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ADAPT (296)
Handicapped Coloradan Volume 9, No. 3, Boulder Colorado October 1986 [There are two articles included here.] Headline: Rosa bows out at last minute PHOTO: by Melanie Stengel, courtesy of UPI Three uniformed police officers surround a woman in a scooter (Edith Harris) and hold her arms. They are in front of a city bus, and behind them you can see a fourth officer and a city building. The caption reads: EDITH HARRIS, 62, of Hartford, Conn., is arrested by police during demonstrations in Detroit in early October. Harris, a grandmother who lost her legs to diabetes, was in Detroit to picket the national convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA). Harris has participated in similar demonstrations in Washington, D.C, and Los Angeles, Calif. She was also arrested in both those cities. Ironically, Harris compares herself to Rosa Parks, the black civil rights leader who decided at the last minute not to participate in the Detroit transit demonstrations. Title: Blacks blast ADAPT [This article continues in ADAPT 288 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] Civil rights heroine Rosa Parks shocked disabled groups when she said at the last minute that she would not participate in any actions protesting Detroit's lack of accessible public transit. “We do not wish any American to be discriminated against in transportation or any other form that reduces their equality and dignity," Elaine Steele an assistant to Parks, said in a letter dated Oct. 3 and delivered to Wade Blank, co-founder of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT). "However," we cannot condone disruption of Detroit city services." Parks had said she would appear at a Sunday, Oct. 5, news conference and possibly lead a march across Detroit. Steele said that Parks "supports active peaceful protest of human rights issues, not tactics that will embarrass the city's guests and cripple the city's present transportation system.“ Blank said he asked Steele how their tactics differed from those used by Parks and other blacks to fight segregation in the South in the 1950s and 1960s but she was unable to provide him with a satisfactory answer. Parks is credited with igniting the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala. bus in 1956. Parks' defiant action caused a Montgomery minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. to organize a black boycott of that city's buses. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and CBS newsman Ed Bradley — both black -- were scheduled to address the national convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) and reportedly asked Parks not to embarrass them by participating in the ADAPT action. Blank said that Parks had wavered once or twice in the weeks before the convention, but that he had managed to persuade her to stick to her original decision. But less than a week before the convention opened, Parks and her staff met in long session, and decided to support ADAPT. The Handicapped Coloradan has so far been unable to reach Parks or her representatives to learn what made her change her mind so suddenly. Blank said that he "wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Chrysler or Ford told her that they wouldn't contribute to the Rosa L. Parks Shrine if she went through with the action.” Parks is currently involved in raising money to commemorate her role and that of other blacks in the struggle for equality. But Blank stopped short of condemning Parks, saying that the 74-year-old leader has earned the respect of everyone for her actions in the 1950s. He said, "Maybe it just isn't her time any more. If I had known we were going to put her on the spot like this, I wouldn't have done it. She was under a lot of pressure. Apparently the phone never stopped ringing.” However, Blank had plenty to say about Bradley, who is a regular on the highly rated television news program "60 Minutes." Before giving a speech on apartheid in South Africa, Bradley told the 2300 APTA delegates that ADAPT had asked him not to appear at the convention. Bradley said he talked with both Young and Parks and all three agreed that they did not approve of the tactics used by the disabled group. Blank said he tried to contact Bradley by phone on at least six different occasions during the two months preceding the convention but was never able to get past his secretary." "We wanted to explain our position, but he apparently wasn't interested. This may tell you just how much homework they do on ‘6O Minutes.' Maybe people who make their living by intimidating others can't take it themselves," Blank said, referring to the often adversarial approach used on the program. “Blank said he was never able to ‘get through to Young directly but a member of Young's staff said they were welcome to ride the city's buses. "Then they arrested us for doing just that," he said. The state of Michigan requires that all transit systems receiving state funds be wheelchair accessible, but the city of Detroit avoids that requirement by financing its own transit system. Representatives of the suburban Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA), which is accessible, said it would be willing to introduce a pro-accessibility resolution at the next APTA convention if it can find two or three co-sponsors, according to Blank. Young defended ‘Detroit's policy at a news conference by saying that he couldn't "make gold out of straw" to pay for the lifts. Young attacked ADAPT for employing “sabotage and sensationalism” and accused the group of taking "advantage of their disabilities" to block buses and get publicity for their cause. “That's not the way to win cooperation," he said. Blank said the only time people in power take notice of disabled people is when they engage in civil disobedience, pointing out the efforts their opponents made to discredit ADAPT. “The police told us that APTA had told them we were urban terrorists." He said he was sure few people in Detroit knew of the difficulties encountered by persons with disabilities in using public transit before ADAPT hit town. Blank said he tried to get Jesse Jackson and his rainbow coalition to support ADAPT in Detroit, but every time he telephoned he was told that “Jesse was in the air" flying to another appearance. Some members of Jackson's other group, PUSH, did participate in some of the Detroit demonstrations. Blank said he was saddened that so many blacks could not understand ADAPT's motives. “I guess it was just one human race story running up against another" he said. PHOTO: The dark figures of 3 Detroit police officers loom into the frame from all sides. Through a small hole between their arms you can see the face and chest of a man (Ken Heard) they are surrounding. Below their arms you can see the wheels and frame Ken's wheelchair. Caption reads: Detroit police had their hands full when they placed Ken Heard under arrest. Title of 2nd article: 54 arrested in transit showdown [This article is continued in ADAPT 295 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] At least 54 demonstrators were arrested in Detroit as disabled groups once again laid siege to a national convention of their arch-foe, the American Public Transit Association (APTA). Seventeen or 18 protesters (accounts vary) were arrested Monday, Oct. 6, when they attempted to board -- and block -- Detroit city buses, which are mostly not equipped with wheelchair lifts. Those arrested were released on a $l00 personal bond and were ordered not to participate in any actions that would lead to a second arrest. The next day, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 37 protesters, including 13 repeat offenders, were booked by police for blocking one of the two entrances to the McNamara federal office building. Twenty-four of these were released after posting the $100 personal bond apiece, but the repeat offenders had bail set at $1,000 each. Even as the protesters, primarily members of the militant American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT), began pouring into Detroit Friday night, the Wayne County jail was already filled to its 1700 person capacity and was turning away all prisoners charged with misdemeanors. The 13 two-time offenders were held Tuesday night in a gym at police headquarters which has bars on the windows and which has been used on other occasions as a holding area for prisoners waiting to be incarcerated. Ironically, the gym's facilities were not accessible to persons in wheelchairs, and police were obliged to carry their disabled prisoners when they needed to use the restrooms. Outside police headquarters, another 60 demonstrators gathered and staged an all-night candlelight vigil. As in other cities where ADAPT has staged demonstrations in its fight to win mandatory accessible public transit, the police said they were in a [unreadable.] More than one officer complained that you can't help but look bad when you arrest someone in a wheelchair. The Detroit police had received briefings from other cities visited by ADAPT and had given some special training to officers in dealing with disabled protesters. ADAPT had originally been granted a parade permit to stage a march on the Westin Hotel where APTA conventioneers were meeting, but Mayor Coleman Young and police went to the city council and got the permit rescinded. No parade permit was issued when ADAPT marched on APTA in Los Angeles, but police made no attempt to push the marchers off the streets and in fact routed traffic away from the demonstrators. However, in Detroit police dogged ADAPT marchers for two miles, making [unreadable] protesters stuck to the sidewalks, even when obstacles such as a large puddle of water hampered, their progress. ADAPT spokesperson Wade Blank said the Detroit action cost $20,000 and that the group was seeking additional financial assistance to continue to press their fight, which has taken them to APTA's national conventions in Denver, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, as well as to regional meetings in San Antonio, San Diego, and Cincinnati. Blank said several reporters asked him about reports that ADAPT was being funded by lift manufacturers. “I’m sure someone with APTA planted that question to try and discredit us,” he said. Blank said ADAPT had received contributions of $100 each from two lift manufacturers but that this was for other projects. “Besides, that isn’t enough to make bail for more than two people." APTA'S 1987 convention is set for San Francisco and ADAPT is already beginning to lay the groundwork for disrupting that meeting. “People ask why we do these kinds of things (civil disobedience)," Blank said. “But look how much publicity we get. People are finally getting the word about what public transit really means to someone in a wheelchair.” California has required all public transit systems to convert to accessible systems as they replace old equipment, but Blank said he’s heard that there have been some problems with the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in recent months. But before they head for San Francisco, ADAPT has been asked by disabled groups in Boston for assistance in setting up a program to pursue accessible transit there.
ADAPT (305)
The Disability Rag, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1987 p. 10 part 2 of article that starts in ADAPT 306 is included her in ADAPT 305 but that text is included with ADAPT 306 for easier reading. This is the second article: Title: End of September will see ADAPT in S.F. Denver. Then Washington, D.C. Then Los Angeles. Then Detroit. For the past four years, members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit have held demonstrations during the American Public Transit Association’s annual convention, trying to get the lobbying and trade association for the public transit industry to change its mind about lifts on buses. APTA refuses to back mandatory requirements that public bus systems be accessible — instead, they promote a concept called “local option." Under “local option,” something ADAPT organizer Wade Blank has compared to “states’ rights” back in slavery days, communities should decide whether equipping a bus system's fleet with lifts is “better" for disabled people than a separate, “paratransit” system of mini-buses (often called "dial-a-ride.”) Since APTA has refused to change its position, ADAPT has continued to harass the group. Each year ADAPT’s ranks have grown. The first year ADAPT picketed APTA’s convention, in Denver, ADAPT was a local, Denver-based group of wheelchair riders. Today, there are ADAPT chapters in most major American cities. Local disability `groups` in the San Francisco Bay area are organizing for this year's convention and expect hundreds of disabled people from across the country for events beginning September 28. ADAPT’s San Francisco headquarters will be The San Franciscan Hotel, at 1231 Market Street (94103; 415-626-8000.) For more information on housing and actions for the week, contact either ADAPT in Denver at 303-393-0630, or San Francisco's September Alliance for Accessible Transit at 415-323-3736.
ADAPT (340)
PHOTO (Tom Olin?): A Row on police and other AB men stand with their backs to the camera. Through them you can see a line of people in wheelchairs blocking a San Francisco cable car. On one side a very large crowd is visible on the sidewalk.
ADAPT (341)
View from rear of Bob Kafka leaning on the back of George Roberts chair on a plaza on the steps of the San Francisco City Hall. City officials stand at the far side of the plaza. A huge crowd of disabled people gathered in front of the steps listen to the speakers; most of the crowd are in wheelchairs.
ADAPT (342)
San Francisco Examiner 9/28/87 Still waiting for the bus Photo by Examiner/Kurt Rogers: A row of policemen in dark uniforms facing away from the camera make most of the photo black. At their sides you can see night sticks and their hands on their hips. Between them you can see a very young (about 6 years old) Jennifer Keelan mouth open in a loud chant and behind her, barely visible is her mother Cindy. To the right Diane Coleman is framed by two other policemen, and between them mostly hidden by the officer's legs, is Bob Kafka. Caption reads: A contingent of disabled and elderly protesters roll up Post Street in S.F. after holding Union Square rally. Headline: Disabled protest transit group’s policies By Ken O'Toole of the Examiner staff Disabled people from across the nation took to the streets of San Francisco Sunday to demand better access to public transportation, rolling through downtown streets in a wheelchair caravan that stretched from Union Square to the downtown Hilton Hotel. Chanting, “We want access” and "We will ride," the crowd of several hundred disabled and their supporters rolled with police escorts to the hotel, where the annual meeting of the American Public Transit Association was taking place. The protesters were halted at the hotel's doors by a line of police, and after a brief rally moved on to City Hall, where they confronted transit association members going to a cocktail party. Police arrested 20 people, including 16 in wheelchairs, for blocking the sidewalk and failing to disperse. They were cited and released. One demonstrator. who was not wheelchair-bound, was booked for felony assault after he kicked a police officer in the chest. Police estimated that there were 500 demonstrators. The march, spirited but orderly, did not seriously disrupt traffic as scores of wheelchair-bound protesters voiced their displeasure with the associations policies and called for restoration of a national transit policy that would require wheelchair lifts on all public buses and trolleys. Both protesters and officials of the Municipal Railway noted the irony of the demonstration taking place in a city that has one of the best disabled-accessibility programs in the United States. California and Michigan are the only states that require all new buses to have wheelchair lifts. However, outside California, most disabled people are "segregated from public transit, and are often regulated to lengthy waiting lists for door-to-door van service" or no service at all, said a spokeswoman for the September Alliance for Accessible Transit. The group, in conjunction with American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, plans more demonstrations as the transit association meets here through Thursday. Transit association Executive Vice President Jack Gilstrap said, “it's not a disagreement over whether we serve the disabled; it's how its to be done. Our position, and we're consistent with federal law and the courts, is for each community to decide how the service (to the handicapped) should be supplied." He said that lifts can cost $10,000 to $15,000 and that individual communities should be able to decide whether the money might be better spent on other transit woes. "lt's a very emotional issue," Gilstrap said, "but (public-transit agencies) have short resources. You're doing a good job here in the Bay Area, but with an extraordinary level of taxes." Muni spokeswoman Annette Wire said a total of 280 buses In the system have lifts, and 16 Muni lines are totally accessible to the handicapped. At a Union Square rally before the march, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy called for full access to public transportation. Saying laws that guarantee rights to all people have been undermined, McCarthy said disabled people have a right to access to school and work through public transportation. "Transportation means independence," McCarthy said, “and independence means opportunity." The Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church called on the disabled to take America to a new task... You may be called to set what's wrong right." A wheelchair-bound San Franciscan named Gill rolled into the crowd of demonstrators at Union Square and said he liked what he saw. But he said, “San Francisco is moving in the right direction. I travel sometimes miles a day (in the electric wheelchair) and I usually don‘! have any problems. except with the occasional inexperienced bus driver." Joe Carley, of Dallas, Texas, said since he was restricted to a wheelchair several years ago, at age 38, I realized: ‘This can happen to at anybody. Transportation is the A-Number 1 concern for anyone who's disabled. Federal and state governments don't really see transportation as a right. We want to live, not just survive." Photo by Examiner/Kurt Rogers: A really large group of people, many in wheelchairs head down a street. Caption reads: Demonstrators protest American Public Transit Association's policies on disabled accessibility.
ADAPT (347)
San Francisco Chronicle 9/26/87 Title: 4,000 Transit Officials To Add to S.F.'s Traffic By Harre W. Demoro The executives of North America's 400 transit systems are gathering in San Francisco, worried that their industry is declining and bracing for handicapped people to disrupt their meetings. The handicapped are demanding that all transit vehicles, including San Francisco's historic 37 cable cars, be accessible to wheelchairs, a demand that transit officials say is too costly. The centerpiece of the transit gathering will be a huge trade show, which opens Monday and is expected to draw 15,000 people to Moscone Center. Its 450 exhibits of the latest bus and rail car technology from 15 countries include a gleaming new BART car that is two years behind schedule and has yet to carry a paying passenger. About 4,000 delegates have signed up for three days of technical and professional meetings at the Hilton Hotel, said Jack R. Gilstrap, executive vice president of the American Public Transit Association. Times have changed since Washington-based APTA met here 11 years ago. Then, the Bay Area was a transit showcase and federal officials were promising billions of dollars for a nationwide bus and subway renaissance. Although the San Francisco Municipal Railway has prospered since 1976, the Bay Area's other big transit systems have not done well. After 15 years, the much-heralded $1.8 billion BART system still is plagued by technical and financial problems and has been deserted by 10 percent of its riders in the last two years. BART's general manager, Keith Bernard, has taken a medical leave to escape the pressures running the controversial agency. AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit, two bus systems that were showcases 11 years ago, also have lost riders and are grappling with draconian financial problems. Moreover, the federal government is threatening to cut transit assistance and Reagan administration leaders now point to costly systems like BART as examples of how not to solve traffic congestion problems. Gilstrap, formerly general manager of the huge Los Angeles bus system, said yesterday in San Francisco that he is optimistic that - the next federal administration, no matter what its party affiliation, will be pro-transit. "The nation's crumbling infrastructure must be addressed after the election," he said. The militant handicapped people will demonstrate at Union Square at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, and also picket meetings, banquets and cocktail parties, said Bill Bolte of ADAPT, American Disabled for Accessible Handicapped [sic]. "We are not going to allow these people to have a good meal," said Bolte, who was arrested earlier this year at a demonstration at a transit meeting in Phoenix. Gilstrap said APTA supports federal edicts calling for some vehicles and stations to be accessible`to wheelchairs and for alternative forms of transportation, such as special vans for handicapped people he said.
ADAPT (348)
The front of the march with the rest of the marchers in the background and tall city buildings in the background. Across the front row young Jennifer Keelan is being pushed in her chair by her mother Cindy. Next to her is Bob Kafka in his manual chair and with his no steps ADAPT logo T-shirt and a piece of blue duct tape on his knee. Beside him is Diane Coleman in her motorized wheelchair and with red tape on her knee. Over her head you can partially see a sign reading "We the People..." Beside the sign Julie Farrar's face is visible and behind Bob you can see Justin Dart. Behind Jennifer and Cindy a motorcycle policeman is visible.
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 (354)
Austin American-Statesman Sunday, October 25, 1987 Lifestyle section Title: Streetcars and Desire Activist couple dedicate lives to tearing down walls between city buses and the disabled By Carlos Vidal Greth, American-Statesman Staff (This is a compilation of the article that is on ADAPT 354 and ADAPT 353. The content is all included here for easier reading.) Most visitors to the Bay Area relish the opportunity to hop a cable car and "climb halfway to the stars," as Tony Bennett croons in his signature song, I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Stephanie Thomas, organizer for Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, had other ideas. "To mobility-impaired people, keeping those historic symbols of public transit alive memorializes inaccessibility and makes it seem like a positive thing," she said. ADAPT, a national civil-rights group, strives to make it easier for disabled people to ride city buses. They differ from mainstream disability-rights groups in that members sometimes commit acts of civil disobedience when the usual political channels clog or hit a dead end. Thomas, her husband Bob Kafka, and eight other Austinites went to San Francisco in late September to conduct a protest during the national convention of the American Public Transit Association, a lobbying organization. Kafka and 15 others were arrested when they climbed out of their wheelchairs and staged a sit-in at the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market streets. Thomas was arrested twice, once for blocking a shuttle bus and once for blocking a cable car. "I've been arrested eight times or so," she said. "I've lost count. Bob has been arrested 14 times. The police are usually aware it's a demonstration about civil rights, and that we're not out to hurt their city. But it's scary. We're not automatons. Some members break down and cry when they go to prison." As far as Thomas is concerned, the suffering has been worth it. "The demonstrations got national exposure. More important, we got the transit association's attention. They are beginning to listen." Thomas, who is also executive director of the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities, could sit for a poster portrait of the committed political activist. Her shock of amber hair shifts of its own accord like the wind ruffling a field of grain. Wide, blue eyes fix visitors with the riveting gaze of a woman who believes she fights for what is right. She was born 30 years ago in New York to parents who fought for justice in their way. Her father organized political campaigns and worked for arms control. Her mother, a writer, was involved in the women's movement. "Mom taught me to question people's perceptions," Thomas said. "The women's and disabled movements have something in common: We're defined by our bodies. You have to fight that all the time." Her first protest occurred when she was in elementary school. Mothers in the apartment building where her family lived wanted to establish a day-care center. The owners didn't want to provide the space. "Women and children took over the building," Thomas said. "We weren't angry college protestors. We were non-threatening moms and kids. But our presence made a difference." Despite her progressive upbringing, she was a shy girl who hid from the world behind the covers of books. When she was 17, her legs were paralyzed when she fell off a farm tractor while doing chores. What could have been a tragedy turned her life around. "I realized that life doesn't go on forever, and that you need to make the most of every moment," Thomas said. Thomas attended Harvard, where she and other disabled students organized a group to help make campus more accessible. "When I look back, I see we were very tame,” she said. “We were polite but usually got what we asked for.” Over the years, Thomas became increasingly active in disability rights. She got involved in independent living centers, communities of disabled people supporting one another so they can live with dignity outside institutions. In the early 1980s, she joined the Austin Resources Center for Independent Living. She went to work for the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities in 1985. The 9-year-old coalition lobbies for, represents and coordinates 90 organizations (including ADAPT) concerned with disabilities, as well as the more than 2 million disabled Texans. “It is the collective voice for the disabled in Texas,” said Kaye Beneke, spokeswoman for the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. "They’re committed - the members live every day with the problems they try to solve. “Stephanie understands there’s a spectrum of political views in the coalition, which tend to be more middle-of-the-road than ADAPT. She takes responsibility for the representing of all those views. But don’t call the coalition passive. They’ve had their way in the legislature and on the local level.” As a leader in two of Texas major disability-rights organizations, Thomas has her hands full. It helps having Bob Kafka, who broke his back in a car accident in 1973, at her side. The experienced trouble maker -- albeit trouble for a good cause -- has made a name for himself. He won the Governor’s Citation for Meritorious Service in 1986. Appropriately, Kafka met Thomas at a disability-rights conference. “Stephanie was real involved, real committed and real attractive,” he said. Sharing home and office has increased their commitment to the cause they serve- and to each other. “Bob and I are an activist couple,” Thomas said. “It’s intense because we work so closely. But it’s rewarding. It has made us an incredibly tight couple.” Thomas has to rework her concept of activism when she joined ADAPT. “Demonstrations force the public to look at disabled people in a different light,” she said. “The cripple is the epitome of powerlessness. We say we’re sorry if it scares you to look at me, but we have to live our lives.” Confrontation, however can cost allies as well as foes. This year, the Paralyzed Veterans of America severed ties with ADAPT and any organization "advocating illegal civil disobedience.” “Our charter states that we must act in accordance with the laws of the land,” said Phil Rabin, director of education. “To act otherwise would be to violate our charter. “The veterans and ADAPT members share first-hand the frustration of living in a society that is not accessible to the disabled. We don’t want to fight ADAPT. It’s a waste of precious resources to divert our energies.” Though Thomas’ group is controversial, it has achieved many of its goals. Albert Engleken, deputy executive director for the American Public Transit Association in Washington, D.C., acknowledged that ADAPT’s street theater has had some effect. In September his organization created a task force to study the issue of providing service for disabled, he said. Engelken, however is not a convert to their cause. “ADAPT wants a lift on every transit bus in the country,” Engelken said. “We believe it should be left to local transit authorities to decide how to handle transportation for disabled people. Transit officials are not robber barons. We’re paid by the public to provide the most mobility for the most people.” Thomas knows how to work within the system. Ben Gomez, director of development for Capital Metro, said ADAPT members have been effective on the Mobility Impaired Service Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations on service to the transit authority board of directors. “They’re well-organized,” Gomez said. “We don’t always agree on the approach and issues. We’ve made many of the adjustments they’ve asked for, but not always within their time frame.” The concessions have been gratifying, but Thomas has only begun to fight. “ADAPT took a dead issue änd made it hot again,” she said. For information on American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, write to ADAPT of Texas, 2810 Pearl, Austin 78705/ To learn more about the Coalition of Texans With Disabilities, call 443-8252, or write to P.O. Box 4709, Austin 78765. [curator note: addresses and phone numbers no longer valid] Staff Photo by Mike Boroff: A man (Bob Kafka) with Canadian (wrist cuff) crutches, a plaid shirt, light colored jeans and sneakers sits in the lap of a woman (Stephanie Thomas) with wild big hair and a button down shirt. She is sitting in a manual wheelchair. Caption reads: "Bob and I are an activist couple,” says Stephanie Thomas who met Bob Kafka at a rights conference. “It’s intense because we work so closely. But it’s rewarding.” Photo by Russ Curtis: A group of protesters are looking up at something over their heads and their mouths are open shouting. In the front of the picture a woman in a manual wheelchair (Stephanie Thomas) is sitting on a line on the pavement that reads passenger zone. She has her finger raised pointing and is wearing a t-shirt with the ADAPT no-steps logo. Beside her is a man (Jim Parker) with a headband looking back over his shoulder, beside him another man in a wheelchair. Behind Jim stands a woman (Babs Johnson) with her arms by her sides and her mouth open yelling. Behind her a line of other protesters is arriving. Caption reads: ADAPT organizer Stephanie Thomas traveled to San Francisco to participate in a rally protesting the policies of the American Public Transit Association.
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A screen full of people marching. Many are wearing the green ADAPT t-shirt with the old no step logo. In the center Diane Coleman in her motorized wheelchair is carrying a giant white poster behind her that reads "We the people..." over her head. Beside her Cindy Keelan pushes her daughter Jennifer's wheelchair. Diane looks very determined.
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This is a continuation of the article in ADAPT 375 and the entire text of the story is included there for easier reading. Photo by Rick Gerharter: A heavyset double amputee in a manual wheelchair (Jerry Eubanks) sits looking sideways in the middle of a street. Behind him a line of five uniformed police officers stand in a row looking straight ahead, over his head. Caption reads: One of the many demonstrators arrested by local law enforcement officials at this week's APTA convention.
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San Francisco September 30,1987 S.F. Independent PHOTO (right middle of page) by Rick Gerharter: At least nine wheelchair users (among them, Rick James, Stephanie Thomas, Woody Carlson, Cathy Thomas or Julie Farrar and others) fill the front of the frame blocking a bus with a sign with the APTA logo and Hotels written on it. Most of the blockers are facing toward the bus, away from the camera. Police stand on either side of the bus. Two protesters have Proud and Disabled bumper stickers on the backs of their wheelchairs. Caption: Disabled protesters blocked a SamTrans bus Monday at the American Public Transit Association convention taking place this week at Moscone Center. [Headline] Bitter Protests at Transit Meet By: Carol Farron [This story continues on a second page we do not have at this time.] Disabled people from throughout the United States are angry and have gathered in San Francisco this week to protest the lack of accessibility on public transit systems throughout the nation. The protesters are hoping to force transit officials who are convening at the annual meeting of the American Public Transit Association to change their thinking on transit accessibility for the disabled. APTA, public transit's biggest lobbying group, took the lead in the early 1980s in convincing Congress to overturn federal regulations allowing full transit accessibility for the disabled. What resulted from that decision was a "local option" plan. This allowed individual transit agencies to decide if they would provide accessibility for the disabled on fixed route service or an alternate van/taxi service. Many disabled `groups` are unhappy with that outcome, charging that the local option denies them their civil rights and impedes or prohibits their ability to attend school or hold down jobs because of a lack of transportation. Additionally, many disabled say that paratransit is a paternalistic system that segregates them from society, and users are made to feel helpless. APTA members contend that full accessibility is expensive and unworkable. They say that equipping buses and trains with lifts is too expensive given the number of disabled riders. The disabled, however, say that transit's estimates of disabled riders are low, and accessible transit can work as cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Denver have proven. More than 200 wheelchair bound men and women said last Saturday at a press conference that because the current regulations deny them their civil rights they came prepared to be arrested - and that they were. Thirty-four people, most in wheelchairs, were arrested at a City Hall protest last Sunday, and another 22 were arrested in for blocking a Samtrans bus at Moscone Center on Monday. Many more arrests are expected until the convention's conclusion this Thursday. "This is a militant bunch of protestors," said Jack Gilstrap, executive vice president of APTA. "These people terrified and roughed up some of our members at city hall. "Just because someone is in a wheelchair doesn't mean they're nice." Marilyn Golden of SAAT, the September Alliance for Accessible Transit, said her group is "far from militant." see Rides, page 2
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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.
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[This memo is continued in ADAPT 408, but the text of both is contained here for easier reading.] TYPED MEMO [title] SECURITY FOR APTA EASTERN CONVENTION St. Louis - May 14 Through 19, 1988 Set up Command Post at Omni Hotel. A line of communication will be set up between Command Post (Bi-State and the Police Departments of concern. The command rank of all Police Agencies of concern will be shown the APTA film on previous convention, which ADAPT members demonstrated. Line of communication set up with officials at the Arch. A direct line of communication will be implemented between all teams, 8i-State Security in the field and the command post. Also, a line of communication will be set up between officers in the field, the police departments, and between each team. The 8i-State Security will consist of officers from the Under-cover and Reduce Fare Programs. These officers will be working in both uniforms and plain clothes. We will also have police officers from the U.P.S.P. from the E. St. Louis Police Department and the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department. These officers (U.P.S.P.) will be organized into teams. The size of each team will depend on their assignment. Communication has been sent to the San Francisco, California, requesting copies of the film they have regarding the demonstration of ADAPT at a convention in their city. There will be made available a camera crew, with VCR-35 M.M. and polaroid cameras to capture any activity of the demonstrators. This film will be made available for use in court if needed in the event there are arrests. It will also be very useful for future use. All moves from the hotel by APTA conventioneers on convention planned activities will be monitored. The final destination of these trips will be kept under surveillance by uniform and plain clothes officers. All planned convention activities away from the hotel will be monitored to the extent that alternative routes will be planned beforehand. These alternate routes and access will have a code number or name. Security and Command Post will have a complete schedule on any and all planned moves. No moves will be made without Security or Command Post knowledge of same. Alternate means of access at the final destination will also be planned ahead. [page] 1 There will be advanced Security Teams sent ahead, and if they find the routes or final destination has ADAPT demonstrators gathering, this information will be sent immediately and directly to Command Post. It will be at this time the Command Post will give the Code as to what route and entrance to use. All team captains will have knowledge of these Code words or numbers, and to their proper use. All buses transporting APTA conventioneers will have a uniform or plain clothes officer on board at all times with a radio. The officer will keep in constant contact with Command Post. The Command Post will make the officers of board the bus or buses aware if they will be using the alternate routes and entrance to final destination and be given the alternative coded route and entrance to be used. Each officer on the bus(s) will acknowledge receiving the message. All movement of these buses will also be made available to the Police Departments of concern. Any demonstrators blocking the movement of any of our buses (Bi-State) or blocking the accessibility of entrance to our buses will be arrested and charged accordingly. Camera crew will be called if not already on the scene. Our 8i-State Security will play a major role in this activity. Bi-State will prosecute when we are involved in any arrest. Our security force will assist the police whenever possible. We will have a number of backup officers (reserve) on a standby status. They will be ready when or where ever needed. There will be roving field supervisors (U.P.S.P.) who will monitor all movements concerning the Eastern APTA Convention on the streets, and will keep the Command Post appraised of any and all unusual movements or gathering of the ADAPT demonstrators. The Command Post in turn will notify the Police Department of concern if so warranted. There should be made available two mini Call-a-ride vans. One will assist the law enforcement agencies to transport arrested demonstrators, and the other will be used by Command Post to deliver backup officers to locations they are needed, or for any other emergency which may arise. A sweep will be made each day of all meeting rooms, prior to their occupancy, by Bi-State security and hotel security for any hidden bugging devices or any type of explosives. Available at the Command Post will be a battery charger, spare batteries, and radios. [page] 2
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[This artlice continues in ADAPT 412, but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO 1: A group of protesters in wheelchairs, in a rough line, head down the street toward the camera. In front and to one side a policeman on a motorcycle/trike. Caption: ADAPT demonstrators, with police escort, on their way from the Arch to Union Station, via Market Street PHOTO 2: Four protesters in wheelchairs block a flight of stairs in a lobby type area as people walk by. From left to right they are Ryan Duncan, Heather Blank, unknown protester, and Wayne Spahn. Caption: Demonstrators blocked access to stairways in Union Station, trying to force a confrontation with APTA officials. [No Title or author or publication given for this article on the clipping. It does not appear be the start of the article.] "They bill it as door to door service, but it does crazy things like, if you want to go from west county to the city, it will pick you up but leave you at the city-county line." Bi-State plans to expand the service in December by adding 11 lift-equipped vans and extending the service into the city. The system will also extend its hours of operation, to 6 a.m. to 7 p m. Its use in the city limits will be limited to disabled passengers, Plesko says, and, with the extended hours, disabled workers will be able to use the service to get to their jobs. While some other cities are making similar (or greater) progress — San Francisco, for one, has lifts on every one of its buses — things are still moving too slowly for the members of ADAPT. And they blame the slow pace on APTA. (ADAPT members who came to St. Louis this week stressed that they were here because of their quarrel with APTA and were not here to demonstrate against Bi-State. They said they approved of the plans Bi-State had made for the achievement of 100 percent accessibility, but nonetheless questioned the slow pace at which that was occurring.) The fight between ADAPT and APTA has its roots in the 1970s. During the Carter administration, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued rules requiring transit systems to have at least half of their buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. Those regulatioms came out of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a landmark federal law that many in the disabled community point to as being equivalent to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But APTA filed suit against DOT for its regulations and a federal court upheld APTA's argument for "local option," that is, allowing individual transit authorities to decide how they would comply with the spirit of the regulation requiring adequate accessible transportation for the disabled. Says APTA's Engelken, "These decisions are best made locally, because the local transit systems understand the needs of their passengers. For example, it would not be feasible to have a transit system for the disabled based on 100 percent lift-equipped buses in Fargo, North Dakota, because in the winter it would be almost impossible for someone in a wheel chair to get to a bus stop and wait for a bus. Able-bodied people have enough trouble (there)." Says Bob Kafka, another ADAPT leader, "(That) is one of the arguments people use for not providing transportation. They say, 'People in a motorized wheelchair can't get there, so why provide (accessible buses)?' But do you know what a person in a motorized wheelchair has to do to get to the bus stop? He has to hit a joystick. Little old ladies cleaning people's homes for years, with fallen arches, and having to carry shopping bags, no one has ever said we need special transit for them. But a disabled person who has to hit a joystick to operate his wheelchair, we need special transportation for them because it’s too cold, too snowy, too hilly, too wet, too this. "It's like were going to break, were going to fall apart." ADAPT sees APTA's insistence on local option as an attempt by the group to foster so-called "separate-but-equal” transportation systems. They say that APTA is attempting to segregate transit systems; keeping disabled passengers out of the mainstream system. ADAPT was formed in 1982 in Denver by Auberger and a handful of other members of that city's disabled community. It was put together because APTA had scheduled a convention for Denver and APTA's resistance to 100 percent accessible main-line public transportation for the disabled made the trade organization the moral equivalent of "the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi party" for disabled Americans, Kafka says. Thirty demonstrators showed up at the first protest, and there have been eight subsequent protests, all at APTA regional or national conferences. The demonstrators model their actions after the non-violent civil rights activists of the 1960s. They block access to buses: they block access to the APTA convention sites. Some, including Auberger, chain themselves to buses or to doorways. The aim is arrest and the accompanying media attention. Auberger has been arrested at least 30 times by his own count, including this past Sunday at the Omni Hotel. ADAPT's militant tactics have drawn criticism from several corners, including others who work in the disabled community. "While we agree with the goals and-objectives of accessibility for disabled persons, we don't agree with the tactics of civil disobedience or confrontation as a means to achieve those objectives," says Ginny Weber, assistant to Deborah Phillips, the commissioner of the city's Office on the Disabled. "There are other ways to get things done," she says. "You can go through the legislative process. You can conduct public awareness campaigns. Over the last 10 years, some progress has been made. To change conditions that have been in existence for a long time takes a while. You have to just stay in there' and keep working towards it." Sheldon Caldwell, executive director of the St. Louis Society for Crippled Children, agrees. "I don't think it pleads our case well to have a group with a disruptive militant attitude. This is my personal opinion: I haven't polled my staff on this, but I don't think disruption is ever the way to go about it. But others are not as harsh in their judgment. "I take a different position (from those who criticize ADAPT)," says Paraquad's Tuscher. "I have the point of view that there are many ways to get from where we are to where we want to go. We're more likely to use negotiation, legislative action, legal action, public relations campaigns. Confrontation is not one of our methods, but I don't think it's my place to judge (ADAPT). Let history judge: let history prove whose method is the right one." About the criticism from within the disabled community, ADAPT's Kafka says, "Those who are in power are not going to give it up to you willingly. Without the push of civil disobedience, even the Civil Rights Act would never have come about." Says Auberger, "(Negotiation and public relations campaigns) delay the justice. It's not perceived as delaying justice, but it is. They are doing harm to their disabled brothers and sisters by saying, 'I don't support their tactics, but I do agree with their position.— Because other groups for the disabled receive so much financial support from corporations, they are less willing to be as direct in their demands as is ADAPT, he says. "They will eat a lot of garbage just to get half the loaf. "If you're going to change things, you have to get rid of the notion right away that you are going to be someone's friend," he says. "Be-cause someone is going to want something different than you do. The city of St. Louis and I will never be friends. The police and I will never be friends, but I won't lose any sleep over it. I know when I leave here, people will be talking about this issue in a way it hasn't been talked about before and something might change. "You look at demonstrators in history. Go back to the civil rights movement. The blacks who demonstrated weren't seen as 'nice.' If you go back further, to the women's suffrage movement, those women who wanted the right to vote weren't seen as mom and apple pie. But typically people who have been vocal about their rights are never perceived as being nice." PHOTO 1: Two men, one a plain clothes policeman and the other the bus driver, load a man in a scooter onto an accessible bus as several other people in suits and uniforms look on. Caption: St. Louts police arrested 41 demonstrators at the Sunday protest by ADAPT at the Omni. PHOTO 2: A man (Mike Auberger) with his hair pulled back tightly, wearing glasses, a beard and an ADAPT no steps T-shirt, sits in a long hall with bars of light on the walls and ceiling. He holds up his hands, fingers permanently folded at the first joint, guesturing as he speaks. He has a chest strap to hold him in his motorized wheelchair. Caption: Mike Auberger, one of the founders of ADAPT