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Hjem / Albumer / Merknader 1987
+ SAAT 3
ADAPT (357)
Disabled Activists Blockade Transit Expo By Jack Fletcher Frontline, October 12, 1987 PHOTO by Frontline: In a medium close up, man and a woman in wheelchairs (Bob Kafka and Diane Coleman), sit side by side in a downtown street and tall buildings in the background. Both wear the ADAPT T-shirt with the no-steps logo, Diane has on a white jacket. Bob is speaking and has his hand over Diane's, which is on her joy stick. Behind her head is a poster, partly blocked from view, that reads "We the People..." There is no caption. San Francisco Hundreds of disabled activists, demanding accessible transit, dramatically confronted “the world’s largest transit exposition” here September 27-30 as they blockaded streets, chained themselves to cable cars, and generally besieged the 15,000 mass transit officials and manufacturers’ representatives at the American Public Transit Association (APTA) Expo ’87. Over 100 protesters were arrested as they pressed APTA to approve a resolution by the September Alliance for Affordable Transit (SAAT) calling for the right of the disabled and elderly to access public transit. SAAT organizer Marilyn Golden called the APTA protests “the largest in disability rights history.” The disabled community has fought against APTA since 1979 when APTA brought a lawsuit that succeeded in overturning a federal regulation requiring that all transit vehicles be accessible to the disabled. Since 1983 the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) has organized demonstrations at APTA conventions in Cincinnati, Detroit, Phoenix, New York, and Washington, D. C. to urge a policy change. Until this year when they scheduled two workshops on the issue, APTA has been unwilling to even meet with protestors. Mark Johnson, a demonstrator from Georgia, drew the parallel between these protests and the civil rights movement saying, “There was something wrong when Black people weren’t allowed to sit in the front of the bus, and there’s something wrong when we can’t even go on the bus.” APTA claims that accessibility would cost $15 billion and would bankrupt the nation’s transit districts; they propose instead a system of “paratransit” which would theoretically provide disabled people with flexible door-to-door service but in fact translates into long waiting lists and call-ahead requirements, weekday-only buses and restricted ride purposes. SAAT counters that APTA’s $15 billion figure includes completely rebuilding subways in New York, Chicago and other cities, while the disabled community’s actual demand does not include rebuilding rail systems or even retrofitting existing vehicles, but only that new buses include wheelchair lifts. Also, while arguing that paratransit may be a useful supplement to public transit, Susan Schapiro of SAAT criticized existing paratransit systems as designed with a view of the disabled as “pathetic people in nursing homes going to see the doctor twice a month . . . . It all boils down to discrimination and the belief that these aren’t really people. The APTA delegates could not miss the powerful statement made by the tenacious lines of wheelchair bound demonstrators who spanned several generations in age, were multi-racial in composition, and came from every corner of the U.S. – including eight from Alaska. As demonstrators were being arrested they drove home the irony of being taken away in a lift-equipped paddy wagons chanting, “They can take us to jail but not to work.”
ADAPT (349)
San Francisco Chronicle 9/28/87 S.F Protest For Disabled Turns Violent By Evelynn C. White A peaceful demonstration for the rights of the disabled to use public transit turned violent last night when 23 people were arrested, one of them on charges of assaulting a police officer. Following a rally at Union Square, 500 demonstrators converged on City Hall, where members of the American Public Transportation Association were holding a dinner meeting. Police said the melee broke out when demonstrators tried to block members from entering in the meeting. San Francisco police officer Michael Travis, 40, who was thrown down the City Halls steps in the scuffle, was treated for a possible concussion and released. Arrested in the assaulted was Alan Shipley, 40, of San Francisco, who police said is not disabled. Shipley was booked at city jail on charges of assaulted and battery on an officer and resisting arrest. The other 22 demonstrators, 19 of them wheelchair-bound were cited for failure to disperse, blocking a sidewalk and resisting arrest. They were released. Earlier in the day, 250 demonstrators at Union Square, 80 percent in wheelchairs, made a plea for better access to public transit. “In most cities, a person who is disabled can’t go to work, can’t go to school, can’t function,” said Laverne Chase, a wheelchair-bound resident of Washington, D.C. “I am here because I believe that disabled people should have equal access to everything that the mind can imagine, starting with public transportation.” The protest, sponsored by the September Alliance for Accessible Transit, was held in opposition to the APTA, which is convening in the city through the week. In the early 1980s, APTA fought to rescind federal regulations that would have required wheelchair lifts in all newly purchased transit buses and handicapped accessibility to all new rail systems. The organization instead lobbied for a “local option” alternative that allows individual transit systems to determine the best way to serve the handicapped. On Wednesday, the association plans to hold a session concerning the needs of the disabled. "We don't feel it's appropriate to leave it up to local operators,“said Berkeley resident Shelley Bergum. “There should be federal legislation that prohibits discrimination just like there is for housing and employment.“ In Anchorage, where 33-year—old Duane French lives, the “local option" has meant no public transportation at all for the disabled. “I’m one of the lucky ones because I have a van,” said French. “But other wheelchair-bound people have to impose on friends and family plan weeks in advance to get where they need to go. They should be able to go down to a corner and get on a bus, to live their lives spontaneously.”
ADAPT (377)
Phoenix Gazette September 28, 1987 Photo by UPI (United Press International): A very young girl (Jennifer Keelan) is framed by a gap in the backs of two police officers. Her face is full of concern but not fear. Someone's arm is beside her. Behind her a crowd of other protesters can be seen. Caption reads: Cerebral palsy victim Jennifer Keelan, 6, of Tempe joins demonstrators at protest in San Francisco Sunday. Title: Police arrest 20 in transit protest by handicapped SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Police arrested 20 protestors outside City Hall Sunday, including one man booked for investigation of assaulting a police officer, as 500 handicapped people from around the country demonstrated over restrictive public transportation. Hundreds of disabled people who are demanding access to public transit systems in every U.S. city have threatened to block city streets, hotel lobbies and entrances to the Moscone Convention Center through Wednesday during a national public transit conference. “If it were women or blacks who couldn’t get on the bus it would clearly be a civil rights issue,” said Kitty Cone of Berkeley, a member of September Alliance for Accessible Transit. An unidentified man was arrested for investigation of assault on a police officer when he got into an altercation with officers arresting protestors in wheelchairs who blocked the main entrance to the stately city building. A reception was being held for members of the American Public Transit Association inside. “The officer fell backward and received a slight concussion when he hit his head on the steps,” police spokesman Richard Galliani said. The other 19 people – all of whom were in the wheelchairs – were arrested for investigation of blocking a sidewalk, resisting arrest and failure to disperse, all misdemeanor charges, said Galliani. They were transported to San Francisco jail in several vans equipped to accommodate wheelchairs.