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หน้าหลัก / อัลบั้ม / แท็ค President George HW Bush 24
- ADAPT (497)
This is a continuation of the story on ADAPT 498. The full text appears on 498. - ADAPT (570)
Rocky Mountain News - Fri., July 27, 1990 Mayor vows action on accessibility law Pena says city will help businesses comply By Ann Carnahan, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Denver Mayor Federico Pena promised yesterday to help business owners comply with new legislation requiring them to make offices and stores accessible to the disabled. Facing a roomful of people in wheelchairs, the mayor said he would review the city's permitting system to eliminate “unnecessary obstacles” that owners could face in making modifications. “We don't want to be a stumbling block,” Pena said. “We are evaluating the full range of options available . . . everything from making adjustments to fees to making adjustments to other criteria we have.” A recent University of West Virginia study showed that the average job accommodation cost is less than $500, officials said at the press conference. President Bush yesterday signed into law a measure barring discrimination against 43 million Americans who are disabled or have AIDS. Within two, years, businesses must be made accessible to disabled workers and customers. Public accommodations must comply within 18 months. “There are going to be some in the private sector who will argue that this costs too much, that this is an unfair burden," Pena said. “I say we are losing money because we have . . . Americans who cannot participate fully in the economic life-stream of this country because our buildings are not accessible." Denver has a reputation among the handicapped of being one of the most accessible cities in the country, said Laura Hershey, director of the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities. Prior to yesterday, modification requirements applied only to federal programs, Hershey said. But in Denver, all public buildings constructed since 1983 must be accessible to the handicapped. High spirits marked the press conference yesterday in Pena’s office as the mayor congratulated the disabled who have lobbied many years for this legislation. “This is freedom. It's acceptibility,” said Sueann Hughes, who has multiple sclerosis. “For the first time in a long time, we don't have to worry about being discriminated against." Pena also outlined several other steps the city is taking to help the disabled: * Co-sponsoring - a conference on April 30, 1991, that will address the new law's impact on Colorado. * Examining the city's employment system to determine whether there are ways to recruit and hire more people with disabilities. * Stepping up the city's curb ramp construction program with increased funds under the bond issue projects. - ADAPT (488)
This and ADAPT 509 are continuations of the story on ADAPT 496. The full text of the whole story is on ADAPT 496. - ADAPT (548)
Denver Post 7/27/90 Bush signs rights bill for disabled Anti-discrimination act called world's strongest by Denver Post Staff and Wire Reports With row upon row of disabled Americans cheering and sometimes weeping with happiness, President Bush yesterday signed landmark legislation banning discrimination against the disabled. The legislation, considered the world's strongest civil rights protection for the disabled, prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications. Bush backed it strongly and Congress approved it despite opposition from some business groups who argued it would be too costly and would produce an explosion of lawsuits. The president appealed to business, saying: “You have in your hands the key to the success of this act, for you can unlock a splendid resource of untapped human potential.” Some 2,000 disabled visitors and their families, some in wheelchairs, some deaf with interpreters, some blind with Seeing-Eye dogs, attended the ceremony in Washington to create what Bush called “this splendid scene of hope spread across the South Lawn of the White House." In Denver, disabled activists said the national law would give new momentum to local access and fairness programs that already are well ahead of most cities. “It’s unfortunate that it takes an act of Congress to give equal opportunity to all citizens, but now it’s there, and we can get some work done,” said Bill Farrell, chairman of the Denver Commission for People With Disabilities. Mayor Federico Pena said the city would speed up its program to add wheelchair ramps on street curbs and convene a conference next April to address the disability act's effects on Denver. The city also will consider waiving permit fees and other ways to help small businesses make renovations to accommodate the disabled. PHOTO (by Associated Press): Medium close up of President George H.W. Bush (41) is sitting outside at a table with three piles of paper in front of him. He is turned away from the camera and toward an older man dressed in black (Rev. Harold Wilke) to give him a pen with which Bush was signing the A.D.A. The Reverend, smiling, stands behind Bush and lifts his foot up to take the pen with his toes. Beside the two of them and at the end of the table another man in a suit (Evan Kemp) sits and smiles broadly as he watches the transaction. Caption reads: SIGNING: The Rev. Harold Wilke accepts a pen from President Bush at the signing of the disabilities act yesterday. Wilke has no arms and uses his feet for hands. Evan Kemp, left, ls chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission. - 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 (518)
The Atlanta Journal AND CONSTITUTION Tues., September 26, 1989 [Headline] Bush Lets Disabled Resume Federal Building Sit-In Protesters Want Feds to Require Wheelchair Lifts By Pat Burson and Alma E. Hill, Staff Writers Transit officials urged to ensure rides to suburban jobs. Page A12. After occupying the plaza floor of the Richard B. Russell 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. The protesters, who formed a human blockade near the main entrances to the the 26-story tower about 10 a.m. Monday, vowed to remain until federal regulators require wheelchair lifts on all buses purchased with federal dollars. “We're here until the order gets signed," said Michael W. Auberger of Denver, one of the co-founders and organizers for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). 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." DISABLED Continued on A12 [Second part not currently available] PHOTOS (by Greg Foster/Special): Photo 1: A group of ADAPT folks -- including Bob Roberts, Arthur Campbell, Bobby Thompson, and others -- sit and stand in a circle outside the entrance to the Russell Building cafeteria. A man in a yellow jacket holds a large movie camera on his shoulder and a policeman looks on. Mr Campbell talks with another police officer and on the back of his wheelchair Campbell has his trade-mark sign "If I can't do it - it ain't worth doing." In the background, through glass doors, is another room full of people, and some murals on the walls. Photo 2: A woman protester in a wheelchair gets a blanket from a woman who is passing them out. Behind them a couple of other people are visible, as is the dark night street, through the glass walls and doors of the Russell Building lobby. - ADAPT (550)
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, Sept. 18, 1989 PHOTO (by John van Beekum for USN&WR): An older woman with white hair and pearl earring and necklace (Barbara Bush) in a dark dress stands besides two men in dark suits and ties. All are slightly smiling and looking off to their right. Caption reads: Why the rights law has moved swiftly: Most leaders behind the Americans with Disabilities Act have special reasons to promote it-they are disabled or have relatives who are. President Bush, whose son Neil, left, has dyslexia and son Marvin, right, has a colostomy, guaranteed the bill's passage with his support. - ADAPT (671)
Photo by Tom Olin: A woman with thin arms (Diane Coleman) sits holding a sign that reads "attendant services not lip service" and she looks off to her right. Her head is about waist height to a beefy police officer who stands looming beside her looking down with a hostile expression, his had on his hip. Behind them is some kind of barrier and a couple of other protesters. [This article starts on ADAPT 694 and continues on 678 and 670, The entire text of the article is included here for easier reading, but descriptions of the pictures are included on the pages the pictures appear on. 694 is just a picture and the headline of the story.] Title: ADAPT Activists and nursing home operators face to face: We will not stand for it any longer. Let our people go. You operators want to pretend it’s complicated. You raise a-lot of pseudo-issues to disguise the fact that it’s all about your money and your power. You want to pretend you’re trapped in this business, that union contracts prevent such and such... that legal liability prevents so on and so forth... We don’t want to hear any of that. It’s not complicated. It’s very simple. You will let our people go. >> We were arrested the first day, lots of us. They never expected us to come close to their hotel, the place where members of the American Health Care Association were staying while they held their convention across the street. Yes, they knew we were coming to Orlando. They briefed the locals, had the police waiting. So it was all set up in advance, cops on the rooftops, a police booking operation in the basement of the convention center. They were all set to cage us up for daring to interfere. They thought they had it covered. They were smugly going about their business, expecting only a minimum of trouble for a couple of hours. The intensity there — anyone driving by could feel it. The tons of security, the A.C.H.A. people retreating inside the hotel, aghast. It was like: “How dare they spoil our party!” The first wave of arrests was meant to stop us at all costs, keep us out of the convention. That first day, they thought they’d arrested all the “leaders.” But with ADAPT, when folks get arrested, other folks fill in and we just keep going. We will not be moved. It was our intent to send the message that nursing homes have one and a half million Americans locked up. We want the nursing home operators to be publicly accountable for that. Here we are, people who look like the folks the operators lock up at their home facilities. They’re on vacation, but they can’t escape. We are people with disabilities. We are everywhere. The operators were inside having seminars on how to manage the disruptive patient. We were outside holding a seminar with the press on the economics of managing people in nursing homes. Every place the A.C.H.A. people went they had to confront ADAPT people who had been in nursing homes. They can talk all they want about how homelike it is. We know better, firsthand. We are focusing the attention of the Bush administration through U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan and the whole Health Care Financing Administration. We are focusing public attention on the nursing home operators, the nurses, the families, everybody who had anything to do with our people being locked up. This will be a long struggle; we’re prepared for that. Five or ten years, a long struggle. Unless people like ADAPT are willing to stay focused and targeted, people in nursing homes and state schools are going to be forgotten all over again. We may not win at every action, but we will win the cumulative victory. We make people think about nursing homes. They don’t want to think about that. Put them away, put it out of mind, put it somewhere else. I want to say to people who say they don’t like ADAPT tactics: Do you really want our people out? Or are you sitting home saying, “Oh, those nursing homes shouldn’t do that!” How many people are going to get free because you hold that opinion? What are you doing about it? People are turned off by the arrests, by our confrontational style. “I’m not going to do ADAPT-style confrontations” — we hear that a lot. If you don't want to be on the front lines but you do want to help, there’s plenty to do: raising dollars so we can get to our actions, working with people in your community to make these issues known, forming your own group, bringing some attention to the issues in your own home town. We sure would welcome your help. ADAPT puts the edge on it, sets the margin. This is as far as we go, this is all we will take. We will not be moved. This article is taken from a conversation with Bob Kafka of ADAPT in Austin. The photographer is Tom Olin of ADAPT in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee. You can reach ADAPT people at either of these telephone numbers: Colorado 303-733-9324 Texas 512-442-0252