community 4536 E. Colfax Denver, Colorado 80220 Dear Wade and Michael: I wrote to Secretary Dole to encourage her to meet with you before addressing the APTA conference later this month. In addition, my aide Maureen Maxwell called Judd Swift at Department of Transportation. He informs us that Mrs. Dole’s scheduling people are working on setting up the meeting. Please let me know if I can be of further help. Sincerely, Patricia Schroeder, Congresswoman PS/mm Encl.
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PHOTO by Rocky Mountain News photographer Jose Lopez: A man (Governor Lamm) with short white hair and a mean expression, wearing a dark suit and tie stands at a podium speaking into a microphone. The front of the podium is draped with a small APTA banner. Caption reads: Gov. Richard D. Lamm gives his views to the American Public Transit Association conference at the Denver Hilton Monday. [Headline] Mass transit group applauds as Lamm opposes bus lifts By Peter Blake, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Gov. Richard D. Lamm won a standing ovation from public transportation officials Monday after telling them he’s against putting wheelchair lifts on every bus in America. The $8 billion such lifts would cost could better be spent to “reindustrialize” America, the governor said. Lamm’s speech to the American Public Transit Association conference at the Denver Hilton echoed themes he has struck several times in the past few weeks, to the increasing irritation of the handicapped community. “I think he’s going to turn Republican and run for the Senate” in 1986 against Gary Hart, said Dan Mosley, a one-legged man from Victor who was among 50 people in wheelchairs outside the hotel. “Leopards don’t normally change their spots. He’s doing it for some reason. Where else can he go but the Senate?” Lamm told 2,000 listeners how he’d declined a request by the handicapped community to sign a resolution asking APTA to make all public transit systems accessible to the handicapped. The issue of lifts, Lamm said, is a “microcosm” of what’s wrong with America, citing some examples of the declines in industry. “We are eclipsed in industry after industry,” he said, “cameras, watches, TV sets, radios, household appliances, automobiles, steel… On and on the list goes. It’s really costing America its great middle class. “We live in a world of Japanese sellers and American buyers,” the governor said. “That is a prescription for poverty.” “What shatters me the most is that it has happened on our watch, during the time you and I were the decision makers of America,” he said. The country is “squandering” its material wealth and the next generation may inherit “a second-rate economy,” Lamm said.