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Home / Albums / Detroit, Fall 1986 41
Post date / 2017
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The Fulcrum: Handicappers Making a Difference The newsletter produced by handicappers for handicappers in Michigan [This story continues on ADAPT 330 but the text is included here in it's entirety for easier reading.] PHOTO: A wide wet city street with about seven people in wheelchairs and scooters sitting in the middle of it. Four men, possibly reporters, stand in front of them and behind them is a city bus and some lines of cars. On one side of the street is another city bus with five other people in wheelchairs sitting by it. Picture Caption: Protesting the overturned DDOT decision, this human barricade blocked traffic in downtown Detroit. [Headline] Demonstrators ride paddy wagon, not buses By Yvonne Duffy When Mike Gambatto retired from the Detroit Police Department after an on-the-job injury, he probably never thought that one day he would be arrested for obstructing traffic on a public street. He felt so strongly about the importance of Detroit buses being accessible to persons with disabilities, however, that on the morning of November 23 he drove from Lansing to downtown Detroit to join other demonstrators, most of whom were users of wheelchairs or three-wheelers. In 1987, Gambatto was one of the plaintiffs in a class action suit in which the Wayne County Circuit Court ordered the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) to purchase and maintain lifts on their buses and awarded $2.5 million in damages to the more than 1,110 people eventually included in the suit. This protest occurred because this October the MI Court of Appeals overturned the earlier decision, ruling in favor of DDOT and eliminating the monetary damages. The group of about twenty-five huddled at the intersection of Woodward and East Jefferson in hooded jackets, mufflers, mitts, and occasional afghans under a sullen grey sky punctuated by freezing rain and snow flurries. As the traffic light turned red, Gambatto and nine other chair and cart users rolled onto the road to arrange themselves so that when the light changed, traffic was completely blocked on the busy downtown street. Horns honked, and a few drivers got out of their vehicles. One driver, upon learning that the protestors were demonstrating for their right to use the city buses like everyone else, exclaimed, “I’m with you!” raising his hand in the victory sign as he returned to his car. The police were ready. Within minutes, the sergeant in charge approached Frank Clark, a post-polio retiree with a long history of activism to make Detroit more accessible, and informed him that if the group did not return to the curb they would be arrested. When they refused, the paddy wagon, which had no lift, was brought in, and officers began hoisting up the chair users. The chair of one tipped perilously to one side as he was loaded into the van. Gambatto asked to be lifted in separately from his three-wheeler, which sometimes comes apart when lifted. An assisting officer asked if Gambatto had been injured in the line of duty. The fourteen-year veteran of the force explained that a nerve in his neck had been injured when he had attempted to break through a chained door to apprehend a man who had just stabbed a little girl, resulting in a multiple sclerosis-like condition. The officer, visibly moved, replied, “I never actually met a policeman that was hurt on the job before. This hurts- it hits home.” Gambatto was elated about his participation on the demonstration. “I felt like we were doing something worthwhile out there,” he said. “We weren’t breaking a law just to break a law. We were making a point that really needed to be made- that the buses are inaccessible in the City of Detroit.” As mobility Coordinator at Michigan State University’s Program for Handicapper Students, he has become even more keenly aware of the financial and social costs of failing to make public transportation to accessible. “Instead of buying [unreadable], we, as a society, are paying for people to stay home- often for their whole lives. We waste human minds because we’re too cheap to buy wheelchair lifts.” The demonstrators were driven a few blocks to police headquarters where they were given the option of receiving tickets. During the two hours it took for processing, they were held in an unheated storeroom off the garage. There were no accessible restrooms. Nevertheless, there was general agreement among the demonstrators that the Detroit police displayed exemplary sensitivity and courtesy during the arrest and booking. “They were nice to the point of graciousness,” said Verna Spayth of Ann Arbor, an organizer of the action. According to Spayth, the police sergeant, whose late brother had been a polio quad, seemed aware that by his decision to arrest, he rescued them from the freezing rain and, at the same time, attracted attention to their protest by making it a newsworthy event. Ironically, George Harrison, a Detroit resident for 25 years and a wheelchair user for the last six, almost never made it to the protest because the bus driver did not know how to operate the lift. He was fortunate that a more knowledgeable bus driver riding to work came to his rescue. When Roger McCarville of Ortonville, whose both legs were amputated, heard about Harrison’s experience, he “knew he was in the right place.” Citing accessible public transportation as essential for a quality life, McCarville, who owns a company, Handicap Transportation, which carries people with disabilities to non-emergency medical appointments, says, “Lives go beyond medical. There’s a whole social aspect out there, and there’s no service available.” Many who live outside the metropolitan area put themselves on the line to demonstrate unity with their brothers and sisters with disabilities even though they personally did not need the service. For Spayth, Advocacy Coordinator at the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living, who, last fall, chained herself with several other to buses in downtown Detroit but was not arrested, every opportunity to forge a sense of community is precious. She says, “Whether you get arrested or not, once you’ve chained yourself together with other people with disabilities, it’s totally impossible to look at those people again as separate individuals. Even without words, a bond is created there.” Scott Heinzman of Livonia, adds, “Even though I’m not expecting anything, there could be a time when I might need the help of people in other communities to bring attention to an issue.” For Heinzman, participating in the protest was important for other reasons. Sharing the view that Detroit has been hurt by the mass exodus to the suburbs, he feels that, as a suburban resident, he wants to give something back to the city. “People are people everywhere,” he says, “and if there are problems, problems can be solved.” Heinzman serves on the Advisory Council of the Great Lakes Center for Independent Living, whose offices are in Detroit. A 28-year-old quad, he is also bringing much-needed exposure of children to people with disabilities, through his activity with the Boy Scouts and his local Parent Teacher Organization. Ray Creech, a Canton resident, wanted to “show support for the people in Detroit who really need it [accessible transportation].” Occasionally, when he visits Trapper’s Alley or Greektown, he has tried to use the buses with mixed success. Spayth vocalizes a feeling shared by many in the disability movement: “The easy answer is that when we fight for disability rights anywhere, we fight for them everywhere, but, for me, it goes deeper than that. Every once in awhile, I feel the need to express my anger against my oppressors. What happens next in the fight to make DDOT buses reliably accessible and restore the monetary damages awarded by the lower court three years ago? The next step in the judicial process, according to Justin Ravitz, attorney for the plaintiffs, is an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. If the justices “have any sensitivity or allegiance to the law, they will surely hear our case,” he says. This process could take months or even years, however. Meanwhile, Detroiters with disabilities want to ride. Until they achieve that goal, Ray Creech vows, “We’ll just keep coming back!” PHOTO: Five uniformed police officers stand around a single man in a wheelchair. One of them has his head down and is touching the arm of the guy in the wheelchair. Caption reads: Police escort demonstrator to paddy wagon.
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[The first part of this photo is a continuation of the story that starts on ADAPT 131 and the full text of that article is included there for easier reading. Below is a second article that is included here.] Non-violent civil disobedience effectively promotes change By Verna Spayth Power is not inherently violent, however, in governmental form it is often expressed in a violent manner. Governmental power is maintained through the agreement of the oppressed and the tacit compliance of the majority of the governed. Any significant withdrawal of that compliance seriously restricts, or even removes, governmental control. Apathy in the face of injustice is a form of violence. Struggle and conflict are often necessary to correct injustice. Our struggle is not an easy one. We must not think of nonviolent civil disobedience as a safe and easy way to fight our oppression. The strength comes from our willingness to take personal risk without threatening others. When a compliant majority sees us risking our personal safety and health for our cause, they will be forced — perhaps for the first time — to confront their stereotypical images of people with disabilities and to begin to change those images. However, it is essential that we separate the individual from the role played. Non-disabled people are not the enemy. The “enemy” is the system that forces people into the roles of oppressed and oppressor. A nonviolent campaign must focus on the issues and the system, rather than on the personalities involved. Nonviolent direct action is an attempt to produce change. It should be treated like a conversation where one is communicating a particular message. We should always be willing to listen and learn from the other side. If we treat our opponents with honesty and respect, our truth will be easier for them to hear. Avot d’Rabbi Nathan has suggested that the “strongest of the mighty” is the one who “makes a friend out of an adversary.” We must begin to confront and move beyond our own personal fears. There is true strength and power to be found when we come together. Pandit Nehru described the core of Gandhi’s campaign for Indian self-rule this way: “It was against this all-pervading fear [of British repression] that Gandhi’s quiet and determined voice was raised: BE NOT AFRAID.”
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Mark Johnson sits against the wall between two elevators. He is in a manual wheelchair and is looking intently down the hall past the camera. On either side of him stands a uniformed police officer.
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[This page contains two articles] [first article] In a 1977 protest, about 50 people with disabilities demanded that the federal government start enforcing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Among other things, the act outlaws discrimination on the basis of disability in all programs that get federal funds. After 28 days, the government issued new regulations to put the law into action. That, according to Johnson, was the longest occupation of a federal building in the history of the United States. Eleanor Smith remembers the excitement she felt when she learned of the 1977 protest. "I remember reading in a newspaper about people who occupied a federal building in San Francisco. To have an activist, civil-disobedience group of disabled people was brand new in history as far as I know. It was thrilling." The fight heated up in 1979, when the federal Department of Transportation mandated that all federally funded new transit buses and rail stations be wheelchair accessible. Immediately and fiercely, the American Public Transit Association (APTA) resisted. Claiming that bus lifts cost too much, APTA filed a lawsuit and won. The mandate was replaced with the much weaker principle of "local option", which says transit authorities can choose what kind of service to provide for riders with disabilities. While many local systems are working to become fully accessible, others offer only "paratransit", a separate system of minibuses that run door-to-door by appointment. Disability activists charge that while these special services do meet some needs, they are no substitute for access to the whole system. Says Smith, "separate always turns out not to be equal." ADAPT came on the scene to make this point In 1983 with a protest at APTA's annual meeting. Allowed a 20-minute presentation to the convention, the activists called for 100% accessibility throughout all public transit systems saying that "a society that can build MX missiles and puts people on the moon can surely put a wheelchair on a bus". APTA, however, stood behind local option— a position it has never changed. Since then, says Smith, ADAPT has been to APTA like fleas are to a dog. At fifteen APTA conventions and meetings In the past eight years, wheelchair users and other people with disabilities from all over the United States have joined local activist for rallies, picketing and civil disobedience. In 1988, 83 demonstrators were arrested at a St Louis convention. Last year, 28 were arrested in Atlanta. Blocking vehicle and pedestrian traffic seems to be ADAPT's most common illegal activity. The protestors intend to give able-bodied people a taste of inconvenience. "We have to come around the long way and go in the back door all the time," says Johnson. ADAPT groups have no dues or membership and Smith thinks It has about 25 hard-core people willing to hold elevator doors shut. However, the APTA protest in the fall of 1989 drew about 300 demonstrators. Many were from Georgia but even they were outnumbered by activists from all over the country— Including people from Hawaii and Alaska. The protest received extensive television and newspaper coverage. Nationally, with accessible facilities becoming common in public transit, ADAPT is now refocusing on private carriers. This year, protestors will converge on Dallas for ADAPT's first demonstration at a convention the the American Bus Association— the trade group that Includes Greyhound. Eleanor Smith believes that her activism with ADAPT is making a real difference. "Working through the system wasn't working," she says. "There was no change. Transit authorities thought the idea of lifts was ridiculous. ADAPT believes that disabled people have a right to access to public transit." This article reprinted with permission of writer Gareth Fenley. "Wheelchair Warriors With A Cause" first appeared in Southern Voice, an Atlanta publication focusing on gay and lesbian rights. [second article begins] [Headline] Memo of the Decade In 1955, a middle-aged black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. In challenging the Montgomery, Alabama system of segregating buses according to race, she became the catalyst for a long and bitter boycott of local transit...a boycott that disrupted Montgomery city services, "crippled" the public transportation system and catapulted the civil rights movement onto the front page of every newspaper in the country. In 1986, when ADAPT asked Parks to publicly support their campaign for transportation equality, here's how she replied... [the memo reads] October 3, 1996 ADAPT Atlantis Community Inc. Rev. Wade Blank 4536 E. Colfax Denver, Colorado 80220 Dear Rev. Blank, Mrs. Parks will not be participating in the press conference on October 5, 1986 at twelve noon for ADAPT because of the traumatic manner in which you choose to dramatize disabled Americans lack of access to public transportation. Mrs. Parks supports active peaceful protest of human rights issues not tactics that will embarrass the cities guest and cripple present transportation system. We do not wish any American to be discriminated against in transportation or any other form that reduces their equality and dignity, however, we cannot condone disruption of Detroit city services. Please excuse the sudden withdrawal from what we originally thought was a conference to present ADAPT s issues on equal rights for disabled Americans in public transportation to the City of Detroit. We wish you success in securing equal rights for all users of public transportation. Very truly yours, Elaine Steele Assistant to Rosa L. Parks Enc. cc: Media and Press
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Disclosure Issue No. 96 January-February 1987 [Image] [no image caption] [Headline] Disabled Fight to Get on the Bus
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[Headline] Riders in wheelchairs push buses to ADAPT The American Disabled for Public Transit (ADAPT) staged a series of dramatic demonstrations last week at the annual convention for the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in Detroit. ADAPT has pitted itself against APTA for the last four years, using civil disobedience to raise public awareness about the rights of severely physically disabled people. Highly dependent on public transit, people using wheelchairs have suffered under a 1981 federal court ruling that struck down provisions for equal access. APTA, the national lobbying group representing federally-funded public transit systems nation-wide, won that round. The Detroit demonstrations were designed to gain the -- attention of APTA guests and the city, which does not have wheelchair lifts in every bus. The city rescinded ADAPT's original parade permit after police accused the group of "disruptive tactics." ADAPT did gain permission to demonstrate behind high barricades outside the convention. The 100 wheelchaired and 50 able-bodied protesters stayed on the sidewalks except where curb cuts were lacking. Later, however, they converged at Dearborn's Henry Ford Museum and blocked buses, forcing more than 1,500 APTA guests to walk the last half mile to the convention's cocktail reception. At bus stops, ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs waited in front of the buses, held their doors open and tried to crawl into them. Several buses equipped with lifts did come, but the lifts reportedly were not working. Police arrested 17 people on charges of disorderly conduct. For the estimated 1-2 percent of the population that is severely physically disabled, social prejudice is compounded by segregative obstacles such as stairs, curbs and narrow doorways. ADAPT's ultimate goal is a federal accommodations law, and it is training people in wheelchairs to assert themselves politically so they can fight the isolation that keeps them out of sight, out of mind and out of the mainstream. "Either everyone gets in, or no one," says Molly Blank, who works with ADAPT at its main office in Denver. ADAPT and allied organizations point proudly to Denver and Seattle, where lifts have been installed in all buses. Upkeep of lifts in 'Denver's buses has cost less, than other cities may think. "[Maintenance workers] don't wait for the lifts to break down," says ADAPT's Wade Blank. "When they do an oil change, they check them for adjustments and do a lube job. Chicago estimates costs of up to $2,500 per bus per year, but Denver spends only $400." "The battle won't be won this week," Blank says. "We hope that in the next five years, the nation will reach a policy on accessibility." -Jennefer Pittman
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This article continues the first article from Image 321. Full text available under 321 for easier reading.
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[Headline] Wheels of Change in Detroit: [Subheading] Disabled Hit Motor City A terrible threat was facing Detroit. The city's police force was prepared; its officers had undergone special intensive training. Over four days, hundreds of cops were on the streets to deal with the menace. The Detroit police department cancelled a march previously approved because of "danger of physical violence". The cops considered this menace more threatening than the Nazi party, which had been allowed to parade in Detroit a month before. What posed such an extraordinary threat to the people of Detroit? A group of people confined to wheelchairs, ADAPT, Americans Disabled for Accessible Transportation. Detroit was feeling the power of people coming together to fight for the right to get on the bus. It started in Denver, where after six years of determined and vocal protest, disabled people won a completely wheelchair accessible transit system. Then ADAPT went national to tackle the issue on a larger scale. The issue of getting on the bus is not a minor one. There are an estimated 36 million disabled persons in the United States. For all of these people, transportation is a basic need for independence. In most cities a person in a wheelchair can-not get on any regularly scheduled transportation system. Being unable to get to and from work prevents many disabled people from keeping a job and so winning a measure of independence. The fight for independence is a practical one. It is also a symbolic one. "The disabled are one of the most oppressed groups," says Wade Blank of ADAPT. "Their average pay is under 10 cents an hour because of a waiver of minimum wage laws. Those who can get a job often work in sweat-shop conditions." According to Blank, "The black struggle for civil rights in the sixties taught us everything we need to know. Separate is not equal. If a group is not allowed to integrate, it will be treated worse than the rest of society." He further explains that Martin Luther King Jr. chose buses as an issue that symbolized racism. ADAPT chose buses as a symbol of paternalism. Transportation for the disabled is a nationwide issue but ADAPT can't be everywhere at once, so in true guerilla fashion, it follows the symbol of its oppression. This symbol is the American Public Transit Association, APTA. APTA is a professional lobbying group representing the interests of transportation officials from all over the country. APTA has come out against full transportation accessibility for the disabled. The stated reason is the cost of installing wheelchair lifts in each bus. According to Donald Lozen of the Center for Independent Living in Detroit, however, this cost is no greater than the expense of installing air-conditioning in city buses. In addition to forcing APTA to change its discriminatory stance, ADAPT fights to win changes in local transit systems. Many local battles have been won. In addition to Denver, ADAPT has won changes in Seattle, Kansas City, Colorado Springs, Dallas, and Atlanta. Before coming to Detroit, ADAPT hit Cincinnati, where, in four days of street fighting, the wheelchair pro-testers tied up bus service for an after-noon which threatened to bring the en-tire city to a halt. Seventeen ADAPT demonstrators were arrested and several were jailed for six days. (See Disclosure No. 93 for details.) Disabled Americans from all over the country converged on Detroit on October 6-9 to protest continued discrimination against people in wheelchairs. APTA was holding its annual national convention there. ADAPT's protest began on Sunday, October 5, with a wheelchair march along Michigan Avenue to the Westin Hotel where APTA members were staying. ADAPT members marched along the sidewalks, shouting"We Will Ride." They were forced to stay on the sidewalk since their parade permit had been revoked at the last minute by the city of Detroit. APTA members were so terrified by the prospect of being confronted by the angry disabled protesters that when they left the hotel for a fancy cocktail party at the Ford Museum, they snuck out the back way. [Image] [Image caption] Four police tackle one disabled ADAPT protester in Detroit. ADAPT members blocked the front entrance to the Museum with their wheelchairs, forcing 2,300 APTA members to walk a long way in the rain to get in by the Museum's back entrance. Even though the protesters could not get at the partygoers directly, they stuck it out. "One of our people got a door open," recalls Blank. "We were throwing things and shouting to remind them that the peasants were outside in the rain. I can't imagine how they felt, see-ing all those wheelchairs in the rain. They had to feel bad." The transit officials and the police were expecting ADAPT members to try and make a hit at the APTA convention the next day when Mayor Young was speaking. ADAPT took them by surprise and went to the Mayor's office instead. ADAPT got 50 wheelchairs up the elevators before the cops even caught on. When they stopped protesters from going up the elevators, they took the escalators, which the police had thought was impossible. When, one way or another, about 85 protesters were upstairs, ADAPT members asked the Mayor's staff, "Do we have the right to go on Detroit buses?" Fred Martin, the Mayor's Assistant, said, "Sure, anyone can ride on the Detroit buses." ADAPT members took Martin at his word and tried to board and pay fare on downtown buses. They picked 18 stops and all started crawling on at the same time. "We shut down the buses downtown. Then the arrests started. They classified our action as disorderly conduct," notes Blank. "I didn't know getting on a bus was disorderly conduct." There were 18 arrests of the would-be passengers. The police, having been specially trained, handled the pro-testers with care, 3-4 officers to a chair, but the jail was not wheelchair accessible, so they were stuck in the police gym. To protest the jailings, 60 ADAPT members who hadn't been arrested circled the police station chanting, "Let Our People Go" for three hours. Twenty police officers stood and watched in awe. And they did let the protesters go. People were released overnight since the police had no facilities to keep the disabled in. The following day, the protesters came together outside the McNamara Federal building. Their purpose was to meet with Senator Donald Riegle's staff. But as the people in wheelchairs began to go up the escalators in pairs, the police started making arrests, 37 in all. So it was back to jail. [Pulled quote] "'l didn't know getting on a bus was disorderly conduct." [text continues] Everyone was eventually released after a judge examined and denounced the conditions the disabled were being kept under as deplorable. ADAPT's protests in Detroit did more than make transit officials squirm. It also gave new hope to disabled people in the Detroit area. An ADAPT chapter has just formed in Detroit. SEMTA, Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority, one of two bus systems serving Detroit, has just signed a resolution committing itself to completely accessible transport by 1988. This resolution affirms that "the ability to ride a public transit vehicle is a civil right that should not be denied to any individual." Donald Lozen says that for the first time, handicapped people in Detroit are starting to come together to work on common issues. "We must thank ADAPT; it's a direct result of their coming to town." [Image] [Image caption] "We Will Ride."
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[Headline] Zealots on Wheels Every year the American Public Transit Association (APTA) meets to discuss the vagaries of American mass transit, and every year a group of protesters for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) stages a protest. People in wheelchairs park themselves in front of and other transit vehicles, and wait to be carted away by the local constabulary. The idea is to generate public sympathy for handicapped people implying that transit authorities callously neglect their needs. The tactic hasn't worked. Instead, ADAPT become one of those organizations, like rabid animal-rights groups that torture animals and blame medical researchers, that does more harm then good to its cause. The sad part is that ADAPT theoretically supports a good cause--ensuring that handicapped citizens have access to public transportation — but takes its crusade to an absurd extreme. ADAPT doesn't seek mere access to transportation. It wants "100-percent" access to all buses, subways, light rail cars, and other public conveyances. That means all buses would have to be fitted with hydraulic lifts for wheelchairs; all subway stations built with elevators; all rail cars constructed either with lifts or special "at grade" doors, etc. Such goodies inflate capital costs enormously, without providing equivalent benefits. Hydraulic lifts on buses, for instance, have a notorious record for breaking down — and they cost $15,000-20,000 per bus. And elevators on subways, which often cost tremendous amounts of money, go generally unused in cities like Washington and New York because they have become favorite haunts for muggers. In truth, there are many cheaper and more effective ways to grant access to transportation than to redesign every bus and train in America. Some cities, including Detroit, have special programs for carrying handicapped citizens from place to place. Others offer cab rides. Although these programs don't offer handicapped citizens the privilege of being mugged on empty buses, they do move people from point to point — which, after all, is the purpose of public transit. ADAPT's hysterical invocation of "rights" bears striking similarity to similarly excessive demands for "handicapped rights" in other areas. A good ex-ample occurred almost a decade ago, when a judge in North Carolina ordered a state university to lim-it the height of shelves to 3 feet in a new campus library. The idea was to allow all handicapped citizens to reach their own books that is, to en-joy "100 percent access." The stipulation also would have in-creased the cost of building the library by more than 100 percent. Common sense fortunately prevailed when some-one pointed out that the library could hire students to retrieve books for handicapped students, and for far less than it would cost to expand the library and purchase new shelves. ADAPT could learn from this example. If the judge had prevailed in North Carolina, the library might never have been built. Similarly, if someone demanded lifts on all buses, cities would have to cut back on transit services, which wouldn't help handicapped riders a bit. ADAPT's point about access to transportation is sensible, but its specific objectives and strategies are not. If ADAPT's wheelchair guerrillas really want to make some progress, they should shelve some of their sanctimony and use a little common sense. No serious person can accept its demands to install lifts on all public buses, but many people will support expanded van services for handicapped citizens. Rather than de ding the impossible, ADAPT should focus on reasonable ways to help handicapped people get from place to place. [Image] [Image caption] Detroit Police place an ADAPT protester in a specially equipped police van.
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[Headline] Wheelchair Warriors with a Cause! By Hareth Fenley They smash curbs with sledgehammers to make curb-cuts, crawl up the stairs of city buses, chain themselves to steering wheels, block traffic with their bodies. They were carried off to jail in Atlanta, Georgia, this fall after shutting down the Greyhound terminal for six hours, chanting "We will ride!" They are the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, a national organization better known as ADAPT. The protesters say they have one simple goal: they want to ride the bus. It may be partly due to their efforts that 31 percent of the national transit bus fleet is now wheelchair accessible. Their demonstrations are replacing the poster-child idea of "poor, helpless cripples" with a new image of wheelchair warriors. Like the Atlanta-based AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), ADAPT is willing to break the law. The two controversial groups admire each other's tactics and sometimes work toward the same objectives. "Five years ago, my two oppressions were as far apart as the thumbs on my two hands," says Eleanor Smith, holding her hands out to the sides of her wheelchair. Smith, an activist in both organizations, says the spread of AIDS brought the two issues together for her. [Image] [no image caption] PHOTO BY KIMBERLY BOYD "Gay rights activists and disability rights activists are now fighting for the same issues in Congress, side by side, not just out of empathy, but out of absolutely parallel self-interest. Young people have been thrust into disability issues," she said "It's different than they ever would Chair have dreamed on the dance floor." AIDS and disability activists are pushing together for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The transit Ors w.th w provisions of this s comprehensive bill would require lifts on all new public buses and lifts on private carriers starting in five years. The Bush administration a Cause! backs the ADA and Congress is expected to pass it. The lobbying and reform that led up to the ADA are often credited to mainstream organizations such as the Paralyzed American Veterans. "We kind of give those people leverage," says Mark Johnson, a quadriplegic who helped start ADAPT in 1983. "Until there's an emotional change, no intellectual persuasion will work."
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This page continues the article from Image 310. Full full text available on 310 for easier reading.
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[Headline] ADAPT Pushing Detroit Forward By Beverly Safford On October 6, 1986, an active, disciplined and effective civil rights movement came to town. Members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) arrived in Detroit to protest and demonstrate against the inaccessibility of public transportation for the disabled. Their primary target of protest and demonstration is the American Public Transit Authority (APTA) which was having a convention in Detroit over the weekend of October 6-8, 1986. APTA is a trade organization with a history of being a door closer to the civil rights of the disabled: APTA, in a dispute with the Caner Administration rules requiring city transit systems to equip up to one halt of their buses with wheelchair lifts, took the Department of Transportation to Court over its rules implementing the non-discrimination provisions of the Rehabilitation Act. The Court held for AMA's position of a "local option" — hitting local transit systems decide what is "best" for the disabled people in their communities. [Subheading] Detroit's Transit History In Detroit, public transportation has historically bee' dewed as the enemy of the auto industry. Accordingly a conscious or unconscious decision has been made that its "besi" for Detroit's disabled community not to consort with the enemy. Public transportation tar the disabled is all but non-existent in this community. We have seen or heard of the stories of the disabled crawling up the steps of city buses because there isn't a wheelchair lift or it doesn't work. While Denver and all of California require all new buses to be wheelchair accessible, Mayor Young proudly asserts that GE the 100 new Detroit buses, 20 are accessible to the disabled. He fails to mention that the City is unwilling or unable to repair the lifts that have become non-functional. Mayor Young, through an aide, suggested that the ADAPT members try out the new buses. The ADAPT members allege they could find no buses in Downtown Detroit that could accommodate the disabled. On October 6, 1986, they were arrested while engaged in the civil dis-obedience protest of climbing, en masse, up the steps of unaccessible buses and blocking their paths with wheelchairs and 'bodies. The Detroit Police Department has a wagon which has a working wheelchair lift. 150 dis-abled members demonstrated, 18 were arrested and subsequently released on $1,000.00 personal bonds. On October 7, 1986, 37 were arrested for continued peaceful protests, this time for trying to talk to folks in the Federal Building. There is a dispute as to the nature of the October 7th demonstrations. Several of the arrested wheelchair defendants state that they were ordered to disburse, but could not get out of the corridors of the Federal Building because of the limited facilities for wheelchair access. The 18 who were on personal bonds after the October 6th demonstrations were given $1,000.00 which they could not post; the remainder were released on personal bond. 13 cots of the 18 held on the 7th were confined to wheelchairs. The Detroit Chapter of the Nat boreal Lawyers Guild,. through the ePtorts oaf its president, Kathleen A. Gmeiner, head pre-arranged attorneys on call for any emergency legal representatIon necessary for ADAPT. [Subheading] ADAPT at 1300 Beaubien At 9:00 p.m., October 7, 1986, I received a call from Gmeiner to go to the Detroit Police Station at 1300 Beaubien to confirm the conditions under which the City of Detroit was holding the wheelchair bound prisoners. The allegations were that the 13 wheelchair bound prisoners were being held in the police gym at the 1300 Beaubien police station; they were not given medical attention, beds, heat, wheelchair accessible toilet facilities or catheters. When I arrived at the station at about 9:30 p.m., the station was surrounded by protesters in wheelchairs shouting "Let them go" and 'We will ride." As I entered the police station, the officers in charge communicated one over-riding concern: they wanted to get rid of the prisoners. At the time, it seemed facilitating. In retrospect, it seems offensive. I was escorted to the police department gym on the second floor. A system was immediately set up to dis-tribute the maintenance medicine necessary for the 13 wheelchair prisoners; an inventory of the situation was begun. We were in a large gym under the following conditions: No heat, though the temperature was below 50 degrees, three large windows were broken out, and the wind was carrying the protesters' voices into the jail/gym. No wheelchair accessible bathrooms, and the porta-john that the prisoners were required to use had become very soiled because it could not accommodate the needs of the prisoners; several of the prisoners waited up to five hours for a sterilized catheter; no place to wash their hands after using the porta-john and/ or before using the catheter. No medical supervision. No intention of providing beds, because of a prevailing assumption by the police department that the prisoners were in a chair therefore they didn't need a bed, although many of the prisoners were in pain From their confinement to their wheelchairs. After a period of time necessary to identity each prisoner and determine specific medical and comfort needs, one final encroachment of reality: the wheelchairs of the 13 prisoners were running out of power. Without specific battery rechargers, the 13 wheelchair prisoners were rapidly becoming totally immobile. Several phone calls later — the police instantly supplied me with a desk and trim-line phone — Neal Bush, &wine,- and Milton Henry directed my calls to Judge Roberts of Recorder's Court. The judge considered the physical reality of the conditions of the incarceration and the charges which brought the arrests. He readily offered to sign a writ of habeas corpus, on the condition that the prisoners must agree not to demonstrate until the 11:00 a.m. bond reduction hearing the following morning. I presented this otter to the 13 prisoners, who were cold, tired, often in pain and lacking appropriate medical attention. They informed me they needed to seriously discuss this matter. [Subheading] A Considered Response For one hour they discussed the con-sequences, good and bad, of accepting this offer. The 13 wheelchair bound prisoners assembled in a circle. Each consideration was heard and each position was respected. They encouraged the least verbal to express their opinion; everyone spoke. When necessary members of the circle repeated what they heard to clarify what was said. Two of the concerns which the group considered were: it they accepted the otter, would they be sending the message that it is OK for Detroit to he unable to accommodate the disabled in jail? Perhaps it they stayed, the system would have to address their needs. Several of the group mentioned that other group members were in extreme pain from the cold and being confined to their wheelchairs. A consensus was reached. They would agree to leave the jail it, and only it, the live ambulatory prisoners housed elsewhere — were also released. They would show up in court the next morning; the issue of midnight civil disobedience was moot. Through various and sundry background phone calls, about midnight, Judge George Crockett, Ill, Recorder's Court Judge, came to the station. Shortly after, Justin Ravitz, Detroit Guild members and former Judge Of Recorder's Court, came walking into the station with a writ in hand. Judge Crockett held an emergency hearing in the police gym. The station thoughtfully turned on the heat prior to the judge entering the gym. By 2:00 a.m. all parties were released on agreement to return to court in the morning. The following morning, on motion Ravitz, the $1,000.00 cash bond was reduced to $100.00 personal bond by Judge Crockett, Ill. Their on-going representation will be handled by Ravitz and Bush. As the ADAPT members wheeled out of Judge Crockett's court room, they excitedly talked of the up-coming APTA conventions which needed their attention: first Phoenix, April 4-8 then San Francisco, September 27-October 1. Beverly Safford, an attorney in private practice, is a member of the Detroit Chapter. In the struggle Nat. Lawyers Guild
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Southwest Economist Newspapers Sunday, October 5, 1986 page 9 [Headline] Disabled will protest transit system barriers By J. Carole Buckner, staff reporter Chicago – Southwest sider Dennis Schreiber left for Detroit Friday knowing he faced a fair chance of being arrested there for civil disobedience. He was looking forward to it. In the rain-soaked parking lot of Our Lady of the Snows School, 48th St. and Leamington Ave., Schreiber said he told his wife Jackie that the trip is "a dream come true." Schreiber, who is blind, almost completely deaf and partially paralyzed, left with about 30 other handicapped persons, some coming as far away as Denver, Colorado, to protest at the American Public Transit Association's annual convention. For the past three months, Schreiber's group, Disabled Americans for Equality (DARE), has raised money to fund a delegation of protesters to go to Detroit, where they planned to hold a legal march to protest mobility barriers on buses and subways. The Reverend Wade Blank, leader of a contingent of protesters from Denver, called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT), said the group's parade permit was revoked this week by Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. Despite the lack of a parade permit and potential for arrests, the disabled group plans to go ahead with it's march, aware of the publicity value to be gained with photos of police dragging wheelchairs into paddy wagons. The groups position, said Schreiber, is "that we want equal access to public transportation and all public facilities" Specifically, the protesters want transportation systems throughout the U.S., especially in cities such as Chicago, to be equipped with lifts for wheelchair users. Mark Mactemes, 37, said he is going on the six day journey and demonstration because he needs to use regularly scheduled public transportation to work. The Oak Forest resident has multiple sclerosis. "I graduated college in 1985 and cannot find a job because I can't drive to work and must rely on public transportation." The CTA offers bus service for the handicapped called Dial-A-Ride, "but you must call eight hours in advance and buses (minivans) only run until 10 PM," Jackie Schreiber said. The CTA subcontracts the service to four companies. In the past, CTA officials have refused to install wheelchair lifts on buses, saying the cost is prohibitive. Blank, said similar reasons were given in Denver, but after sustained efforts by handicapped groups, all the cities buses were equipped with lifts. The result has been an increase in handicapped ridership, from a few hundred to 2000 riders per month, he said. Blank said famed 1960s civil rights protester Rosa Parks is scheduled to March with the group on Sunday. In all, more than 300 handicapped persons, mostly in wheelchairs, or expected to demonstrate in Detroit, Blank said.
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Detroit Free Press 10/6/86 PHOTOs by JONN COLLIER, Free Press PHOTO 1: A large group of posters in a line that almost looks like a pile, are behind a woman in a manual wheelchair being pushed up a curb or slope. Two people are helping her up. One holds a poster which reads "Stop the war against the disabled! [something] Congress". In the crowd behind are other large signs, some unreadable, and a very large one in the middle is partially readable and says "...for the disabled not for war!..." PHOTO 2: People in wheelchairs appear to be fanning out in an intersection with large city buildings in the far background. Between the three people in wheelchairs in the front you can see a line of other folks in wheelchairs across the intersection. Caption reads: Disabled demonstrators move through downtown Detroit, carrying signs and chanting “We will wide," in protest of the lack of wheelchair lifts on the nation's buses and trains. Title: Handicappers protest at transit convention By BOB CAMPBELL, Free Press Staff Writer About 150 militant disabled people, chanting "We will ride" and carrying signs in a procession from Tiger Stadium to the Renaissance Center, Sunday protested the lack of wheelchair lifts on the nation's buses and trains. At least 40 Detroit police officers in scout cars and on motorcycles kept the demonstrators — most of whom were in wheelchairs — on sidewalks along the two-mile route. After a request from Detroit Police Chief William Hart, who cited illegal actions of the protesters in other cities, Detroit's City Council last week withdrew a permit that would have allowed the demonstrators to parade through the streets. At one point, police insisted the protesters go through a puddle instead of using the street. At the Renaissance Center, the end of the procession, about 2,300 conferees were gathering for this week's American Public Transit Association national convention The demonstrators, who are at odds with the association on the accessibility issue, were kept away from the entrance to the Westin Hotel. See DiSABLED, Page 15A Title for part 2: Militant handicappers decry poor bus access Text box insert: Members of the group have been arrested at demonstrations at other transit meetings. DISABLED, from Page 1A HOTEL SECURITY was tight, and visitors had to identity themselves to guards before being admitted. The protesters — members of Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation — say public buses and trains should be equipped with mechanical wheelchair lifts. Members of the group have been arrested at demonstrations at other transit association meetings after chaining themselves to buses and stopping traffic. "In the ’50s, a lot of blacks were on the back of the bus." said Michael Parker of Peoria, ILL. “We still can't get on the bus." Several members of the group told reporters there would be other protests against transit association members. Wheelchair lifts were required on buses briefly in the late l970s. But a transit association lawsuit led to a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a federal requirement for lifts on all buses overstepped the intent of equal access legislation. said Jack Gilstrap, executive vice-president of the association. Most local transit agencies provide transportation to handicapped persons using mini-buses in services such as Dial-A-Ride. Gilstrap said. "The vast majority of people in wheelchairs prefer Dial-A-Ride or demand service," he said. “it runs 10-, 15-, 20-1 over lifts on every bus." Gilstrap said it is cheaper to offer special transportation service for wheelchair users than to adapt all public systems to wheelchairs. The subway authority in Washington D.C. spent between $50 million and $60 million to build elevators to allow wheelchair access tor "35 to 40 people a day," he said. MEMBERS OF the handicapper group complain of disparate quality of Dial-A-Ride systems among various cities. and they cite a requirement that rides must be arranged 24 hours in advance. Bill Bolte, 55, of Los Angeles, said: "l was a law-abiding citizen before l realized how oppressive society was getting toward handicapped people. The problem ls. we depress people because of the way we look. They don't want us around." Long-time civil rights activist Rosa Parks canceled her plans to join the ADAPT members, citing tactics that would "embarrass the city‘s guests and cripple the city's present transportation system." said to her assistant, Elaine Steele. Leo Caner, chairman of the 21 member Michigan Commission on Handicapper Concerns, said: "The general public has to be sensitized to handicappers. But getting the people sensitized by getting run over by a bus is not the way to do it." Free Pres: Special Writer Margaret Trimmer contributed In this report.