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ಮುಖಪುಟ / ಸಂಪುಟಗಳು / Victory in the Courts, Spring & Summer 1989 27
ಪ್ರಕಟಣೆಯ ದಿನಾಂಕ / 2015
- ADAPT (473)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: George Roberts, wearing an UMTA name badge, an ADAPT headband and black and gold ADAPT "no steps" T-Shirt, looks down as Bob Kafka and he chain their wheelchairs together. Bob is bent forward, doubled over, using his arms to hide the lock as they attach their wheelchairs. - ADAPT (472)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: A line of ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs, and a few standing, cross the city street. In front of them a uniformed policeman and a plain clothes cop stand together conferring but looking in different directions. Behind the two a man on crutches stands almost hidden. Behind the line of protesters are 2 large city buses, blocked by the protest. One has a sign on top that reads Deptford Mall, [in NJ], the other Glassboro. From left to right the protesters are: Julie Nolan, Leo Lucas, Carrie Johnson, Carol Marfisi, Stephanie Thomas, Diane Coleman, a man in a wheelchair, a very short woman or girl with her back to the camera, Mike Early, and behind him a woman with white hair and a very tall African American man stand against the bus. Signs read: Access Now!!, Access Not Excuses, We Will Ride, We Need to Get There Too!!, Stop Bush Attacks Against Disabled, No Transportation without Integration. This protest is in Philly and members of CORD and ADAPT joined forces before the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals court date. - ADAPT (471)
This is a continuation of the story on 484. The article is included there in it's entirety for ease of reading. - ADAPT (470)
This is a continuation of the story on 484. The article is included there in it's entirety for ease of reading. - ADAPT (469)
PHOTO (by Tom Olin?): A group of ADAPT activists sit on the front entrance to a public building. Some are in wheelchairs, some sit on the steps. From the left: Lonny Smith, Bob Kafka, unidentified man standing, Barb Gurthrie (smiling), unknown man in wheelchair with back to camera, unknown woman in wheelchair, Bernard Baker (with sign saying Access is a Civil Right), unknown woman in wheelchair sitting sideways in front of door, Stephanie Thomas on ground, Mark Mactimmus in red ADAPT shirt, Diane Coleman, and Joe Carle. An Access NOW poster is taped to the railing on the steps. - ADAPT (468)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: A uniformed policeman and another man in a suit hold one arm each of a giant set of bolt cutters as they try and cut the kryptonite lock on George Roberts' motorized wheelchair and Bob Kafka's manual chair. You can only see Bob's feet and leg rests, but George has his eyes shut and is making a face of disgust. - ADAPT (467)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: Justin Dart is in forground with a patriot wig with a pony tail on his head, under his hat. Stuck in his hatband is a gods eye, the crossed sticks with yarn wound around them in a square pattern. Dart is yelling and his mouth is open. Behind him Brian Shea is also yelling, his mouth also open. Behind Brian another person in an ADAPT shirt (possibly Fred ________ from Chicago). - ADAPT (466)
This is a continuation of the story on 484. The article is included there in it's entirety for ease of reading. - ADAPT (465)
This is a continuation of the story on 484. The article is included there in it's entirety for ease of reading. - ADAPT (464)
T I P S & TRENDS The President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities |Vol. 1 No.4 April 1989 [Headline] Administration Granted Rehearing of Transit Access Decision On April 10, 1989, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requested a rehearing of a court decision that would make many transit systems more accessible to people who use wheelchairs. DOT requested all eleven judges of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to rehear the February 13 ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit ) vs. DOT decision (see March Tips & Trends) which ordered DOT to cease subsidizing buses purchased by transit systems unless they are equipped with wheelchair lifts. On April 19, 1989, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the February 13 decision and granted a rehearing to DOT. The unusual decision to grant a rehearing may indicate that the February 13 decision will be reversed. [Subheading] Decision Angers Protesters Also on April 10, disability advocates and members of ADAPT were protesting for accessible public transportation during a regional meeting of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) at the Nugget Casino in Reno, NV. Protesters were disappointed by the announcement that the Federal government had asked for a rehearing of the ADAPT vs. DOT decision. Three people with severe disabilities were injured, 49 protesters were arrested and many were jailed. Untrained ranch hands from the surrounding area assisted the under-staffed Reno police department with the arrests, and threatened to take seeing eye dogs from blind protesters if they did not disperse. Wheelchair users were dragged from their seats by the local police and deputies, who broke a leg of one severely disabled protester. Wade Blank, spokesperson for ADAPT, commented from Reno: "This means the protests must continue, all the way to the White House if need be.” Article is accompanied by a picture of a handwritten letter from a very young child. The letter reads: Dear Pres. Bush, Please stop the appeal so my sister can ride the bus with me. I love you. Kailee (5 yrs. old) - ADAPT (463)
San Antonio, read their lips: “No lifts, no $1.6 million convention. [This story is continued on 478 but it is included here in its entirety for ease of reading.] The President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities will not hold its annual convention in San Antonio in 1991 because that city has no mainline accessible transit and no plans to introduce any. Instead, the meeting will be held in Dallas, which has 100 lift-equipped buses and plans to introduce more. It is estimated that the meeting, which will attract 4,000 to 5,000 people, would have brought at least $1.6 million to San Antonio. Committee chairman Harold Russell said he was informed of San Antonio's position on accessible public transit in January by Wayne Cook, general manager of VIA, San Antonio's transit system. Russell said the committee's decision was in keeping with President Bush's promise to bring the 37 million Americans with disabilities into the economic work force. "Disabled Americans must become full partners in America's opportunity society,” the President told Congress. In order to make the President's vision a reality, Russell said mainline accessible public transit has to be an option for people with disabilities who want to join the work force. “We have found that, next to attitudes, lack of accessible transportation is the most important significant barrier to employment of people with disabilities," Russell said. "There are 8.2 million people with disabilities of working age in this country who are unemployed but who can work and want to work. That's a terrible waste of talent, and it's not fair to the people who are prevented from working." Russell said his committee's mission to help people with disabilities find employment would be compromised if they held their annual meeting in San Antonio. "The issue is not transportation for people who attend our meeting," he said. “It’s everyday access to mainline transit for people with any kind of disability who "want to work and can work.” The committee's credibility was at stake, he added. Russell expressed his regret about the move. “San Antonio is a beautiful city, with wonderful people. The mayor and members of the city administration are working very hard to make the city accessible to everyone. Maybe we can come to San Antonio at a later date, when VIA's policy has changed.” Kent Waldrep, chairman of the Texas Governor's Committee for Disabled Persons, supported the decision to move the convention to Dallas. “This is one way that those of us who work in the disability field can support the goal of employment. We're not saying that every transit system needs to make all of their vehicles accessible right away,” he said. “We do think that transit operators should make an honest effort to begin that process, though. A system like San Antonio's that requires advance notice to travel just won't work for active people with disabilities who work-and shop and do all the things other people do. It’s not fair to riders or to their employers, who can't ask them ‘to travel around the city on short notice in the course of their work.” Waldrep also pointed out that in the long run accessible mainline ‘service would be far more economical than relying solely on the current paratransit system. “It doesn't make sense to make people who would rather ride mainline buses use a system that costs the taxpayers $13.50 for every ride. Why not save the heavily subsidized rides for those people who really need them?" Waldrep suggested that if everybody who is eligible to use the paratransit system in San Antonio did so, VIA wouldn't be able to pay the bill. “In the long run, putting lifts on buses will save money,” he said, "as well as being the right thing to do.” In response to the decision by the President's committee, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities (CTD) announced" that CTD has is cancelling plans to hold its annual meeting in San Antonio. CTD president Larry Correu said that his group has met with VIA over the years to discuss the system ’s reluctance to provide accessible mainline service. He pointed out that VIA has been under a court order since 1985 to supply such service. “Maybe if CTD and a lot of other state and national organizations refuse to hold their meetings in San Antonio, they'll understand how serious the issue is,” he said. Correu said he has learned that several other organizations were also planning on boycotting San Antonio. - ADAPT (462)
The Voice OF THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS 02181 JUNE 1989 - VOL. 2, NO. 9 [Headline] TRANSIT ACCESS FIGHT COMBINES COURT ACTIONS, STREET PROTESTS Photo: Dressed in revolutionary war costumes, three cornered hats,and colonial wigs, five ADAPT members (a man standing playing a flute, Joe Carle, Diane Coleman, Bob Kafka and Mark Johnson) lead a long line of marchers in wheelchairs and standing. They are gathered on a sidewalk under some trees and with Independence Hall and other historic buildings behind them. Caption reads: COLONIAL GARB drew attention to ADAPT and CORD members circling around Independence Park in Philadelphia on May 14. Photo: A row of about a dozen people in wheelchairs holding signs blocks a street with 3 buses on it. Two are further back and have more protesters with signs blocking them. Signs read We Will Ride, Access Now, Disabled in Action, Access Not Excuses and similar messages. Caption reads: MASSACHUSETTS representatives of ADAPT and CORD during the "crawl on" in Philadelphia on May 13. By BILL HENNING The battle to secure full access to public transportation for people with disabilities has been fought during this first half of 1989 in two arenas--in the courts and in the streets. On February 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that all transit systems receiving federal financial assistance can only purchase accessible buses. And they said that paratransit service must be maintained as needed. "This landmark decision, the product of a lawsuit led by American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) and the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), struck down fabricated transit regulations implemented by the Department of Transportation in 1986," said Mike Early, an organizer with the Cape Organization tor Rights of the Disabled (CORD). "Gone were the ‘local option‘ and '3% cost cap' rules, which allowed transit systems to severely limit the amount of accessible services they provide." "Unfortunately, the Bush administration successfully asked for the case to be reheard, wiping out the original ruling." Wide support for the February court decision surfaced on Good Friday, March 24, when activists in 13 cities demonstrated for equal transportation access. CORD and the Massachusetts Office of Handicapped Affairs (OHA) organized a rally in Cambridge that attracted over 100 people, the largest of the nationwide events. "The concept of equality for disabled people must scare the government," said CORD advocate Kent Killam. "President Bush has spoken in favor of disability rights since he took office, saying all the right things, but his administration's actions speak otherwise." “They are arguing against equal access to transit in asking for a rehearing of the Philly case -- they even say that Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act does not guarantee equal rights. They are trying to move us backwards!" Many advocates also hailed the initial ruling in the ADAPT and PVA lawsuit because it advanced the concept that "separate is not equal“ for disabled people, much as had been stated in the historical Brown vs. Topeka civil rights case in 1954. "The way was paved for all practices and policies that isolate and segregate 'disabled' people to be struck down," Jim Glelch, director of OHA, commented. In a recent series of protests, members of ADAPT, as has been their history, dramatized their demands for equal transportation access. In April, they disrupted meetings oi the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in Reno; 49 ADAPT members were arrested-with a number staging a five-day hunger strike in jail. APTA is a regular ADAPT target because their lawsuit in 1979 stopped implementation of regulations for 100% accessible transit systems proposed by the Carter administration. Two weeks later on April 24, similar numbers of ADAPT members were arrested after breaking up a meeting of the federal Urban Mass Transit Authority (UMTA) in Denver. And the next day over 40 people were carried out oi the offices of the U.S. Attorney's office after he refused to call U.S. Attorney General Thornburgh to register the group's demand for accessible buses. Finally, from May 12 to May 15, ADAPT members, with an assist from nine persona from Massachusetts, including members of CORD, Cape United Elderly, and the Disabled Peoples Liberation Front staged four events to illustrate the need for access. Actions began with a meeting with the U.S. Attorney for Philadelphia, who called Attorney General Thornburgh and expressed the group's demand tor equal access to public transportation. The following day, May 13, a “crawl on" was held in front of the federal building where the ADAPT lawsuit was to be reheard. People left their wheelchairs and attempted to get on buses without lifts. The consequence: three buses were stopped, a major downtown traffic jam developed, and important media coverage showing how buses without lifts do not serve many disabled people was obtained. On Sunday, 50 people, many attired in Revolutionary War costumes, marched around Independence Park to dramatize the quest for the freedom that can stem from accessible transit systems. Participants included Justin Dart, former Rehabilitation Services Administration director. An hour-long takeover of the Liberty Bell pavilion highlighted the day. In the evening, 29 people camped all night in front of the court building in a vigil for access. In the morning, the group attended the opening arguments of the rehearing of ADAPT vs. the Department of Transportation. "I felt like a true patriot the whole weekend in Philadelphia," commented CORD member Leo Lucas. "The chant, ‘What do we want? Access! When do we want it? NOW!' is stuck in my mind." "The series of events was fantastic," said Mike Newhall of CORD. "Fighting for our rights is moving, spiritual, a true group effort that touched a lot of people." "We will ride!", exclaimed Mike Early. According to John Chappell of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. more protest occurred in Washington on May 15. Over 300 people who attended the annual conference of the National Council on Independent Living marched from the Capitol Hill area to the White House to show their concern over the President's failure to fully endorse the Americans with Disabilities Act. This bill, among many other things, would guarantee 100% accessible transportation if passed in its current form. "We have to continue to act publicly and aggressively." said Jim Gleich. "No one will give us our rights -- we have to demand them. We have to speak out for them.“