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Sākums / Albūmi / Tagi Wade Blank + ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation 20
- ADAPT (415)
St. Louis Post Dispatch, 5/13/88 Activists Derail Transit Group’s Welcoming Plans By Mark Schlinkmann, Regional Political Correspondent Officials have moved the site of a convention's welcoming ceremony Sunday night away from the Gateway Arch visitors' center because of fears of a protest by disabled-rights activists. Organizers of a transit officials' convention have moved the reception site to the Omni Hotel, the site of the convention. Better security can be provided at the hotel, a spokesman for the Bi-State Development Agency, Thomas Sturgess, said Thursday. Because most other activities connected with the five-day convention will be at the hotel, Sturgess said, "The participants already will be there." More than 600 people from across the country are expected to attend the convention, a regional conference of the American Public Transit Association. As many as 150 others affiliated with Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation — known as ADAPT — are expected to be here to protest the organization's stand on wheelchair lifts for buses. Police say the protest group, including many in wheelchairs themselves, has a reputation for seeking arrest to dramatize their cause. Tactics in other cities have included blocking roadways and chaining themselves to buses, Bi-State officials have said. ADAPT wants the Transit Association to endorse 100 percent accessibility to buses and other public transportation for the disabled through the installation of wheelchair lifts by all its member systems. Disabled people should have the right to as much access to taxpayer-financed transportation as able-bodied people enjoy, ADAPT officials argue. "Our demand is that the association change its policy," said the Rev. Wade Blank of Denver, an ADAPT founder. The association "will not have their parties anywhere in the United States without people in wheelchairs making them inaccessible." Transit association officials respond by saying that although they support access for the disabled, wheelchair lifts are not the only way to provide it. Jack R. Gilstrap, executive vice-president of the Transit Association, said Thursday that about a third of the nation's transit systems use lifts on buses; a third have begun using vans to provide door-to-door service for disabled persons; and a third use a combination. The vans have a higher rate of use than wheelchair lifts on standard buses and so are less costly, he said. "We believe the local community ought to be deciding how this will be provided," Gilstrap said. "There really are some serious business and tax-payer considerations." ADAPT complains that "paratransit vans, which usually must be reserved in advance, segregate the disabled from the general public. "It's very similar to apartheid," Blank said. In St Louis, the Bi-State transit system is using a combination — developed in conjunction with a local committee of disabled persons. Almost 120 new standard buses equipped with wheelchair lifts are being purchased between now and early 1989. In addition, the system's "Call-A-Ride" van service for disabled people — now limited to parts of St. Louis County — will be expanded to cover all of St. Louis and St. Louis County in November. At that time, Bi-State also will begin issuing scrip that can be used by disabled persons to take taxis in certain circumstances. ADAPT officials have said the organization is satisfied with Bi-State's plans. But they have complained that Bi-State is allowing two of its buses to be used as paddy-wagons on call in the case of any arrests at the demonstrations. - ADAPT (300)
Southwest Economist Newspapers Sunday, October 5, 1986 page 9 [Headline] Disabled will protest transit system barriers By J. Carole Buckner, staff reporter Chicago – Southwest sider Dennis Schreiber left for Detroit Friday knowing he faced a fair chance of being arrested there for civil disobedience. He was looking forward to it. In the rain-soaked parking lot of Our Lady of the Snows School, 48th St. and Leamington Ave., Schreiber said he told his wife Jackie that the trip is "a dream come true." Schreiber, who is blind, almost completely deaf and partially paralyzed, left with about 30 other handicapped persons, some coming as far away as Denver, Colorado, to protest at the American Public Transit Association's annual convention. For the past three months, Schreiber's group, Disabled Americans for Equality (DARE), has raised money to fund a delegation of protesters to go to Detroit, where they planned to hold a legal march to protest mobility barriers on buses and subways. The Reverend Wade Blank, leader of a contingent of protesters from Denver, called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT), said the group's parade permit was revoked this week by Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. Despite the lack of a parade permit and potential for arrests, the disabled group plans to go ahead with it's march, aware of the publicity value to be gained with photos of police dragging wheelchairs into paddy wagons. The groups position, said Schreiber, is "that we want equal access to public transportation and all public facilities" Specifically, the protesters want transportation systems throughout the U.S., especially in cities such as Chicago, to be equipped with lifts for wheelchair users. Mark Mactemes, 37, said he is going on the six day journey and demonstration because he needs to use regularly scheduled public transportation to work. The Oak Forest resident has multiple sclerosis. "I graduated college in 1985 and cannot find a job because I can't drive to work and must rely on public transportation." The CTA offers bus service for the handicapped called Dial-A-Ride, "but you must call eight hours in advance and buses (minivans) only run until 10 PM," Jackie Schreiber said. The CTA subcontracts the service to four companies. In the past, CTA officials have refused to install wheelchair lifts on buses, saying the cost is prohibitive. Blank, said similar reasons were given in Denver, but after sustained efforts by handicapped groups, all the cities buses were equipped with lifts. The result has been an increase in handicapped ridership, from a few hundred to 2000 riders per month, he said. Blank said famed 1960s civil rights protester Rosa Parks is scheduled to March with the group on Sunday. In all, more than 300 handicapped persons, mostly in wheelchairs, or expected to demonstrate in Detroit, Blank said. - ADAPT (285)
The Detroit News, Section B Metro/ Wednesday, Oct. 8, 1986 pp. 1b and 6b News Focus: HANDICAPPED ACCESS PHOTO News Photo by Howard Kaplan: Three dark uniformed officers encircle the back of an older, thin man in a an old style manual wheelchair (Frank McComb). The officer on the left looks frustrated but determined, the one in the middle looks somewhat worried and the one on right is bending forward as if trying to speak to Frank. Frank looks freaked out. He is wearing a button down shirt and jacket with an ADAPT button. Caption reads: Handicapped protester arrested at Federal Building in downtown Detroit. There are two articles side by side. [These articles both are continued on ADAPT 275, but the entire text of both has been included here for easier reading.] Title of first article: 2nd day of protest brings 37 arrests By Louis Mieczko and David Grant, News Staff Writers A group of jailed wheelchair-bound protesters found themselves confronted Tuesday night with the kind of access problems they've been protesting all week. Thirteen protesters spent the night in a gym at Detroit Police Headquarters after the Wayne County sheriff's department refused to admit them to the county jail. A spokeswoman for the sheriff's department said the protesters weren’t accepted at the jail because over-crowding forced the county on Friday to stop incarcerating people accused of misdemeanors. MEANWHILE, UP to 60 people -- most in wheelchairs — descended on the area around Police Headquarters to protest the jailings. They wheeled slowly along the sidewalks around the building, chanting, “Let our people go" and vowed to spend the night. About 20 police officers stood near the protesters but did not intervene. The 13 protesters were among 37 people arrested Tuesday, after they blocked one of two entrances to the McNamara federal office building in downtown Detroit. Of the 37 people arrested, 31 were in wheelchairs. Police said the 13 jailed protesters were being held in lieu of $1,000 cash bail each. The rest of the protesters were released on $100 [personal bond]. BAIL WAS set at $1,000 for the 13, a police spokesman said, because their arrests Tuesday violated the conditions of their release Monday on $100 personal bond after a similar protest. They had been ordered to avoid further arrest until a court appearance set for Oct. 24, police said. Their incarceration posed special problems for police. The protesters were being held in a gym at Police Headquarters, which has barred windows and doors and is occasionally used to hold prisoners temporarily when processing of prisoners is backed up at the jail, police said. The bathrooms in the gym are not equipped for the handicapped and guards were carrying the protesters in the toilets, police said. The protesters were arrested early in the afternoon. By the time they had been processed and carried into the gym by police, the cafeteria at the Wayne County Jail had closed, police said. Officers at Police Headquarters, who declined to be named and who wouldn't provide details, said they secured from the county jail meals of roast beef and pot roast with lettuce, salads, ice cream, milk and juice. The protesters ate about 8:30 p.m. Title of second article: Costly bus lifts are key to dispute By Louis Mieczko, News Staff Writer It costs an estimated $20,000 to install wheelchair lifts on a typical city bus, and sometimes they don't work. That's the crux of a dispute between transit agencies across the country handicapped groups protesting the lack of access to public buses and rail cars. Americans [sic] Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) wants every bus and rail car in the county available to wheelchair-bound people, a move which transit officials say would bankrupt most agencies. HANDICAPPED ADAPT demonstrators clashed this week with the American Public Transit Association (APTA), which is holding its annual convention in Detroit. It was the fourth such confrontation in as many years tied to the APTA conventions. Dozens of protesters have been arrested since Sunday for interfering with bus traffic and blocking entry to the McNamara Building as they sought to meet with staff members of U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Donald Riegle Jr. ADAPT has strongly criticized Detroit's Department of Transportation (D-DOT), which serves the city, and praised the suburban Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA). “We fought for five years in Denver to get wheelchair lifts on all city buses there, and when we won in Denver, we went national," said Wade Blank, a Presbyterian minister whose 15-year-old daughter is confined to a wheelchair. THE PROTEST group, which Blank helped start, is upset with APTA for opposing its goal of wheelchair lifts on all buses. Five years ago, APTA won a lawsuit knocking down a requirement that the devices be installed on buses purchased with federal funds. Jack R. Gilstrap, APTA executive vice-president, called that too costly. “In Washington, D.C., $60 million was spent to provide elevators for the ‘subway stations, but only 36 handicapped people use those elevators on a given day," said Gilstrap. “We would much rather let each transit authority develop dial-a-ride and other more cost-effective services.” Gilstrap said it costs an average of $20,000 a bus to add wheelchair lifts, which often are unreliable. "THEY’VE NEVER given the wheelchair lift system a chance to work," said Frank A. Clark, chairman of the Detroit-based Coalition for the Human Rights of the Handicapped. “How much does it cost to keep these people at home or in a nursing facility." A 10 year old Michigan law, one of the most stringent in the United States, requires that all new buses bought with state funds have wheelchair lifts. California is the only other state with such a requirement. According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, 1,186 of the 2,127 publicly owned buses in the state have wheelchair lifts. Detroit recently bought 100 buses, but equipped only 20 with wheelchair lifts. The city did not have to follow the state law because it used city funds. ONLY 196 of the city's 606 buses — about 32 percent —— have the wheelchair equipment. By comparison, 140 of SEMTA’s 202 buses — more than 69 percent — are equipped with the lifts. And 440 of Denver's 760 buses — 58 percent — have the lifts. Denver's policy is to equip all new buses with the lifts: and the handicapped groups say they consider Denver's system a model that should be adopted by others. Clark complained that the Detroit lifts often don't work. “They don't maintain them at all," Clark said. “We'll be going into federal court soon to complain about the situation." CLARK’S GROUP has a five-year-old lawsuit pending before Federal District Judge Richard Suhrheinrich, charging Detroit with violating U.S. handicap access laws for mass transit, public buildings and walkways. The law requires that public property be accessible to the handicapped. Clark said members of his group monitor Detroit buses for operating lifts by attempting to board them while in wheelchairs. He said the group annually checks five routes Gratiot, Woodward, Grand River, Crosstown and East Warren — designated by D-DOT for handicapped access. "But even on those routes," Clark said, "we can't find any that work." By contrast," he said, "SEMTA maintains its lift equipment. D-DOT officials could not be reached for comment. Mayor Coleman A. Young’s press secretary, Robert Berg, referred questions on Detroit's recent bus purchase in state officials. NEIL LINCOLN, a spokesman for the Denver system, said it has come a long way quickly. “The lifts still break down," he added, “but not nearly as often." However, some cities like Chicago and Cleveland have not bought any wheelchair lifts because of the cost and maintenance problems. Spokesmen for those cities said they prefer to develop dial-a-ride and van service for the handicapped. Detroit has no dial-a-ride or van service. NEWS GRAPHIC: Handicapped accessible buses Here's a look at the number of buses that are handicap accessible and average number of daily riders on 6 transit systems: Wheelchair Lifts: Baltimore has 100. Chicago has 0, Cleveland has 0. Denver has 440, Detroit has 196, SEMTA has 140. Total Buses: Baltimore has 900, Chicago has 2,275, Cleveland has 656, Denver has 760, Detroit has 603, SEMTA has 203. Daily Riders: Baltimore has 240,000, Chicago has 1.6 million, Cleveland has 263,400, Denver has 160,000, Detroit has 180,000, SEMTA has 203,000. (59 small vans for handicapped, all wheelchair accessible.) end of news graphic. PHOTO: News Photo by W. Lynn Owens: A man in a jean jacket and hoodie, with bushy dark hair and a beard stands, back to the camera, by the door of a Denver Transit bus. On the steps at the doorway a thin young person is sitting, hands raised to grab on, as this person tries to lift themselves backward up and onto the bus. On the curb in front of these two people sits an empty manual wheelchair. Inside the bus you can see the silhouette of the bus driver sitting in the drivers seat. - ADAPT (271)
January / February 1987 METRO Magazine [Headline] Handicapped Rights and APTA Highlighted text: A seeming fixture at APTA conventions is a demonstration by the handicapped. In this exclusive interview with METRO Magazine,Rev. Wade Blank describes the movement’s goals and objectives. Shortly before the APTA Annual Meeting in Detroit last October, the General Assembly of the Denver Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church unanimously passed a resolution favoring 100% accessibility to all publicly funded transit buses. The resolution calls upon the" U.S. DOT “to mandate that all public buses bought with federal monies be accessible to all people, specifically including those persons who use wheelchairs for mobility." The resolution declares that equal access to public transportation is a basic human right. It urges the American Public Transit Association to support total accessibility, and calls on all public transit systems to work toward the goal as well. According to sponsors of the resolution, 14% of U.S. citizens are disabled and thus denied full access. The resolution also recommends to all churches and church agencies to consider adding equal access facilities to all their church buses and vans. Wade Blank, a Presbyterian minister and leader in the disability rights movement for 11 years, said the resolution is the latest effort in the struggle to enable disabled Americans to integrate into their communities. According to Blank, disability rights is a civil rights movement similar to the black political movement of the 1950's and 60's. Blank is a leader of ADAPT, the Denver-based American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, an organization which has demonstrated on behalf of disability rights at several APTA conventions in recent years. Blank said his organization has about 800 people who actively support it, though he believes many thousands more wheelchair-bound people would do so if they could. What follows is an interview with Rev. Blank conducted in Detroit during the APTA Annual Meeting there during which 18 disabled individuals were arrested for demonstrating at the city hall. METRO: Mr. Blank, what is your organization trying to accomplish at this APTA meeting? Blank: First of all, in 1983 we introduced a resolution before APTA in Denver, Colorado, in which we said that we wanted APTA to vote in favor of having public transportation accessible to people in wheelchairs. That resolution said three things. First, that APTA should inform all its members that it will now endorse accessibility; second, that they should take a public vote member by member (about the issue); and third, that they should inform the transportation industry that accessibility is their position. They have refused since 1983 to act on the resolution, so we assume that that means they don't favor accessible public transit. Now as to what we are doing here. Whenever APTA goes into a community (to hold a convention) we do two things: we demonstrate against APTA, and we use the occasion to illustrate to the public that their local transit system is not wheelchair accessible, in other words, every bus being wheelchair accessible. METRO: Over the years your organization has demonstrated at a number of APTA meetings and very often the demonstrations have been very disruptive. Do you think that your activities have paid off? Blank: They've paid off in the sense that first they are directed to other people with disabilities in order to raise their consciousness about their rights. Our group has grown three times over the last few years. Secondly, it tells the able-bodied public that people in wheelchairs cannot board transit, which most people never even think about. And thirdly, it teaches the community at large that our political movement is in fact a civil rights movement. METRO: Your organization demonstrates against APTA. But isn't it true that you're also hoping for action on the local level wherever you mount a demonstration? Blank: Yes. In effect, APTA does our organizing for us by picking the cities it goes into. We follow and go in and raise consciousness for our cause. I don’t think anyone can understand how alienating it is (to be disabled). My daughter is in a wheelchair. If she goes to a bus stop and the doors open and shut and the bus drives off without her, there's no way of expressing to people how alienated, how shut out that makes her feel. Of course, the transit people want to make it an economic argument...but that didn't cut it with the black movement and it's not going to cut it with the disabled movement either. METRO: How is ADAPT funded? And what is your annual budget? Blank: Mainly from the Roman Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans and the United Church of Christ. ADAPT itself doesn't have a budget per se. A trip like this (to Detroit) will run us approximately $15,000 for all the logistics involved, hotels, food, attendant care, just the logistics of moving that large number of disabled. METRO: How big is your staff? Blank: We don't have a staff, we don't have bylaws, we don't even have officers. It's just a consensus group. For example, in Denver, the disabled groups each do their own thing, and there's a lot of individuals who have joined ADAPT by simply saying, I want to be part of it. That's all it takes. We have a list of names of who those people are. METRO: You mentioned the logistics of moving the disabled. Do you bring people along with you to do the demonstrating, or do you seek to have local disabled join in? How does this work? Blank: In July we flew here with some disabled and met with the local disabled. They basically said they'd recently filed suit and were trying to get access to the buses, but that they didn't believe they could support any demonstrations because they'd be afraid to lose what they have now. That's almost to the letter the situation in every community we go into. The disabled are very afraid to lose what little they have. Plus, a disabled person in a wheelchair is by definition passive about the way they see themselves. But before we leave Detroit we will have a few people who will dare. By seeing the press, they'll see it's pretty amazing and they want to be a part of this. It changes the way they view themselves. That's how we recruit members. METRO: Tell me how the organization started? Blank: It started in Denver in 1975 when we announced we were going to make the transit system there accessible. Everybody laughed at us. We had about 20 members. We filed suit and lost. On July 5, 1978, the day after the suit was lost, we went down and blocked the first two buses in the whole movement. We held those buses for two days, sleeping on the streets. The battle in Denver went on in spurts. We started in 1978. In 1979 (Denver RTD) announced they'd make their transit buses accessible, but in 1980 when Reagan took office they went to a posture of inaccessibility. We hit the streets again and they reverted back to accessibility. In 1982, they finally signed an agreement with us that they would be totally accessible. So then other groups asked us: how did you do that? we'd like you to teach us how. Rather than just sit in Denver and enjoy our system, we decided to export what we'd won there using the same tactics on a national basis. METRO: You said earlier that the economic argument against accessibility doesn't fly. Yet to APTA and the transit industry the economic argument is very real. After all, the funds to pay for accessibility come out of their budgets. They can cite some very dramatic statistics of how much subsidy each handicapped ride costs. So how can you say the economic argument doesn't carry weight? Blank: Because those figures are not true. Denver, for example, bought 160 buses. The lowest bidders (for that contract) bid accessible buses. Neoplan undercut everybody else’s bid and they bid accessible. So you can't go just by the lifts themselves, you go by the total cost of the bus. METRO: But you also have to consider the maintenance costs and personnel costs too. In San Francisco. for example, one of the agencies there has two maintenance workers who do nothing but service the lifts, that's all those individuals do. Blank: That's true. But they have people who work on the motors, and people who work on the brakes, and people who work on every aspect of the buses that service the able bodied. The figures out of Seattle and Denver on maintenance per lift is under $400 a year, if they do preventive maintenance. Now that's a lot lower than APTA's figures of $2,500 per lift (per year). That figure is correct if you don't ever fix the lifts. In other words if you drive around and they break down and they're all gummed up, then you have to put new hydraulics in because you haven’t changed the oil. Then you're going to top out at $2,500 the same way if you don't keep your car up. METRO: During his remarks to APTA, CBS correspondent Ed Bradley charged your organization had mounted a mailgram campaign against his coming. He went on to give a presentation about apartheid in South Africa Your comments? Blank: The disabled community in the United States is suffering from a form of apartheid. The disabled live in section 8 housing, high-rise housing which is for disabled and elderly, They live in nursing homes. They go to workshops like Goodwill where they're segregated, and they are paid under 10 cents an hour in the average workshop in the United States. That's what the salary is. The disabled can't ride public transportation, so you have a form of apartheid. METRO: Thank you. - ADAPT (267)
THE PLAIN DEALER, THURSDAY, MAY 22; 1986 page 19-A PHOTO by AP: Four policemen in their fancy police hats are "rolling" a man (Rick James) up a 150 degree (ie. almost vertical) "ramp" into a van. Rick is sitting with his hands up by his chest. His hat is missing and his hair is flying out in all directions. His expression is a mix of amazement, disgust and resignation. Caption reads: Cincinnati policemen push Rick James of Salt Lake City, Utah, up a ramp into a van after he was arrested outside a downtown hotel as part of a demonstration by American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation. Title: Cincy arrests disabled in protest of bus access By BILL SLOAT STAFF writer CINCINNATI — Police arrested l7 disabled people yesterday after they blockaded the entrance to a downtown hotel or chained themselves to the doorway of an adjoining office building that houses Queen City Metro, this city’s public bus service. Eleven of them refused to post bond and were in Hamilton County Justice Center under cash bonds ranging from $1,500 to $3,000. Five were released late yesterday on personal bonds. One pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct and was found guilty. Sixteen were in wheelchairs from polio, paralyzing spinal accidents, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and amputations. One was blind and walked carrying a white cane. The arrests were made during a non-violent, noon demonstration that challenged lack of access to city buses here and around the nation. Chants of “We will ride" and “Access now” came from about 52 demonstrators outside the Westin Hotel. Some removed footstands from their wheelchairs and banged on metal barricades. Police stood behind the barricades and refused to let the demonstrators into the hotel. All 17 taken to jail said they were members of a national handicapped rights organization called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation. “This is a civil disobedience action," said Wade Blank, 47, a Presbyterian minister who helped organize yesterday's protest. Blank, who now lives in Denver, was involved in anti-war demonstrations at Kent State University in the 1960s when he lived in Akron. Several of the people loaded onto vans and hauled away to the Hamilton County Justice Center on disorderly conduct charges compared Cincinnati to Selma and Montgomery, two Alabama cities where civil rights activists were jailed by authorities in the 1960s. “The message needs to be sent out that we can’t ride a bus because we're handicapped,” said Glenn Horton, 46, of El Paso, Texas. "It's discrimination it’s segregation and it’s appalling that it could still be happening in this country." Horton said he had been confined to a wheelchair since age 9, when he fell and broke his back. Bill Bolte, 54, of Los Angeles, said handicapped people needed mainline bus service to get to jobs, movies, dates, shopping, banks and anywhere else they might want to go. “We're already in prison," said Bolte, who had polio 51 years ago. “We're going to see that what few rights we have are not going to be taken away. Our rights to public transportation are being deprived, and we will not sit for it." Organizers of the protest said they took to the streets because about 600 executives of public and private transit companies in the eastern United States and Canada were attending a convention in the hotel that ends today. Protesters said the convention should adopt a resolution supporting the installation of wheelchair lifts on all public buses in the nation. Many came from Denver, which has such lifts in use on its bus fleet. The demonstration also came a day after the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in Washington, D.C., a new regulation that allows transit authorities to establish alternative services for the disabled instead of putting lifts on regularly scheduled buses. Demonstrators complained the rule meant that buses, subways and rail lines wouldn't be made accessible to people in wheelchairs. Police Chief Lawrence Whalen said the comparisons with Alabama in the 1960s were unfair when it came to the police. Police in the South during the civil rights era often brutalized protesters. Whalen yesterday said, “Our officers handled themselves very admirably. The group has had their chance to protest and get their point across." He said the police assigned to make arrests had attended special briefings on how to handle disabled people and were instructed to ask the people in custody the best way to lift them into vans. “We wanted to be sensitive to their special needs." Whalen said. Three of those arrested yesterday were out on $3,000 bond after incidents Monday when two climbed aboard city buses, paid fares and refused to leave when ordered off by Queen City Metro officials. The third interfered with a bus. The three, Robert A. Kafka, 40, of Austin, Texas; George Cooper, 58, of Irving, Texas; and Michael W. Auberger, 32, of Denver, were charged yesterday with Criminal trespassing when they chained themselves to the entranceway of Queen City Metro's offices. Police Capt. Dale Menkhaus told his men to use bolt cutters to get them out of the building. Kafka, Cooper and Auberger had been ordered Tuesday not to set foot in Cincinnati by a Municipal judge at the time they posted bond, but another Municipal judge lifted the banning order shortly before yesterday's protests started. Police Chief Lawrence Whalen said 14 others were charged with disorderly conduct for their activities outside the hotel. Bond was set at $3,000 each, a Hamilton County Municipal Court official said. Before the demonstration began, the group gathered in a Newport, Ky., motel for a strategy session on civil disobedience. They agreed not to carry anything but identification with them when they confronted police in downtown Cincinnati and they voted not to post bail. None of the people arrested were from Ohio. The 11 who refused to post bond and were in jail last night are: Bolte; Bob Conrad of Denver; Joe Carle of Denver; Auberger; Horton; Jim Parker of El Paso, Texas; Cooper; George Roberts of Denver; Earnest Taylor of Hartford, Conn.; Lonnie Smith of Denver; Kafka. Kelly Bates of Denver pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct, was found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in jail, which she is to start serving tomorrow. Those released on personal bond are Ken Heard of Denver; George Florman of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Frank Lozano of El Paso, Texas; Rick James of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Arthur Campbell of Louisville, Ky. - ADAPT (262)
8B The Cincinnati Post, Tuesday,May 20, 1986 [Two articles in this clip.] PHOTO Patrick Reddy/The Cincinnati Post: A man in a power wheelchair (Rick James) with a leather hat with a wide brim, sits in a semi-reclined position, hand partially hidden by his sleeve, finger on the joystick. On the side of Rick's chair you can see an ADAPT "We Will Ride" sticker. Two police officers are behind him; one is standing holding the push handles on his chair, the other is squatting down and sticking his nightstick through the spokes of Rick's chair. Behind them is the street and bus, and behind that some city buildings. Caption reads: A Cincinnati police officer jams a nightstick into the spokes of a wheelchair to prevent Rick James of Salt Lake City from blocking a Queen City Metro bus Monday at Government Square. Title: Activists block buses’ route By Edwina Blackwell, Post Staff reporter On a stretch or road near the College Football Hall of Fame, strong beliefs over the rights of the handicapped to public transportation confronted the steel frames of buses. lt happened Monday night when 15 disabled activists rolled into the pathway of vehicles traveling 40 mph. Seven buses carrying conferees attending the eastern meeting of the American Public Transit Association in Cincinnati were on their way to the Hall of Fame at Kings Island in Warren County for a reception. As the buses neared the Hall around 6:30 pm about 15 members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation moved onto the road, blocking a portion of Kings Island Drive. Police had set up barricades by the hall earlier. However, that didn't keep the ADAPT members from rolling onto the roadway. "I remember flashing in my mind that these might be the first deaths of the civil rights movement of the handicapped," said the Rev. Wade Blank of Denver, Colo., co-founder of ADAPT. No one was injured and no arrests were made. But the members of the Denver-based group say their action shows how far they are willing to go. The protesters want the transit officials to change their national policy on accessibility and Queen City Metro to have wheelchair lifts on all new buses. Today ADAPT members plan to demonstrate in front of the Westin Hotel, where the APTA convention is being held. There were also disabled people riding the buses that were halted Monday night. Dixie Harmon was one of the people who got off the bus Monday in the midst of the ADAPT protest. Ms. Harmon, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. is co-chairwoman of the Specialized Transportation Advisory Committee, a local committee which works with Queen City Metro in reviewing handicapped needs. But when she met her peers on the protest line, the reaction was less than cordial. Both she and Dan Cleary, president of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition of People with Disabilities, were subjected to name calling for their decision not to demonstrate. Wednesday she will be on a APTA panel discussing transit system services to disabled individuals. "I was very uncomfortable," she said of the Monday night confrontation. "(But) I have to understand that they're angry, too." Queen City Metro and Cincinnati police say they are ready for any more protests during the convention, which ends Thursday. Judith Van Ginkel, director of Metro communications, said bus drivers have been instructed to stop immediately and call police if a protester tries to block the vehicles. Earlier Monday, three ADAPT members — Michael Auberger, Bob Kafka and George Cooper—were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for attaching themselves to Metro buses downtown. [Second Article] Title: Disabled lament lack of transportation beyond city limits By Edwina Blackwell Post staff reporter For Linda Geraci, ACCESS provides a step toward independence. Every weekday morning, she can expect to see the specially equipped van in front of her apartment, ready to transport her to work. Confined to a wheelchair because of muscular dystrophy, she needs the lift-equipped vehicle to survive on her own. For many, ACCESS inhibits mobility, however, because it does not travel beyond Cincinnati city limits. "lf we want to go in a closed mall, there is none inside city limits. Most of your movie theaters seem to be in those areas also," said Ms. Geraci, a counselor at Total Living Concepts Inc., an organization that promotes independent living among handicapped individuals. Riders who utilize the curb-to-curb service of ACCESS must make reservations at least 24 hours In advance and preferably one week in advance. The 19 specialized transportation vans used for the elderly and the disabled serve only Cincinnati proper in addition to Elmwood Place, St. Bernard and Norwood. Even short trips like running to the grocery store must be scheduled in advance. "You tell them when you want to go and when you want them to come get you and you hope that your ice cream doesn't melt," Ms. Geraci said. Dixie Harmon, co-chair of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition of People With Disabilities, said the scheduling becomes an invasion of privacy for the individual because ACCESS knows your every move. Several local handicapped organizations have publicly supported the demonstrations of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation although they shy away from their methods. - ADAPT (260)
JULY 1986 Disclosure Disabled Cripple Cincinnati PHOTO: A march of people in wheelchairs across a metal bridge that looks like a giant erector set. Three across lead the march, and behind you can see others in an almost single file line. On right, Mike Auberger with his braids and headband rides an electric chair, and has a poster across his legs "Give me a lift, not the SHAFT." In the center, Stephanie Thomas with a bush of hair and a sign that reads "Access is a Civil Right", pushes her manual in a wheelie. On the left, Cincinnatian Gary Nelson, rides his manual as Babs Johnson pushes him. She is looking to her right talking with someone in line. Behind and between Mike and Stephanie, Rick James is visible, riding laid back in his powerchair. Others are behind in line, but the focus is not deep enough to make them out. Caption reads: GARY NELSON, STEPHANIE THOMAS and MIKE AUBERGER lead an ADAPT parade into Cincinnati. During four days of demonstrations there, 17 wheelchair riding protestors were arrested and taken to jail. Fifty disabled Americans went to Cincinnati at the end of May to protest discrimination against people in wheelchairs—and they put together some protests that city authorities will never forget. The wheelchair-riding demonstrators, who came from as far away as Texas and Colorado, are members of ADAPT— American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation. They're tired of being denied access to public buses, and they went to Cincinnati to confront a meeting of the American Public Transit Association (APTA). APTA represents public transit officials from cities all over the country, and 600 of them were in Cincinnati in May for a regional education and training conference. In the space of four days, ADAPT staged half a dozen dramatic demonstrations, tied up bus service for an entire afternoon, shut down the office of the local transit system, caused havoc at a major downtown hotel, and had 17 of their members arrested, including 3 who were temporarily banned from the city of Cincinnati. “I've been kicked out of a lot of places," says ADAPT organizer Mike Auberger, "but never from a whole city!" ADAPT was formed in Denver in 1983, after Auberger — who is a quadriplegic as a result of a bobsled accident — and other handicapped activists convinced city officials there to put wheelchair lifts on every single bus. “It took six years of street fighting to win in Denver," says ADAPT organizer Wade Blank, a minister who became involved with handicapped issues while working as an orderly in a nursing home. “So then we said, are we going to sit on our laurels, or are we going to expand to other cities?" ADAPT demonstrators have hit APTA events in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The demonstrations have a double purpose: to pressure APTA to go on record in favor of accessible public transit nationwide, and to push local officials to change their bus systems. While APTA remains stubborn, ADAPT can point to a number of local successes in cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, and Kansas City. ADAPT members see their cause as a civil rights struggle, and their actions call attention to the injustice suffered by disabled people who are denied access to basic public services. The first arrests in Cincinnati came on Monday, May l9, when George Cooper and Bob Kaska climbed out of their wheelchairs and crawled aboard a Cincinnati city bus. They paid their fares, but were arrested for “trespassing.” Mike Auberger, who blocked the front of the bus, was also arrested, and the three were banned from the city by a municipal judge. Monday night, APTA conference-goers had a reception scheduled at the College Football Hall of Fame, outside the city limits. ADAPT protestors went out to meet them, but found entrances to the building locked by local sheriffs. They were waiting on the shoulder of the four lane road leading to the Hall of Fame when four buses carrying hundreds of APTA members came down the road, rolling along at about 40 miles an hour. Suddenly, a group of people in wheelchairs bolted out to block the buses. “l remember flashing in my mind that these might be the first deaths of the civil rights movement of the handicapped," recalls Wade Blank. No one was injured: two buses steered onto the shoulder of the road, and two others came to a halt. The conventioneers had to get off the buses and walk the rest of the way to the Hall of Fame. On Tuesday, ADAPT settled for a symbolic action, raising a cross in front of the Westin Hotel, where APTA was holding its meeting. The cross, they said, demonstrated APTA's “crucification" of disabled people. On Wednesday, it was back into battle. The banning order against Kaska, Cooper and Auberger had been lifted, but they got arrested again by chaining their wheelchairs to the front doors of the Cincinnati bus system’s main offices. Fourteen other disabled people, meanwhile, were arrested for blocking entrances at the Westin Hotel. All seventeen of them wound up in a classroom at the city jail. "It was definitely a new experience for the whole justice system,” says Mike Auberger. “Everyone received a real education in disabilities." Most of the protesters were released after a day or two, but Auberger, Kaska and Cooper, who were viewed as the real troublemakers, had to stay in jail for six days. This caused some serious problems, as none of the men can use the bathroom without the help of an attendant—and no one in the Cincinnati jail system was prepared to deal with that situation. Auberger, who had a skin rash and a urinary infection, was eventually hospitalized. All three protestors have now been released, he reports, and they are back home and suffering no serious long term effects from their ordeal in prison. The difficulties in jail, he thinks, “were more of a left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing type of thing than any serious intent to do harm." Their grueling experience, however, shows just how difficult it is for disabled people to stand up for their rights in a society that is not prepared to deal with people in wheelchairs. Despite such obstacles, ADAPT members are determined to continue their struggle for full civil rights. They are already planning for their next confrontation, which will take place on October 6 through 9 in Detroit, where APTA is scheduled to have its 1986 national convention. Without doubt, it will be a memorable occasion. HIGHLIGHTED TEXT: Suddenly, a group of people in wheelchairs bolted out to block the buses. . . “I remember flashing in my mind, ” said one observer, “that these might be the first deaths of the civil rights movement of the handicapped. ” BOXED TEXT BELOW ARTICLE: BE THERE! People in and our of wheelchairs are welcome to join the ADAPT protest in Detroit, to speak out for fully accessible public transportation. For information, contact Mike Auberger or Wade Blank at ADAPT, 4536 E. Colfax, Denver, Colorado, 80220. 303-393-0630 303-393-0630. - ADAPT (254)
The Cincinnati Post, Wednesday, May 21, 1986 I-B Title: Disabled activists may defy court order in bus protest By Mary Kane, Post staff reporter Wheelchair-bound activists are prepared to defy a court order today and force a showdown with city authorities over what rights the handicapped have to public transportation. The Rev. Wade Blank, a founder of Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, said three activists ordered to get out of town will hold a news conference at noon in front of the Westin Hotel. Robert Kafka of Austin, Texas, George Cooper of Dallas and Michael Auberger of Denver risk being jailed on disorderly conduct charges if they show up at the Westin. Judge David Albanese of Hamilton County Municipal Court on Monday ordered the three to leave Cincinnati Tuesday or forfeit their $3000 bonds. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for June 26. The men were arrested Monday during a demonstration in front of the Westin, where conferees of the American Public Transportation Association are meeting. The activists have been staying at a Newport hotel, an arrangement that does not violate Albanese's order. However, once inside Cincinnati city limits they are in violation. Members of ADAPT, a national handicapped rights group, have pitted their wheelchairs against the steel frames of buses to protest what they call a lack of accessibility to public transportation for the handicapped. Mr. Blank, a Presbyterian minister, said 12 severely handicapped ADAPT members also will attend the news conference today and announce their intent to block buses in the street. That tactic is intended to challenge law enforcement authorities. Mr. Blank said police have been reluctant to arrest the most severely handicapped of the group. A member with cerebral palsy will be among today's protesters, he said. Mr. Blank said the 12 will risk arrest by the action. - ADAPT (253)
The Cincinnati Post Tuesday May 20 - Photo by Lawrence A. Lambert/The Cincinnati Post: A man (Jim Parker) in a big straw hat and a manual wheelchair sits holding a wooden structure on his feet. Beside him, on his left, a man with dark hair and a dark beard (Frank Lozano) kneels, attaching a folded manual wheelchair to the crossed wood. To his left, another man (Bob Conrad) in a power chair a jacket and an ADAPT shirt, with the access symbol and an equal sign in the wheel, points at what Frank is doing and looks off to his right. Over Bob's right shoulder you can see Bobby Simpson and an African American woman (Gwen Hubbard?) up against some police barriers; the woman is talking with someone. To their right and over Frank's head you can see another man in a wheelchair watching as a woman stands beside him. Over Jim's shoulder you can see another protester in a wheelchair. In the background is the cavernous black of the hotel entrance which is blocked by metal barricades and guarded by police. caption reads: Three members of a national group protesting lack of access to public transportation prepare to lift a cross bearing a wheelchair into place today in from of the Westin Hotel as part of a demonstration. The three are Jim Parker, left, Frank Lozano and Bob Conrad. Title: Activists ordered to leave 3 protesters awaiting trial By Edwin: Blackwell, Post staff reporter Three wheelchair-bound activists were ordered by a judge today to get out of town until their trials or face being jailed on disorderly conduct charges. “This is ludicrous and unconstitutional," said Robert Kafka of Austin, Texas, one of the three. "We got on a public bus and so he is throwing us out of town." The order came after a night when 15 other members or American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation pitted their wheelchairs against the steel frames of buses in a protest over the rights of the handicapped to public transportation. The protesters rolled their wheelchairs into the paths of buses traveling 40 mph on Kings Island Drive in Warren County and carrying conferees of the American Public Transit Association to a reception. No one was injured in the protest, and no one was arrested. Kafka and two other activists, George Cooper of Dallas and Michael Auberger of Denver, were arrested earlier Monday during a demonstration in front of the Westin Hotel, where the transit association conferees are meeting this week, and the U.S. Courthouse. Kafka and Cooper were arrested on trespassing charges after they boarded a Queen City Metro bus that stopped at the boarding plaza in front of the Courthouse. Auberger was arrested for grabbing a wheel of the same bus. They appeared in Hamilton County Municipal Court today and were told by Judge David Albanese to leave Cincinnati today or forfeit their $3000 bonds. A pre-trial hearing was set for June 26. The three contended the order violated their constitutional rights to free speech but said they will abide by it. They are staying in a motel in Newport, Ky. They said they will discuss possible federal civil rights court action with their attorney, Joni Veddern Wilkens of Reading. "I can’t believe it; this is America," Cooper said. “When you invoke law like it was west of the Pecos, before Texas even became a state . .. get out of town by sundown ... it's scary, it's frightening. I feel it's a basic infringement of my freedom to travel as an American citizen." Cooper, a U.S. Air Force Korean Wax veteran, said it was the first time in ADAPT protests in half a dozen cities that any of its members had been ordered out of town. He said it was the first time they had ever faced actual barricades, as they did in front at the Westin Hotel Monday. “I thought I came from the most conservative city in the country, Dallas," Cooper said. "We just can't believe this." During Monday night's protest near the College Football Hall of Fame, Warren County police moved the ADAPT members from in front of the buses but made no arrests. Police had set up barricades by the hall earlier, but that didn't keep the protesters from roiling their wheelchairs onto the roadway. “I remember flashing in my mind that these might be the first deaths of the civil rights movement of the handicapped," said the Rev. Wade Blank of Denver, Colo., co-founder of ADAPT. “Although I trained them, it just told me how serious it is to these people." Members of the Denver based group say their action shows how far they are willing to go. The protesters want the transit officials to change their national policy on accessibility and Queen City Metro to have wheelchair lifts on all new buses. Today ADAPT members continued to demonstrate in front of the Westin Hotel by hanging a wheelchair from a 10-foot-tall wooden cross to signify “the way APTA is crucifying disabled people." Eleven Cincinnati police officers, including Chief Lawrence Whalen, watched but made no arrests as they guarded the hotel atrium and entrance from some protesters chanting “We will ride. Access is a civil right." Wade Blank said no further attempts to block buses will be made because the group does not want to inconvenience Cincinnati riders. - ADAPT (246)
THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Wednesday, May 21, 1986 [This article continues in ADAPT 245, but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] [Headline] Handicapped bus protests to continue [Subheading] Judge offers three protesters choice of jail or leaving city BY DAVID WELLS and JAMES F. McCARTY The Cincinnati Enquirer and ENQUIRER WIRE SERVICES The issue of handicapped people and their accessibility to mass transit reached a peak Tuesday locally and nationally, sparking protests that were expected to go on today. In Cincinnati, a judge ordered three handicapped protesters who had been arrested to leave the city or go to jail. One of the men, a native Cincinnatian, chose to ignore the edict, and his bail of $3,000 was revoked late Tuesday. In Washington, D.C., the Department of Transportation issued long-awaited criteria for making the nation's public transportation systems more accessible to 20 million handicapped people. Neither decision was well received by the handicapped community. The Rev. Wade Blank of ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation) said late Tuesday that a dozen or more of its members were planning an act of civil disobedience in Cincinnati today that he expected would get them all arrested. “We decided that to leave Cincinnati under the present atmosphere of basic human rights violations, would be to ignore our moral obligations," Blank said. George Cooper, who was arrested Monday said, “I thought my hometown of Dallas was conservative, but Cincinnati is more conservative." Cooper arrested Monday with two other members of ADAPT on charges of disorderly conduct during a demonstration at Government Square. Hamilton County Municipal Judge David Albanese imposed the sentence on the the ADAPT protesters. Late Tuesday, police spotted ADAPT member Mike Auburger, a former Cincinnatian who lives in Denver, driving a car through the -- city—an apparent violation of Albanese's order to leave the city. Cooper and Robert Kafka, Austin, Texas, were arrested after they crawled up the steps of a Queen City Metro bus, paid their fares and demanded the right to ride. Auburger was arrested when he tried to grab a wheel of the same bus as it pulled away from the stop. Metro's Assistant General Manager Murray Bond said disabled persons were not permitted on regular coaches because the company does not think it is safe. Metro provides wheelchair lifts on Special Access buses. but Bond said the cost of installing wheelchair lifts on regular buses would be prohibitive. Defense attorney Joanie Wilkens said after Tuesday’s hearing that she considered Albanese's order unusual but that ADAPT did not have the time or resources to fight it in court. ADAPT members were in Cincinnati to protest policies of Queen City Metro and the American Public Transit Association, which is having a convention at the Westin Hotel. In Washington, DOT's issuance of a final regulation requiring transit systems to provide reasonable alternative transportation for the handicapped contained no surprises. Many transit systems have been moving for several years toward providing alternatives such as van service or a taxi voucher system for handicapped passengers. But ADAPT and other national disability rights groups, dismayed by the new rule, almost immediately filed federal lawsuits against DOT to block the move. Handicapped representatives said the new rule fell far short of carrying out the law. A federal court in 1981 ruled that a federal requirement that all transit systems be accessible to the handicapped was too much of a financial burden. It told the Urban Mass Transportation Administration to develop new requirements that would assure that the handicapped are provided service. Under the final rule announced Tuesday, a transit authority must establish some alternative services for the handicapped if the regular bus or rail service can not be made accessible. Other members of ADAPT continued to picket in their wheelchairs in front of the Westin Hotel on Tuesday. The group suspended a wheelchair from a wooden cross. It symbolizes how the disabled are being crucified," said Bill Bolte, who helped to hoist the chair. PHOTO -- The Cincinnati Enquirer/Fred Strau: Two protesters hang a wheelchair on a large wooden cross. One man in a cowboy hat and plaid shirt (Joe Carle) steadies the cross and the chair from below, while a second man (Jim Parker) stands and pulls the manual wheelchair higher. Behind them several other protesters (including Joanne ____) watch and stand by extensive police barricades in front of the APTA convention hotel. Caption reads: Joe Carle, left, and Jim Parker chain a wheelchair to a cross Tuesday outside the Westin Hotel. The two were among several members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit demonstrating against City Metro and the American Public Transit Association which is meeting at the Westin. - ADAPT (243)
May 22, 1986 - Cheyenne Wyoming State Tribune—27 [Headline] Handicapped Protesters Arrested CINCINNATI (UPI) — A group of handicapped protesters charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass refused to post bond and spent the night in the Hamilton County Justice Center. The demonstrators, protesting the lack of access to public transportation for the disabled, were arrested Wednesday for blocking entrances to the Westin Hotel and the building housing offices of the city's bus system. The Westin was singled out because the American Public Transportation Association was holding a regional conference there this week. Barricades had been erected to keep the protesters from entering the hotel. Several of those arrested were released on unsecured appearance bonds for medical reasons. The first defendant's trial was scheduled for next Wednesday. “If the Cincinnati transit system, police and judicial system deny access to disabled people, why can't the disabled block the access to the system,” said Michael Auberger of Denver before his arrest. “We just want to be treated like everyone else.” Auberger was among those who spent the night in jail. About 40 wheelchair-bound members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, based in Denver, participated in the demonstration. Fourteen were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Robert Kafka of Austin, Texas, George Cooper of Dallas and Auberger, all of whom had been arrested earlier in the week, were charged with criminal trespassing for blocking the entrance to the building where Queen City Metro's offices are located. The three men, confined to wheelchairs, had been arrested Monday for refusing to get off a bus they had paid to board. A Hamilton County Judge had ordered them to leave Cincinnati until their trial, but another judge rescinded the order Wednesday morning. Auberger, Cooper and Kafka attempted to speak to Queen City officials but were not permitted to enter their offices. When they returned to the ground floor, they chained their wheelchairs together to block the entrance. One worker was forced to use an alternative route to return to her office. "We asked one lady to wait a few minutes," Auberger said. “The disabled are told to wait a lifetime.” The Rev. Wade Blank, director of ADAPT, said some staff members would remain in Cincinnati and that local clergy would be asked to monitor and support those arrested. - ADAPT (239)
THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1986 section B PHOTO by the Cincinnati Enquirer's Michael E. Keating: From inside a van you see a man with long braids, a headband and a trimmed beard (Mike Auberger) sitting in a motorized wheelchair. He is wearing an ADAPT "no steps" logo shirt with a band across his chest. His expression is calm, almost removed from the situation. On either side and behind him police officers stand as a lift raises him up to van level. Through the window of the front door you can see a crowd standing by. Caption reads: Michael Auberger, Denver, Colo., is loaded into a police van Wednesday after being arrested for trespassing at Queen City Metro headquarters, where handicapped activists are protesting the lack of access to city buses. [Headline] Disabled protesters won’t post bail BY DAVID WELLS The Cincinnati Enquirer Eleven disabled men remain in the Hamilton County Justice Center Wednesday, unwilling to post bonds set by the court after they were arrested downtown Wednesday, during a protest over lack of public transportation for the handicapped. Municipal Judge David Albanese ordered five other protesters released against their will, saying their medical conditions could not be adequately treated in the jail. All 16 protesters pleaded not guilty. "This is the first time in the history of our movement that the disabled haw been locked up in jail overnight for making their protests,” said the Rev. Wade Blank, a founder of ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), to which all the protesters belong. The protesters plan to stay in jail because "bonds just play the game they want us to play," said William Bolte, one of those arrested. "We aren't just going to pay a bond and go away." The ADAPT members came to Cincinnati this week from all over the United States to demonstrate before a convention of the American Public Transit Association being held at the Westin Hotel. ADAPT wants the transit association to pass a resolution in support of full accessibility to public ...[the rest is missing.] Boxed Text: Rights violations charged By Tony Puch, The Cincinnati Enquirer The Cincinnati Human Relations Commission is considering an investigation into allegations against Westin Hotel of violating the civil rights of some handicapped citizens. Robert Harris, the commission's community representative for the disabled, said he had received four "solid" complaints and four to six possible complaints about the Westin's policies toward the handicapped while the ... (Pease see WESTIN, back page, this section) [We are missing second part of this story] - ADAPT (234)
Friday. May 45, I986, Gazette Telegraph -- A3 headlines Gazette Telegraph wire services the nation Title: Cincinnati called civil rights battleground CINCINNATI — Leaders of 17 wheelchair-bound protesters who were arrested while demonstrating for access to public transit buses say Cincinnati has become a civil rights battleground. “This is the Selma, Ala., of the disabled civil rights movement,” said the Rev. Wade Blank of Denver, a co-founder of the group American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, which staged this week's protests. Seventeen protesters from Texas, Colorado and Utah were arrested Wednesday, when the American Public Transit Association concluded its regional meeting. Some boarded buses and declined requests that they get off. Others blocked a parking entrance to the hotel where the association met, while three others chained themselves together to block a doorway in the Queen City Metro headquarters. - ADAPT (136)
HCC [Handicapped Coloradan?] 2/84 Two photos by Bob Conrad: Top photo of person in a sports jacket and in a manual wheelchair on a lift getting ready to enter a bus with "Ride" written on the side. He is facing in toward the door of the vehicle. Bottom photo is of a person in a wheelchair sitting on a lift facing out the door of a bus. A man [Wade Blank] with long blonde hair and a plaid jacket stands beside the lift watching. Wheeler for a Day Jay Bear Baker, an RTD district director, finds out first hand what it's like to travel via "The Ride" when you're in a wheelchair. Baker was accompanied on the mid-February excursion by members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). Baker boarded buses at Broadway and Colfax and traveled along Lincoln and Alameda. Four out of the five buses he attempted to ride had functioning lifts. in the bottom photo ADAPT member Wade Blank watches as Baker is lowered to the curb. Baker's rides included a trip on one of the 89 new articulated buses. Those are the buses which were equipped with lifts only after the newly elected RTD board voted to reverse a decision made by the old appointed board and former RTD General Manager L.A. Kimball. "The lift worked beautifully, " Blank said. "I've heard that a lot of drivers are praising it, too. " The expedition with Baker is part of a plan by ADAPT to encourage RTD to continue to make its system totally accessible to wheelchair riders. Blank said he's encouraged by some of RTD's 177 more lift-equipped buses as well as to correct wiring problems in many of like current lifts. RTD has also approved the use of a lift equipped over-the road coach on the Denver-Boulder run on an experimental basis. Blank said he has met with new RTD General Manager William Colby and warned him that Colorado’s three favorite sports were "skiing, hiking, and criticizing RTD." - ADAPT (204)
[Headline] Disabled riders hopeful after meeting transport officials San Diego Union By Ric Bucher, Staff Writer 2/11/85 Mike Auberger and Dana Jackson were not smiling when they wheeled out of the Hilton Hotel's Capri Room, but they were hopeful. Auberger and Jackson, along with 13 other wheelchaired members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, asked board members of the American Public Transportation Association to endorse full accessibility for the disabled to all public transit vehicles. And they aimed their plea at the board members’ hearts rather than their budget. “I think we really shook them up,” Jackson said. “They have come a long way,” Auberger said. “Two years ago, they didn't want us in the room. This time they asked questions.” One of those questions, posed by John Pingree, transit manager of Salt Lake City, Utah, personalized one of APTA’s primary disagreements with the ADAPT group. The transit manager said he has an autistic child whom handicap requires the use of specially equipped vans presently available to the handicapped in most cities. The cost of fitting public transportation system with wheelchair lifts, ramps and wider doorways would take away funds currently subsidizing these van services, APTA members claim. ADAPT members say, however, that the van service method is severely handicapped itself. Van service must be reserved 24 hours in advance for a specific time and destination, and ADAPT members say the vans segregate them from the rest of the public. “Imagine if you had to program your car 24 hours in advance every time you wanted to go anywhere, and that was the only way you could get there,” Jackson said. Jackson is the ADAPT transportation coordinator in Washington, D.C. Wade Blank, who helped found ADAPT 12 years ago, said the group's appeal focused on “the moral imperative” aspect of equal access, instead of “costs and everything else.” Blank, who is not disabled, feels the transit system discriminates against the disabled now as it once did against black people. Blank believes the presentation created a rift between transit managers who have superior handicap access – Seattle was cited as the best – and those with lesser facilities. San Diego is one of the worst, according to Auberger. APTA’s executive vice president, Jack Gilstrap, said the APTA board has appointed a committee to study the ADAPT and give a report, tomorrow. Gilstrap said the main purpose of the meeting here is to address the severe budget cuts planned for the Department of Transportation by the government.