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หน้าหลัก / อัลบั้ม / Washington DC, Spring 1999 - 30th National Action 24
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[Headline] State action protested [Subheading] Police expel activists from Salazar's office By Mike Soraghan Denver Post Capitol Bureau A group of disabled activists, many of them in wheelchairs, staged a sit-in at the office of Attorney General Ken Salazar on Friday, protesting Colorado's involvement in a court case regarding the rights of the disabled. Nine people were cited on charges of disturbing the peace and obstruction of a government function after they refused to leave the office. In some cases, uniformed police officers pushed wheel-chair-bound protesters out of the office lobby to elevators. "We've done this the nice-people way," said protester Anita Cameron. "That doesn't work for us." They were protesting Colorado's involvement in case before the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the Americans with Disabilities Act requires states to treat people with disabilities in community settings, when possible, rather than institutions. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled last year that the law requires treatment in the least restrictive appropriate environment, and that budgetary constraints were generally not a defense. Colorado, under former Attorney General Gale Norton, joined with other states in arguing against the appeals ruling before the Supreme Court, said Deputy Attorney General Barbara Mc-Donnell. Salazar has not decided whether to remain involved in the case, Mc-Donnell said. [image] [image caption] A group of disabled activists staged a sit-in in Attorney General Ken Salazar's office on Friday to protest Colorado's involvement in a Supreme Court case dealing with housing for disabled people. -The Denver Post. Dave Buresh The activists, members of a group called ADAPT, said they fear that if the appellate decision is overturned, disabled people could be forced to live in nursing homes. "For the simple crime of being disabled, we will be locked in a nursing home," said group leader Joe Ehman. The group of about 25 people chanted slogans such as "Our homes, not nursing homes," as they all but blocked the reception area of the office, in a state office building across Colfax Avenue from the Capitol. Salazar, a Democrat, took over from Norton, a Republican, about two weeks ago. Salazar's staff said that the office had not had enough time to research and decide whether to stay in the case. Gov. Bill Owens also plays a role in the decision. His spokesman said Owens sat down with the group about two weeks ago, but the administration does not yet have a position. "We deeply regret the action today and we respect their right to make their action known," said Ken Lane, spokesman for Salazar. "We don't know enough about the case in order to give ADAPT an answer." The attorney general's staff asked police to remove the protesters after Mc-Donnell and others asked them to schedule a meeting for another time and leave. The protesters said they would not leave until they got an answer, and McDonnell said Salazar's office could not give one Friday.
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[Headline] Getting the information [image] [image caption] Gil Casarez, left, is cited for trespassing, obstruction of government property and disturbing the peace Friday by Denver SWAT officer Douglas Grader during a protest at the state attorney general's office. George Kochaniec Jr./News Staff Photographer.
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Saturday, January 30, 1999 [Headline] 40 disabled pr testers disrupt state office [Subheading] Noisy group removed from building housing attorney general; cops hand out 9 summonses By John Ingot News Staff Writer About 40 disabled protesters disrupted a quiet Friday at the office of Attorney General Ken Salazar. The nearly three-hour sit-in ended when Denver police officers removed the shouting protesters from Salazar's office, 1525 Sherman St., and issued summonses. "I thought it would be the usual --- a little photo op and getting their name in the paper," police Sgt. Rich Mahony said. "But I guess it doesn't work that way anymore." Members of ADAPT, a national group representing people with disabilities, began protesting in the reception area of the attorney general's office around 11:30 am. ADAPT was upset with Colorado's support of a Georgia law, which the group said would violate the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. The law, under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, would allow the state to place people with disabilities in institutions in-stead of community programs. Former Gov. Roy Romer and 20 other governors had issued a court brief supporting the Georgia law. Denver police arrived about 1 p.m. After telling protesters that they could either leave or be are rested, police began removing them from the office. Police issued nine summonses for disturbing the peace and obstruction of a governmental process. Both charges are misdeameanors and carry fines. None of the protesters was taken to jail. "We're going to tell some folks that it's not a good idea to go to jail on a Friday because you might not get out until Monday, said Joe Ehrnan, an ADAPT organizer. Organizers said Owens asked Salazar's office to look into the issue. Ken Lane, spokesman for the attorney general, said he-lad no idea protesters would show up on Friday. He was not happy with the way ADAPT handled the issue. "We offered to meet with ADAPT officials," Lane said. "In fact, WC offered a meeting with Ken Salazar next week, and they refused." But ADAPT members don't plan to leave until they get what they want. "Ultimately, it means we've got to come back," said Michael Auberger, the national organizer for the group.
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The History of ADAPT By Homer Page A few years ago, Mike Auberger and his colleagues at ADAPT were frustrated because they could not buy a hamburger at McDonald's. They took action. McDonald's settled. Now you see people with disabilities in McDonald's TV ads. This victory over a major corporation helped define the power of the disability rights movement and the strength of the leadership of Mike Auberger. ADAPT is a unique organization. Mr. Auberger is its national organiz-er. This is the new title that the orga-nization has chosen for its leader. However, our hierarchical language which uses terms such as leader, director, president, has a hard time expressing exactly what ADAPT means by the title, "national organizer." Over the last two decades, ADAPT has been at the forefront of the disability rights movement. Its activism has frustrated and out-raged those who have been its tar-gets. It has galvanized its powerless membership into an effective army for social change. It has an impres-sive list of victories, even though those who have opposed ADAPT will tell you the organization's "radi-cal" tactics had no influence on their decisions to find accommodations with the ADAPT demands. Disability Life Magazine sat down with Mike Auberger to find out more about the man and the organization that he co-founded in 1983 and now "leads." DL: Mike, tell us about your background. MA: My father was in the military, so I grew LLD an army brat. We lived in Europe and all over the U.S My father was a very outspoken man and a radical Republican. After he left the military in the late 1960s, we lived in Ohio where he led a property tax revolt. I was born in 1955, so I grew up during the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-war protests. When I look back at my father's influence on me and at what was going on in those years while I was growing up, I can see how it all came together. I grew up believing that all people should be treated fairly, with respect and dignity, and that everyone should be treated equally. DL: What is the nature of your disability? MA: I received a spinal cord injury when I was 17 years old. I was riding a luge at Lake Placid, New York Back then, no one had heard of a luge, so I just had to shy it was a bobsled. Now the luge is very glamorous. DL: You were just a teenager and you were quadriplegic. What did you do to make a life for yourself? MA: I had my father's sense of equality and willingness to fight. That helped a lot. I went to Xavier College in Cincinnati and got a degree in accounting. After college I went to work for the IRS I worked five years for the government but I could see that I was going nowhere with them. DL: What brought you to Colorado? MA: While I worked for the IRS during the late 1970s and early 1980s, I did some camping in the Colorado mountains. I came to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, for some rehabilitation work and to get my life together. I decided to stay in Colorado. I left IRS and started making plans to leave Craig. I needed to find an agency that could provide an attendant service, so one of the Craig nurses brought me a list. She mentioned Atlantis, but told me that I wouldn't want to use them because they were a radical group. That was all I needed. A radical group was just what I wanted. DL: How did ADAPT get started? MA: Wade Blank was a very charismatic person. His roots went back to the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-war protests. Wade came to Colorado in the 1970s and began to work with persons with disabilities in nursing homes. Soon he and a few disabled persons formed the Atlantis community. They quickly understood that it was not enough to just free persons from institutions, they had to be able to get out there in the community if they were to really be free. So they started taking on other issues. One of the first was accessible public transportation. ADAPT originally formed around the struggle to put lifts on buses. ADAPT stood for "Action To Develop Accessible Public Transit," but now we have dropped the acronym. We are not issue specific. We believe that society must adapt. DL: What is the thinking behind ADAPT's philosophy of organization and leadership? MA: We thought a lot about these issues when we were getting started. We took note of the way in which the Civil Rights Movement had depended on a charismatic leader to hold it together, and then after the death of Dr. King, it had fragmented. We wanted to avoid some of those pitfalls. We wanted to build our organization around the people, not the leadership. ADAPT is not incorporated. We have no budget, nor paid staff. We have no board of directors. We fund our activities through small fundraising activities and contributions, usually in kind from groups sympathetic to our cause. ADAPT has chapters in 44 cities. Each chapter selects representatives who participate in planning meetings and conference calls to set ADAPT policies and actions. Our philosophy of leadership is very important to us. We believe that a leader must lead by example. I must be willing to get arrested if I expect others to take that risk. People with disabilities do not have a strong sense of power. They can be intimidated. A leader must show others how to remain strong in stressful situations, but the leader must not think that he or she is different from others. In society's eyes, no matter your titles or accomplishments, you are still "just a disabled person." A leader must not forget that. You must maintain a strong identity with the person with whom you act. We do not have high-flown titles and positions because we know that our strength is in our unity. We have over 4,000 members. We can bring several hundred persons to an action. For special events we can assemble as many as 1,500 persons. Our strength is in our self-discipline, our unity of purpose, and our numbers. DL: ADAPT has great unity with hardly any organizational structure. How do you maintain such a high level of solidarity? MA: Everyone is respected. If someone speaks slowly or is difficult to understand, we are patient until we do understand. We avoid faction by minimizing leadership roles. We have one priority at a time, so we are not fragmented. Our actions give us focus and a common sense of purpose. We are building a common culture and a common political perspective. We really do care about one another. We load up vans and drive across the country to take part in an action. People are crowded in like sardines. We can't afford for anyone to fly, but in these trips, we get to know one another. We talk about what the action is really all about, and we build our commitment to one another. DL: What do you feel have been ADAPT's major accomplishments and what is your current agenda? MA: As I have said, we began with public transportation. We fought that battle city by city, but in the end, the passage of the ADA insures that in time all public transportation will be accessible. We were frustrated that in many locations we could not buy a hamburger at McDonald's so we negotiated a settlement with them. They agreed to include persons with disabilities in their advertising. The McDonald's corporation also agreed to develop an employment program. They have worked with their franchise owners to create accessible locations, but I am not entirely satisfied with the way that has worked out. After our victory in the public transit area, we moved to attacking the need for high quality community based services. ADAPT is working at the state level, but our top priority is the passage of federal legislation that will create the framework for a national commitment to community based services for all who desire them. Our legislation, "Mis Casas, will create the guarantees that we need. We want to emphasize the home-based location of the services. Late last year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Olmstead case. As everyone knows, Olmstead involved two developmentally disabled women who sued the state of Georgia because they wanted to be served in a community setting. ADAPT was deeply involved with the Olmstead case. The Supreme Court decision is a very important victory for ADAPT arid for the disability community. Olmstead has affirmed the right of persons with disabilities to live independently. "Mis Casas" can provide the resources that will make our rights become realities. When we win the battle for attendant services, we will move on to another issue. Perhaps it will be workshops and employment. DL: You have accomplished a great deal in your life. What kind of legacy would you like to leave? MA: I am still too young to think about leaving a legacy. But maybe I would hope for something like this. My wife and I have a 26- year-old daughter and we are working on adopting a 5-year-old. I want to be a good husband and parent. That is an important legacy. I am a co-founder of ADAPT. I am sure that is the most important thing I have done in my public life. If I can be a part of creating and developing an organization through which persons with disabilities can gain power and freedom, I will feel my life has been worthwhile. DL: In addition to your work with ADAPT you are the co-director of Atlantis. How does your work with ADAPT fit in with your work with Atlantis? MA: I think of them as two sides of one coin. ADAPT is the soul of Atlantis. Through ADAPT, Atlantis remembers what it is. Atlantis is a service provider. We have approximately 70 employees. Our budget last year was three million dollars. We provided over 40,000 attendant visits. We operate an equipment repair program, assist persons to work with government programs, and we do advocacy. We have helped persons with disabilities to secure over 80 million dollars in home financing so persons with disabilities can own their own homes. But in all this activity, it is our involvement with ADAPT that keeps us focused. We must remain humble and dedicated. We must not forget that life is about empowerment for everyone, not glory for a few. DL: What are the most important needs for persons with disabilities? MA: First we must continue to work to empower ourselves both individually and collectively. Second, we need to secure those services that will allow us to live independently, where and as we choose. Finally, we must continue to build a disability community that is nurturing and affirmative, patient and caring, and culturally rich. We must have the power, the resources, and the cultural strength that it takes to build lives of pride, dignity and freedom. 15
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT THE DEPUTY SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20410-0050 May 11, 1999 A D.A.P.T. 201 South Cherokee Street Denver, CO 80223 Dear A.D.A.P.T Members: As per our discussion this afternoon (May 11, 1999), I will arrange a meeting with the Secretary sometime during the week of June 6, 1999, to address your concerns. These concerns include the five items you handed out today (see attached). In that meeting, we will provide you with a timeline on implementation of the items labeled three and four on your list. Regarding the 232 program we will provide you with the information you requested as to what regulatory discretion HUD may have in its implementation of that program, as well as a deeper discussion on how we can work together to address the concerns you have shared with me. I will ask that representatives of all the program areas attend this meeting so that your other issues may also be addressed, including those regarding fair housing enforcement and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Today, Thea Spires will provide you with copies of a letter HUD has already sent out to our grantees regarding Section 504. Sincerely, [signed] Saul N. Ramirez, Jr. [typed] Saul N. Ramirez, Jr.
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Post-Tribune Sunday, May 9, 1999 A5 REGION [Headline] Disabled travel to capitol, will lobby for legislation [Subheading] Local ADAPT members say the proposed legislation would give people with disabilities more options, BY DAVIE ANN BROWDER Staff Writer Facing down big government agencies never is easy. After all, the scenario pits individuals against the power and money of the United States. It's easy to get squashed like a bug. Nevertheless, local members a ADAPT, a national grass-roots disability rights organization, along with hundreds of others from throughout this country, are in Washington, D.C.. today fighting for passage of legislation. The Community Attendant Services Act (CASA) would allow federal money, such as Medicare and Medicaid, to follow the individual instead of the institution providing care. Luis Roman of Hammond has been to other rallies in Washington, and he's been asked to speak to newcomers today to tell them what to expect over the next week in the capitol. Beside the beat. the waiting, the animosity of some bystanders. there's always the chance of at Roman said. But its worth it, he said. Roman, who has been blind for 11 years, stated the case for the bill succinctly. "It's about choice," he said. "A person who is able to, should he allowed to stay home and not be forced into a nursing home. "That person who can stay at home is happier, they live longer. and it's cheaper for the taxpayer." Right now, people with disabilities have three choices, he said. They can go to a nursing home, be classified as homebound where loss of all government support results if one leaves the house, or rely on family for total care without government help. "Really, everybody has a vested interest in the bill," he said. "If you're planning on getting old, or you may become disabled through an accident or illness, don't you want to have options." Jana Longfellow also is attending the rally, her first. Longleflow is deaf, but can read lips. "I'm going to learn how to fight for people's rights," she said. And indeed, much of her five days in D.C. will be spent on the streets and in public buildings, lobbying elected officials and governmental agencies. As a quadriplegic, Terry McCarty of Lowell usually can rely on her companion dog, Frija, a German shepherd. But McCarty is leaving Frija at home with friends and making the trip alone. McCarty successfully waged a battle to leave a nursing home and live on her own about seven years ago, so the CASA bill is close to her heart. "It was kind of scary living alone at first," she said, noting that when she left the nursing home she didn't have anyone to stay through the night with her. Greg Mitro of Hobart, also an ADAPT member, took the time to label each part of his wheelchair before the trip. The reason was because once Mitro boards the plane, his wheelchair is disassembled and shipped with him. Often, he said, people with disabilities are overwhelmed with the difficulties involved in taking a trip such as this. Obstacles include ending transportation to the airport, getting loaded onto the plane by inexperienced flight attendants, getting around in a strange city, staying in a hotel, and then taking to the streets for a public protest. The threat of arrest looms. ADAPT members block access to the building, they're likely to be jailed. Mitro tells people not to let the prospects keep them imprisoned at home. "That's such a great feeling empowerment," he said. "You fee like, 'wow, l'm not alone in all this." "It's such a sense of community that develops among everybody a then everybody watches out each other. [image] [image caption] Greg Mitro of Hobart prepares Thursday for his trip to Washington, D,C., to lobby for passage of the Community Attendant Services Act. Leslie Adkins/Post-Tribune