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Startpagina / Albums / Labels accessible transit
+ ADA + wheelchairs 3
ADAPT (496)
Tues., September 26, 1989 [Headline] Disabled Try to Block Access To Elevators [Subheading] Protesters Continue Russell Building Sit-In By Alma E. Hill and Pat Burson, Staff Writers [This is the full text of the story that appears on ADAPT 496, 509 and 488.] Protesters in wheelchairs moved to block elevators in the Richard B. Russell Federal Building today in their second straight day inside the building, as federal officials increased security. Ed Driver, chief of law enforcement for the General Services Administration, said six security guards were brought in “so that we can maintain access to and from the building." “We're not going to do anything, we just want to be able to maintain an element of safety in the building," Mr. Driver said. At 11:50 a.m., leaders of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) gave the signal and protesters began to chant and roll their wheelchairs in front of the doors on the plaza level of the federal building to restrict access to and from the building, as they had done Monday. Moments later, in an apparent shift in tactics, the group moved toward elevators to cut off access to upper floors in the high-rise. Protesters said they will continue to demonstrate until President George Bush or Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner complies with their demands to issue a federal mandate requiring new buses purchased with federal dollars to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. Judges who work in the federal building avoided problems getting out of the building by leaving before the noon takeover. And the doors to the Peachtree Federal Employees Credit Union, located in the southwest corner of the building, closed as soon as protesters began to shout. Visitors are being directed out of the basement and second floor exits. The Rev. Wade Blank, of Denver, said officials from the Urban Mass Transit Administration came over to the building to meet with pro- Disabled Group Stages Protest For Wheelchair Lifts on Buses from page A1 [starts on 496, continues here 509, ends on 488. Overlap with 509 and 488] ...test organizers. However, the meeting never took place. “They got on the elevator and didn't tell us what floor they were going to. so we said, ‘The hell with it."' the Rev. Blank said. The protesters began their demonstration Monday to coincide with an appearance by Mr. Skinner at the American Public Transit Association (APTA) convention at a downtown hotel. After occupying the plaza floor of the federal building for eight hours Monday, more than 100 disabled activists were evicted at the close of the business day, only to be allowed back inside after President Bush personally intervened. “We're here until the order gets signed." Michael W. Auberger, of Denver, one of the co-founders and organizers of ADAPT, said Monday. Mr. Auberger and other demonstrators from throughout the country lined their wheelchairs two and three deep near the doorways to the federal building. located at the corner of Spring Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, trying to stop anyone from leaving or entering. Mr. Auberger, who has been disabled since he suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles, a tactic used to prevent security from simply lifting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon Mr. Auberger, 35, said, “They'll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." At 6 p.m. Atlanta police and officers from the General Services Administration, who provide security for the building, ordered the protesters to leave and began carrying them outside. The guards used large bolt cutters to sever the chains holding some demonstrators to the doors. At about 8 p.m., as guards were removing the last of the demonstrators, Gary C. Cason, regional administrator of the General Services Administration, told police and maintenance workers to allow the protesters back into the building. “The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest." Mr. Cason said. Mr. Cason said Mr. Bush also said he was concerned about the protesters sitting outside in the chilly overnight temperatures and rainy mist. Maintenance crews appeared a half-hour later with blankets. Mr. Cason said the protesters would be restricted to the lobby floor and would have access to the restrooms. Protest organizers credit White House counsel C. Boyden Gray for Mr. Bush's action. Mr. Auberger said they contacted Mr. Gray, who took their case to Mr. Bush. The president then called the head of the GSA, Richard G. Austin in Washington, telling him to allow the demonstrators back inside. The protest forced most visitors to the building Monday to use a basement entrance adjacent to an underground parking lot. Mr. Auberger said the group planned to stay in the building overnight and would block the entrances again at noon if the Transportation Department does not order changes in transit-access rules. “At noon the administration has to decide whether or not they are going to arrest us, or we’re closing the building down again,” he said shortly before 11 p.m., as the protesters ate Chinese food they had ordered and made themselves comfortable in the hallway on the Spring Street side of the building. The demonstration was the second in as many days held by ADAPT, a nationwide organization. The event was held in Atlanta to coincide with the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), meeting this week in Atlanta, and to attract the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who spoke to APTA Monday morning. APTA opposes legislation pending in Congress — that ADAPT supports — called the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposal would remove barriers in public transportation by requiring public transit authorities to have wheelchair lifts on any new buses purchased 30 days after the measure was enacted. APTA officials say they oppose that portion of the measure because it would cut into limited federal funds. While Mr. Skinner has said he supports the bill, ADAPT wants him to issue an executive order so the stipulation can take effect immediately — prior to congressional action. Protesters demanded to talk with Mr. Skinner while he was in Atlanta, but Mr. Skinner departed for St. Croix without meeting with them. Robert Marx, a spokesman for Mr. Skinner, said the secretary does not have the authority to issue such an order, only the president. Spokesmen for ADAPT believe Mr. Skinner is not championing their cause because of a lawsuit the group won against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) two years ago, when Mr. Skinner was chairman of the city's Regional Transportation Authority. The court ruling required the CTA to purchase wheelchair lifts when ordering new buses. Photo: Looking down the long narrow glass walled lobby. In the foreground a man is lying bundled in a blanket on the floor. Beside him his motorized wheelchair sits empty. A little further back in the lobby several people sit in their wheelchairs and scooters by a cardboard box and some bags and papers. photo by ANDY SHARP caption: Woody Osburn of Tulsa, sleeping, and others, seen early today in the Russell Building.
ADAPT (509)
This story in its entirety is on ADAPT 496.
ADAPT (535)
USA Today Friday March 16, 1990 USA Today USA TODAY hopes to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation." —Allen H. Nouharth, Founder, Sept.15,1982 Peter S. Prichard, Editor John Seigenthaler, Editorial Director Cathleen Black, Publisher Thomas Curley, President DEBATE The USA's disabled deserve simple justice Jennifer Keelan is an 8-year-old who knows how to get where she wants to go. Afflicted with cerebral palsy, Jennifer has trouble moving around. But Monday afternoon in Washington, she crawled hand-over-hand up the 83 steps leading to the U.S. Capitol, eventually reaching the top. No members of Congress threw obstacles in her path. None stood in her way. But in the eyes of Jennifer and about 60 others who abandoned their wheelchairs to make the Capitol climb, they might just as well have. By failing to protect the disabled from discrimination, they say, Congress is allowing others to throw obstacles in their path every day. They want Congress to stop yakking and start voting on the Americans with Disabilities Act, sweeping legislation that would do for the disabled what the civil rights legislation of the 1960s did for minorities and women. The legislation passed the Senate last year. It has the support of the president. But the House of Representatives, lobbied hard by business interests that fear the bill's costs, just can't seem to get its part of the job done. Justice demands that the stalling end. Today, people in wheelchairs lose job opportunities because they can’t get to work on public transportation. The deaf are often shut off from society because telephones aren't properly equipped. People with mental disabilities are denied jobs by employers who wrongly assume they can't do them. Too often, the only response is: What do they expect? Society can't make them well again. The disabilities act has a better, more sensitive response: * lt bans discrimination against both the mentally and physically disabled. * It requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations" for the handicapped. * It ensures access to bus and rail systems. * It mandates full telephone access for the deaf. * It demands that public accommodations, ranging from hotels to coffee shops to bowling alleys, try to provide equal access for the disabled. Those goals cannot be achieved easily or cheaply. As you can read across this page, they will mean new costs and inconveniences for businesses. New equipment may be needed. Structural alterations may be required. Plans for new building may be altered. Those concerns deserve consideration. But they are not adequate reasons to delay any longer. The legislation specifies that employers not be forced to endure undue hardship. It says the only changes that are required are those that are readily achievable. It affords time to make changes — as long as 30 years in some cases. Every day that Congress delays is another day that obstacles can be thrown in Jennifer Keelan's path. And she, just like the rest of us, deserves every opportunity to reach the top. CARTOON (by David Seavey, USA Today): Little person in an old manual wheelchair on a long scroll of paper with "Access Laws" written on it. Scroll makes a kind of ramp up a set of stairs to a large fancy building that looks like a government building. QUOTELINES "What am l required to do if I have three employees with different disabilities and six customers come into my business who are hearing-impaired, all of whom need sign-language interpreters?" -- Kenneth Lewis, disabled accounting-firm owner "What we did for civil rights in the '60s. we forgot to do for people with disabilities." -- Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo. "Yes. there are costs associated with this bill, but these costs are manageable." — Rep. Norman Mineta, D-Calif. “lt will reach the floor, we will have a conference with the Senate, and it will become law." -— House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash.