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Avaleht / Albumid / Curb Cuts & early education battle 23
Koostamise kuupäev / 2013 / Juuli / 10
ADAPT (54)
Denver Post, Photo by John Sunderland: Ten people in wheelchairs [including, left to right, George Roberts, Les Hubbard, Bob Conrad and Debbie Tracy?] sit in the street in two rows along a curb. George and Les are hammering the curb with sledgehammers as the others watch. The woman to the far right holds a sign that says "We [unreadable] curb cuts, and has a stick figure picture of a woman in a wheelchair. in the background on the left side you can see part of someone else in a chair with a hammer. Cation reads: George Roberts, left, and Les Hubbard Bludgeon a Curb in Protest. Other members of the Atlantis Community surround them in a demonstration against obstacles to their mobility. [Headline] Atlantis Members Bludgeon Curb in Protest By Bill Scanlon, Special to the Denver Post An 8-inch curb is not much of an obstacle to most pedestrians. But when you are in a wheelchair and you’ve counted 44,000 of them and each one of them is an obstacle to your movement and your freedom, that 8-inch curb can become a symbol of intense frustration. Two handicapped Denverites bludgeoned such a curb with 20-pound sledgehammers Monday afternoon to show their anger at the mayor's office for what they described as a failure to make the sidewalks and streets of Denver safe and accessible to the disabled community. THE DEMONSTRATION at the corner of East Colfax Avenue and Colorado Boulevard was put together by the Atlantis Community, an organization of handicapped people. According to a press release, the group staged the protest to “express our anger and frustration at the 44,000 curbs in Denver which prevent us from using the sidewalks and crossing the streets." A crowd of about 30 people watched and cheered as a like number of handicapped people wheeled their chairs westward down the sidewalk in front of National Jewish Hospital. When they reached a curb that had been cut to provide automobiles access they crossed Colfax Avenue. Then they proceeded eastward along the Colfax Avenue sidewalk until they reached the Conoco service station at the corner. There was a rounded curb there, so the protesters wheeled their chairs across Colfax. They were forced to edge into Colorado Boulevard traffic to go around the concrete median. At the corner they found themselves up against an 8-inch curb, symbolic of thousands of others that had stirred the protest. THERE, LES HUBBARD and George Roberts began wielding their sledgehammers. Amid cheers of “Down with the curbs," they succeeded in inflicting slight damage to the concrete slab. Drivers stopping at the corner traffic light were mostly curious, often supportive, but also a little wary about hitting the wheelchairs. The chairs impeded but did not stop traffic at the busy intersection. During a break from hammering, Hubbard said, “We have the right to go places like anyone else, but we can't. I'd like to put (Mayor Bill) McNichols in a wheelchair tor about a month." Two years ago Atlantis staged a protest against the Regional Transportation District for failing to provide adequate means for disabled people to ride the bus. Bob Conrad, co-administrator of Atlantis, said the group was not protesting RTD this time. By 1982, RTD expects to make its bus system the nation's first that is fully accessible to the physically handicapped. CONRAD SAID the city has been “pretty responsive" in the downtown area to the needs of handicapped people, but it has not responded to particular curb problems elsewhere. He said, “The city only cuts curbs that have been damaged" and added that the city budget no longer provides money for cutting undamaged curbs at particular problem areas. Edward Ellerbrock, a spokesman for Denver's Traffic Engineering Department, said there has been less money budgeted for building wheelchair ramps the past two years only because the demand has been less. He said his department met with Atlantis officials less than a week ago for "some brainstorming." He said both sides agreed that Atlantis would start identifying specific spots where ramps were needed and the Traffic Engineering Department would respond to them within the limits of its budget. Ellerbrock said his department is requesting $100,000 to cut curbs and build wheelchair ramps. He added that there is “no guarantee we're going to get it," so for publicity's sake the protest might have had some merit. CONRAD SAID that for a wheelchair person “one curb is just as bad as a flight of stairs." He said handicapped people usually have to wait in their chairs at an intersection until some people come along to help them up the curb. “Unless you're really trained at doing it he said, “you can dump the person out while trying to lift him." Hubbard said he has been hit four times by automobiles “because of these curbs. Once I had to have back surgery." He said he wanted to hammer the curb “just enough to get the message across." After about a half-hour of hammering, cheering, chanting and impeding of traffic, a Denver police car arrived and the group was told to clear the intersection or the protesters would be ticketed. The group agreed to move, apparently believing the point had been made. Denver Police Sgt. Richard Nelsen later said, "They got the publicity they wanted. They're happy. I'm happy it's all over.
ADAPT (64)
The Courant 3/8/88 PHOTO by Skip Weisenburger: A man in a wheelchair [Claude Holcomb] wearing an ADAPT T-shirt with the no steps logo and with his small wooden letter board slung over his leg swings a huge sledge hammer at a curb. He is very much assisted by a man [John Bach] kneeling beside him. Behind the two of them is another man [Clayton Jones] in a manual chair; Jones holds a slightly smaller sledge hammer and gets ready to swing at the curb. They are in the street. Claude is looking up, with a look of determination, at a uniformed police officer standing just in front of them on the sidewalk side of the curb. John is looking down where their sledge hammer will land, and Clayton is looking at the curb, taking aim. In the street, mostly obscured by the policeman, is another person in wheelchair. Caption reads: Three men prepare to chip away at a curb Monday to protest the difficulty handicapped people have in using Union Station in Hartford. The men are, from left, Claude Holcomb, John Bach and Clayton Jones. They were arrested, as was a fourth protester. [Headline] 4 arrested during protest by handicapped By Constance Neyer, Courant Staff Writer Four people, including three with disabilities, were arrested Monday after they used sledge-hammers and a cane to protest the lack of full accessibility for the handicapped at Union Station in Hartford. The four tried to break a curb on Union Street for a “curb cut" to give handicapped people easier access to that entrance to the station. Almost immediately after the start of the 2 p.m. demonstration police rushed in and put the protesters into a cruiser. The four men, who were charged Monday afternoon with third-degree criminal mischief, refused to sign written promises to appear in Superior Court in Hartford today and were being held at the Morgan Street jail Monday night, Hartford police Sgt. Lawrence Irvine said. Early this morning, the whereabouts of the men could not be determined. Morgan Street jail officials were unavailable and Weston Street jail officials refused to comment. Morgan Street jail is not accessible to the handicapped, Hartford police said. One of those arrested was Clayton Jones, 39, of 41 Applegate Lane, East Hartford, who led a recent protest in his wheelchair to make the skywalk that connects CityPlace with the Hartford Civic Center accessible to handicapped people. Also arrested were John Bach, 40, of 10 Nepaug St, Hartford; Robert Baston,27, of 100 Executive Lane, Wethersfield; and Claude Holcomb, 27, of 2 Park Place, Hartford. "We're equal citizens and we're tired of waiting." said Lynda Hanscom of Manchester, who uses a wheelchair. Hanscom is chairwoman of the Connecticut chapter of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation. She and others stayed at Union Station after police broke up the protest. They said that although handicapped people have access to the station, it is difficult to use. If a disabled person wants to use a train, the person must find parking near the Spruce Street entrance and enter here to get to a train, Hanscom said. The protestors said it is difficult for a disabled person to find the correct entrance because of a lack of signs at the station. A ramp at the Asylum Street side of the station is too steep for a person in a wheelchair, said Eugenia G. Evans of West Hartford, who was in a wheelchair. Evans and Hanscom sought to use a lift at the Union Street entrance, but it took more than [number unreadable] minutes for them to locate a building attendant who could use a key to operate the lift. Arthur L. Handman, executive director of the Greater Hartford Transit District, which operated Union Station, was angered by the protest. "People don't have to come attack with sledgehammers," he said. Handman said he told the protesters last week that it would take until later this week to make signs to point out the best entrances of the disabled. The station is near the end of a major renovation project. He said building plans for the station were approved by the office of licenses and inspection. If the ramp is too steep, that will be corrected, and more curb cuts will be made if needed, he said.
ADAPT (72)
This text is a continuation of the story in ADAPT 67, and the entire story is included there for easier reading.
ADAPT (71)
[Headline] Disabled Persons Back Debbie By Fred Gillies Denver Post Staff Writer About 30 seriously disabled persons participated Wednesday in a demonstration on behalf of a cerebral palsy victim who has been told she cannot continue her education in a special education facility operated by Denver Public Schools. The demonstration at the schools' administration building, 900 Grant St, was on behalf of Debbie Tracy, 21, whose first chance at an education was provided two years ago when she was enrolled in special-education classes at Denver's Boettcher School. Recently, Denver Public Schools officials indicated that Debbie wouldn't be permitted to return to the school this fall because she is over age 20. Under Colorado's handicapped Children's Act, the state's public schools are obliged to provide an appropriate education for disabled persons aged 5 through 20 only, the school officials noted. Main Speaker at the demonstration Wednesday was Mrs. Elaine Jacoby, Debbie's mother. Mrs. Jacoby insisted that Denver public schools have a moral, if not a legal, obligation to provide an education for Debbie until she acquires the basic skills needed to take care of herself. Mrs. Jacoby also pointed out that Debbie had proved her potential for an education after 15 years of deprivation. "For the past two months," Mrs. Jacoby said, "I have been in contact with the Denver Public School Administration and the School Board in an attempt to keep Debbie in the system. Their response has consistently been that they have no legal obligation to her even though they provide 15 years of education to other children and even through a law was passed in Colorado in 1975 making clear the schools' obligation to disabled children between the ages of 5 and 20". Existing laws, Mrs. Jacoby emphasized, "reflect an acknowledgment of past wrongdoing and a willingness to correct the situation." She also noted that she isn't asking for the taxpayers to finance Debbie until she is prepared for college. "However, I feel that the Denver Public Schools owe Debbie more than two years of very basic education before they throw her out into society," Mrs. Jacoby said. After Mrs. Jacoby presented her statement, John Rankin, coordinator of instruction for Denver Public Schools, told her that he would do his best to arrange for her to meet with Dr. Joseph E. Brzeinski, Denver school superintendent. Also speaking informally Wednesday with Mrs. Jacoby was Theodore White Jr., director of the schools' department of special education.
ADAPT (70)
This is a continuation of the story in ADAPT 69 and the complete text of the story is included there for easier reading.
ADAPT (69)
Denver Post Fri. Aug. 19, 1977 [This article is in ADAPT 69 and ADAPT 71, but is all included here for easier reading.] [Headline] Debbie Wins School Board Vote: She'll Stay at Boettcher School By Art Branscombe Denver Post Education Editor A compassionate majority of the Denver Board of Education voted Thursday night to let Debbie Tracy, a cerebral palsy victim, continue to attend the Boettcher School she loves, even though she is over the age of 21. The vote came after a stormy interlude in which Board President Omar Blair shouted down Miss Tracy’s attorney, Nathan Davidovich, when the latter tried to address the board. The 4-3 vote on a motion by Board Member Kay Schomp specified that Miss Tracy may attend Boettcher School for the handicapped only for the first semester of the 1977-78 school year, while legal action is pending to straighten out her status. The tuition at Boettcher School is more than $6,000 per year for nonresident students. However, while the school board was in executive session considering the issue, Davidovich revealed he filed a motion in Denver district court late Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order requiring school officials to allow Miss Tracy to continue at Boettcher until the courts act on his plea for permanent relief. A hearing on the motion for a temporary restraining order was to be held early Friday before Judge Robert Fullerton, Davidovich said. A companion lawsuit, filed by Davidovich and attorney Charles Welton, in behalf of Miss Tracy, four of her companions in the Atlantis Community and other handicapped persons, seeks: Compensatory education for Miss Tracy and others of her class of handicapped persons who were denied admission to public schools programs "for a period equivalent to the number of years during which an adequate education was denied them". To invalidate Colorado laws limiting public education to children between the ages of 3 and 21, as applied to handicapped persons over 21 who are educable and have been denied an education suited to their needs in public schools. The plaintiffs motion estimates there may be as many as 10,000 handicapped persons in Colorado who would belong to this class. The school board was unaware the companion legal actions had been filed when Miss Tracy, a dozen or more of her companions at the Atlantis Community- a community of handicapped persons, most of them in wheelchairs- and her parents and lawyers appeared in the board room of the Denver Public Schools Administration Bldg. 900 Grant St. Mrs. Schomp, chairman of a board subcommittee on special education, noted the persons in wheelchairs in the audience and, at the start of the board's meeting, moved to take up Miss Tracy's case before it would normally come up on the agenda. The board voted, 6-1, to do so, with only Board Member Robert Crider dissenting. Mrs. Schomp then moved that the board allow Miss Tracy to continue at Boettcher School for the first semester of the new school year "while we are seeking a state ruling as to where funds for her education should come from". State special education funds go only-unless the new court action determines otherwise- to children under the age of 21. Crider asked whether admitting Miss Tracy would set a precedent binding the board in the case of other handicapped persons. Michael Jackson, the school board's attorney, said the motion by Mrs. Schomp would only commit the board for one semester. Mrs. Schomp said the subcommittee was aware of possible legal pitfalls. "We are also aware we can't commit the school district to something illegal," she added, "but the subcommittee felt we shouldn't penalize this one person while the whole ponderous (fund - seeking) process is taking place. "The best solution may well be in the courts," she noted. Miss Tracy's problem is that in addition to cerebral palsy, she has perceptual handicaps. After being denied admission to the school system, she wasted nine years at the Ridge State Home and Training School and another five at the United Cerebral Palsy Center- in neither of which she received any substantial education After two years at Boettcher, she now reads at about the third-grade level, her mother, Elaine Jacoby, said. "I love school- my teacher helps me there, and I learn things I never learned before,"Debbie said recently. And she wants to continue there. However, this spring, because she is 21, she was "graduated" from Boettcher with a "certificate of attendance" rather than a high school diploma. And school officials said she should go to Opportunity School rather than continue at Boettcher. Crider insisted at the board meeting that allowing her to continue at Boettcher "puts every board member in the position of making a decision that may affect us for years". He moved to table the motion to admit Miss Tracy. Board Member Bernard Valdez supported his motion, asserting that if the board voted to admit her to Boettcher it would "defuse" the lawsuit her attorneys were preparing. At that point, Davidovich moved to the speakers table in the bedroom and tried to say something. Chairman Blair pounded his gavel and told Davidovich to "Shut up.. I don't want to hear anything from you. We offered to set up a special meeting with you and you refused." When Davidovich persisted in trying to speak, Blair gaveled him down and then called for an executive session of the board, which lasted for more than half an hour. During the executive session, Davidovich told reporters he merely wanted to tell the board he already had filed the lawsuit and the board's action wouldn't affect that. When the board returned, it voted not to table Mrs.Schomp's motion, then voted to approve it, both on 4-3 votes. Voting for admitting Miss Tracy were an unusual combination: Board Members Naomi Bradford, Marion Hammond, Virginia Rockwell and Mrs. Schomp. Against were Blair, Crider, and Valdez. After the vote, a disgruntled Blair thundered that the vote "is not a precedent set by this board in any way, shape, or form". Members of the Atlantis Community- 11 of whom were by then sitting in front of the room in their wheelchairs- booed him lustily. The school board then recessed- having done nothing else on their agenda to that point- for a dinner break. Asked about how she felt about it all, Debbie Tracy said , "Yes, I'm happy" about being allowed to continue at Boettcher. "It all seemed to be pretty interesting,"she added. " And I'm tired of staying at home."
ADAPT (68)
A young man (Randy Horton) sits in a motorized wheelchair. He is looking off to his right. He holds a big black ball and chain in his lap and on the ball is a sign that says "discrimination." Taped to his legs is a poster that reads "and justice for all?"
ADAPT (67)
Rocky Mountain News 6/30/77 [This text contains the story that appears in ADAPT 67 and ADAPT 72, but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO (News Photo): In darkened doorway a young woman in a wheelchair (Debby Tracy) appears light against the background, almost like she is glowing. She is a in a motorized wheelchair, the armrests come almost up to her arm pits. Her legs are turned to one side and her feet don't meet the footrests. She is looking up a bit and smiling a big smile; her long delicate fingers play around her control box (for her chair) and her other armrest. Caption reads: Debbie Tracy at home: "I want to go back to school. I like it there." [Headline] Debbie Tracy fighting to acquire knowledge By Sue Lindsay Roll Two years ago Debbie Tracy couldn't tell time. Today she reads the newspaper every morning. Her IQ has increased by 45 points. The source of her improvement was two years in a Denver public school specializing in special education. But Debbie, who was born with cerebral palsy and spent most of her life in institutions for the disabled, is 21 now and Denver school officials say she's too old to remain in public schools. They cite a state law saying the school district is required to educate children only up to age 20. Forty wheelchair-bound young adults converged in front of the school administration building at 900 Grant St. Wednesday to demonstrate their support for Debbie’s right to more education in Denver public schools. Debbie's mother, Elaine Jacoby. says she'll go to court if necessary to fight what she sees as a violation of her daughter's civil rights. She threatened to sue the Denver Board of Education, the state Institutions Department and the State Home and Training School in Wheat Ridge, where Debbie lived for nine years, for misdiagnosing her daughter's mental capacity and depriving her of an education. DEBBIE SEES HER PLIGHT more simply. "I want in go back to school,“she said. "l like it there. I've been learning all kinds of things I didn't know before." Supporting Mrs. Jacoby and Debbie in their fight in the Atlantis Community, an organization which works to remove the severely disabled from institutions and place in jobs and apartments throughout the community. "Debbie is an adult who has been deprived access to the education that would give her the skills she needs to be independent," said Mrs Jacoby, who is divorced from Debbie's father. “l am not asking the taxpayers to finance her until she is prepared for college. But I feel that the Denver public schools owe Debbie more than two years of very basic education before they throw her out into society. I fail to see why my child should be denied what every other child has simply because she is not able-bodied." Mrs. Jacoby said Debbie is a victim of the state's failure to meet the needs of handicapped children. She said Debbie was prohibited from attending public schools and even special education schools because cerebral palsy, a disorder which affects the muscles, had left her without bladder control. For five years, Mrs. Jacoby said she repeatedly tried to get Debbie into public schools. DEBBIE ATTENDED THE United Cerebral Palsy Center for five years. But Mrs. Jacoby said the training there was at pre-school level, directed toward a future in a sheltered workshop. "This was not an acceptable goal for my daughter," Mrs. Jacoby said. During this period, numerous psychological tests were conducted. When Debbie was 10, her mother placed her at Ridge Home. "I thought she would receive educational and social programming that was adequate, but I found again that programs available to able-bodied children," she said. When Debbie turned 19, things began looking up. The state passed the Handicapped Children's Act which, since 1975, has required public schools to provide education for handicapped and disabled persons aged 5 through 20. Debbie moved out of Ridge to the Atlantis Community at 2965 W. 11th Ave. and entered Boettcher Elementary School, a special education facility within the Denver school system. Her progress was remarkable. "When we got her from the Ridge she didn't know her alphabet, she didn't know her colors, she couldn't tell time," said Wade Blank, an executive director of the Atlantis Community. "Now she’s alert and able and eager to learn. She reads the Rocky Mountain News. Debbie had an IQ of 50 when she got out of Ridge. Two years later her IQ is 95. That says a lot to us.” She now functions at the level of a third or fourth grader, according to Blank. “We know she would be a normal functioning adult if only she had been given the opportunity to develop," he said. “Instead, the state shoves everyone into state homes where they vegetate just because they happen to be confined to wheelchairs. It has nothing to do with actual mental ability. " But Debbie is now 21. She has been told that she can no longer attend Boettcher or any other Denver public school. Mrs. Jacoby has appealed this decision to everyone from the Boettcher school principal to Supt. Joseph Brzeinski. LAST WEEK MRS. JACOBY received a letter containing the school officials’ final decision. Debbie could not be allowed to continue to attend Boettcher. But the letter, from James M. O'Hara, executive director of the Department of Pupil Services, suggested that other alternatives existed for Debbie at the Cerebral Palsy Center,the Emily Griffith Opportunity School and at private community agencies. "None of these alternatives are adequate". Mrs. Jacoby said Wednesday in front of the board's headquarters. "They do not meet Debbie's needs. Debbie is not ready for the Opportunity School, but she needs more than the Cerebral Palsy Center can offer. “For 21 years, I’ve put up with empty answers from school officials. I’ve talked and talked to people whose minds are already made up. They aren’t used to persons like Debbie living independently. They're used to them being institutionalized. Debbie can do better than that and I want her to have that chance.”
ADAPT (66)
Dallas Times Herald Wednesday, January 14, 1986 [Headline] Community Close-Up [Subheading] Police on sidewalk wheelchair ramps changed By Lori Montgomery After months of controversy and numerous protests by handicapped residents, the Irving City Council agreed last week to build wheelchair ramps when curbs near intersections are dismantled for any reason. Without amending a disputed 1981 ordinance that requires the city to build ramps only during new sidewalk construction, the council reached a “policy consensus" at last week's work session ordering city road and utility workers to replace curbs with ramps in the course of routine maintenance, said Public Works Director Lewis Patrick. “Any time 50 percent of the curb or 75 percent of the sidewalk is disturbed, we will go to the additional expense of taking the whole (curb) out and replacing it with a ramp," Patrick said, adding that the new policy will “eliminate the guesswork" of deciding when to replace a curb with a ramp. Construction of a standard curb costs about $103, Patrick said, while wheelchair ramps cost as much as $600 to build. The new policy, which takes effect immediately, could cost the city an additional $212,478 annually, Patrick said. “We have no objections to building ramps, but we need these guidelines to determine where you draw the line to spend that extra $500," Patrick said. Most council members dismissed the added financial burden as a necessary expense. "Let's not quibble" over when to build a ramp, Councilman Lars Ehnebuske said. “If a curb is 49 percent (disturbed), let’s go ahead and do it right. We ought to err in that direction rather than err the other way." Councilwoman Jackie Townsell recommended that the council immediately increase the budget for the Department of Public Works and review the financial impact of the new policy when the council meets for its annual budget session this summer. “The idea is to make the entire city accessible,” Townsell said. Townsell also suggested that the city take on the additional responsibility of building ramps on curbs destroyed during maintenance work by utility companies. The council agreed to ask utility companies to notify the city when such work is planned. "I think that's the minimum we can do because l think our city’s really behind in this area," Councilwoman Fran Bonilla said. The dispute over wheelchair ramps erupted last fall when handicapped residents charged at a meeting of the council's Community Services Committee that the city was violating the spirit of a 1981 ordinance by refusing to build ramps on curbs torn up during the course of maintenance projects. Such projects were under way throughout the city. In early December, a small group of protesters rolled in wheelchairs past maintenance workers on Rochelle Road, painting newly replaced standard curbs with the slogan “This curb is illegal." Although the city violated neither state law nor, technically, its own ordinance in rebuilding standard curbs, state officials said last month that most cities in Texas replace curbs near intersections with wheelchair ramps at any time a curb is disturbed. Cathy Johnson [Cathy Thomas], who was among seven handicapped residents at last week's work session, said the City “is on the right track" with the new policy. But, she said, the policy should be expanded and made permanent by amending the 1981 ordinance to require the city to build ramps when even a small part of the curb is disturbed. “I don't see what kind of criteria they're going to use to say what's 30 percent (of curb destruction) and what's 50 percent," Johnson said. "If this were the golf course, they'd go ahead and spend the money."
ADAPT (65)
The Denver Post Friday, August 19, 1977 The Voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire vol. 86 number 19 15 cents, 76 pages PHOTO by Kenn Bislo: Medium close up of a young woman (Debbie Tracy) in a power wheelchair holds her hands to her face. Eyes closed behind her glasses, she smiles. Three women around her, mostly out of the picture frame, grasp her chair and her shoulders and smile their congratulations. Caption reads: HAPPY WITH DECISION. Debbie Tracy claps her hands to her cheeks in relief after the Denver School Board voted 4-3 to let her continue to attend Boettcher School for the handicapped. Miss Tracy, a cerebral palsy victim, had been denied right to continue school at Boettcher because she had passed the age of 21. The board's action Thursday night would allow her to attend one semester while legal action is pending. (See story and photo page 3)
ADAPT (63)
The Denver Post July 31 PHOTO Denver Post Photo by Bill Peters: A large group of people in wheelchairs, on canes, and their supporters march in a curving line through a warm sunny day. In the front a small woman in a manual chair, being pushed by another woman, holds a sign that covers her whole body except her head. The sign has a large access symbol in the center and reads "We Need Your Support. We count too!" Behind the group cars drive toward them down a city street. [Headline] PROTESTERS CROSS INTERSECTION AT COLFAX AVE. AND SHERMAN ST. EN ROUTE TO CAPITOL Handicapped youths, most of them in wheel chairs, protested Wednesday morning what they said is inadequate treatment and housing provided by the state. They met at the State Social Services Building, 1575 Sherman St., then proceeded to the State Capitol. Their organization, called the Organization of Disabled Adults and Youth (TODAY), sent statements to Con Shea, social service director, and to Gov. John Vanderhoof. TODAY organizer Deon Yoder, who isn't handicapped but who works as a nursing home orderly during the winter, said the group plans to return to the Social Services building area each day during the working hours until either the governor or Shea decide to address themselves heartily to the problems and care of handicapped individuals.
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The Irving Daily News Thursday, November 13, 1986 [Headline] Curb cut policy called 'slap in the face' continued... Installation of the ramps would cost utility companies $300-500 over the costs of the work being done, he said. The city would have to change the present ordinance if utility companies are expected to install the ramps, he said. The additional costs arise in most cases because both utility companies and the city tear out only a portion of the sidewalk corner. In order to install a ramp, 14-15 feet of the corner must be torn out, said Lewis Patrick, director of Public Works. But Thomas and other handicapped representatives present at the meeting said some action must be taken by the city, either to change its policy or correctly interpret the policy. “It is the ultimate in stupidity and asininity to tear down a structure and re-create it with as much of a barrier for the disabled as existed before,” Thomas said. The lack of action by the city is a “slap in the face, a spit in the face and the ultimate insult,” he said. “It says to the handicapped, ‘We don’t want you around.’ Without the ramps, transportation does us no good.” Thomas said every corner in the city without a curb cut needs to have a ramp installed. His argument apparently was convincing to City Council members, who agreed to look into the current ordinance to see if changes are needed. “It appears to me as time goes on whether we choose to accept or resist changes, they’re going to come about,” Councilman Jack Nulty said. “It would behoove the city in the long run to try to be ahead of the game and lay the curbs. It is inevitable that it will have to be done because of the growth in the handicapped population." Nulty said that any work being done on a curb at an intersection warrants installation of a ramp. The city can come up with the extra funding that will be needed, he said. Council members agreed that the ordinance could bear some examination. “We need to look into an ordinance change so that the curb can be done right while we‘re already doing the work,” Councilwoman Fran Bonilla said.
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Dallas Morning News 2/4/86 PHOTO: A small woman [Cathy Thomas] in a motorized wheelchair sits on a sidewalk above a curb. Her legs are extended and she is wearing an ADAPT T-shirt under her jacket; her face is determined. On the side of the curb, which runs the width of the picture, is stenciled the words "this curb is illegal." Caption reads: Cathy Thomas, a member of the ADAPT organization, stops in from of a freshly painted curb in Irving that her group says is not accessible to people in wheelchairs. [Headlines] Group protests curb construction [Subheading] Advocates for disabled say work violates Irving ordinance By Mercedes Olivera IRVING — Members of a support group for the disabled staged a protest Wednesday against recent sidewalk construction and repairs along Rochelle Road that do not provide curb cuts for wheelchair bound citizens. Armed with a can of red spray paint, five people from American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, or ADAPT, sprayed four recently repaired curbs with a stencil-lettered sign reading, “This curb is illegal." In recent weeks, Rochelle Road has been resurfaced and had curbs torn out and replaced, city officials said. "This curb is a clear-cut violation of their own ordinance," Dan Thomas, president of the Handicapped Association of Texas, said as he pointed to a recently poured curb. He accompanied his sister, Cathy, who must use a wheelchair. Group members said they have monitored the city's compliance with its ordinance, adopted in—1981, requiring that curb cuts and barrier-free ramps be included in all street construction. Sandy Cash, assistant city manager for development services, said the issue revolves around “what constitutes ‘maintenance’ and ‘new construction’ " of city streets. He said the ordinance was meant for streets in new subdivisions, not for existing thoroughfares. But "anytime we come in and have to remove a (large portion of) sidewalk and curbing, as a general rule we install a curb cut," Cash said. The city staff is looking to the City Council for direction on this issue, he said. He said city staff members have been preparing information on the cost and number of curbs torn out and replaced last year. The information will be given to City Council members, but Cash said he did not know when the report would be completed. However, Thomas said ADAPT members have become frustrated by what he called the city's slow response to their requests. “We ‘have never before asked that old barrier structures be rebuilt," Thomas said. “But now we are asking that all curbs placed since 1981, which are not in compliance, be replaced."
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Thursday, November 13, 1986 THE IRVING DAILY NEWS Page 1 [Headline] Curb cut policy called 'slap in the face' Continued from Page 1 Installation of the ramps would cost utility companies $300-500 over the costs of the work being done, he said. The city would have to change the present ordinance if utility companies are expected to install the ramps, he said. The additional costs arise in most cases because both utility companies and the city tear out only a portion of the sidewalk corner. In order to install a ramp, 14-15 feet of the corner must be torn out, said Lewis Patrick, director of Public Works. But Thomas and other handicapped representatives present at the meeting said some action must be taken by the city, either to change its policy or correctly interpret the policy. "It is the ultimate in stupidity and asininity to tear down a structure and re-create it with as much of a barrier for the disabled as existed before," Thomas said. The lack of action by the city is a "slap in the face, a spit in the face and the ultimate insult," he said. "It says to the handicapped, 'We don't want you around.' Without the ramps, transportation does us no good." Thomas said every corner in the city without a curb cut needs to have a ramp installed. His argument apparently was convincing to City Council members, who agreed to look into the current ordinance to see if changes are needed. "It appears to me as time goes on whether we choose to accept or resist changes, they're going to come about," Councilman Jack Nulty said. "It would behoove the city in the long run to try to be ahead of the game and lay the curbs. It is inevitable that it will have to be done be, cause of the growth in the handicapped population." Nulty said that any work being done on a curb at an intersection, warrants installation of a ramp. The city can come up with the extra funding that will be needed, he said. Council members agreed that the ordinance could bear some examination. "We need to look into an ordir nance change so that the curb can be done right while we're already doing the work," Councilwoman Fran Bonilla said.
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Los Angeles Herald Examiner Monday March 7, 1988 [Headline] Sledgehammer tactics hit paydirt for disabled Gordon Dillow It was a pretty weird sight, even for a Saturday afternoon in Hollywood — a bunch of guys sitting in wheelchairs, pounding on the sidewalk with 10-pound sledgehammers. What's this? l wondered. A chain gang for disabled felons? A new hire-the-handicapped-for-heavy-manual-labor program by the city public works department? As it turned out it was neither. Instead, it was a group of disabled people resorting to what you might call "sledgehammer politics." The issue at hand was something that most of us probably never even notice — curb cuts. Curb cuts are those little ramps from the sidewalk to the street that they put at corners and crosswalks. Their primary purpose is not, as it may sometimes seem, to make it easier for skateboarders and other wheeled undesirables to terrorize decent sidewalk pedestrians; rather, curb cuts allow wheelchair people to get from the sidewalk to the street without having to wrestle themselves over a vertical curb. Curb cuts are an eminently sensible solution to that problem -— so sensible, in fact, that l had just assumed that every corner and crosswalk in this town had them. That’s an easy assumption for someone who isn't in a wheelchair. But a lot of places don’t have them — Hollywood, for example. Which brings us back to the sledgehammering wheelchair people. THE SLEDGEHAMMERING wheelchair people in Hollywood were organized by Bill Bolte, who heads a “disabled rights" organization called ADAPT. For months, years even, Bolte has been badgering City Councilman Mike Woo and other officials to install curb cuts on the star-embedded Hollywood Boulevard “Walk of Fame" and elsewhere. What Bolte got in return was a lot ' soothing talk -- and no curb cuts. Finally Bolte decided to pound the pols into submission. As he explained it to me, "They don't want to give us curb cuts? Fine. We'll make our own damn curb cuts.” So Saturday afternoon, Bolte assembled about 20 wheelchair people on Hollywood Boulevard just west of Mann Chinese Theater, passed out some sledgehammers and started pounding on the concrete curb, right in front of the stars for Ward Bond and Casey Kasem. The cops were right there, of course. But even though Bolte & Co. were clearly guilty of destroying public property, the cops didn't arrest anybody. For two reasons. First, no cop wants to tag somebody in a wheelchair, lest he be mercilessly ragged at roll call for picking on a disabled guy. Besides, cop cars aren't wheelchair accessible. And second, the sledgehammering wheelchair guys really weren't able to do much damage to the curb. Swinging a 10-pound sledge is hard enough standing up; sitting down it's darn near impossible. The best they could do was chip the curb a little bit. STILL, THE DEMONSTRATION garnered a lot of press attention, which in turn built a fire under some of our local pols. And before the day was out Mike Woo promised that the city would begin designing the Hollywood curb cuts within two weeks. Two weeks! Obviously, a little sledgehammer work can do wonders on a politician's head. Now don't get me wrong here. I don't necessarily believe that society can afford to remove every conceivable barrier that disabled people face. And of course I ordinarily wouldn't condone the sledgehammering of public property —- with the possible exception of some of those hideous modern art sculptures that they put in front of public buildings these days. Still, it doesn't seem like it would be a heartbreak of an effort for the city to install curb cuts at every corner. And it's too bad that wheelchair people had to break out the sledgehammers before the rest of us even noticed that they weren't already there.