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ADAPT (488)
This and ADAPT 509 are continuations of the story on ADAPT 496. The full text of the whole story is on ADAPT 496.
ADAPT (497)
This is a continuation of the story on ADAPT 498. The full text appears on 498.
ADAPT (499)
[Headline] Handicapped Demonstrators Block Building [Subheading] Dozens Of Disabled Protest Poor Transportation Access Alma Hill and Sandra McIntosh, Staff Writers 9-25-89 PHOTO (by Dianne Laakso/Staff): Paulette Patterson, lying in her manual wheelchair in a red top, yells and holds a power fist in the air while 4 police men push her down the street. The group is isolated alone in the middle of the empty street. Wooden red and white police barricades line the street on the left side and along the bottom of the picture, and behind them a mass of ADAPT protesters look on. Caption: A protester in a wheelchair is moved back behind a barricade Sunday at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel, where the the American Public Transit Association was meeting. About 100 demonstrators called for more accessible public transportation. **************** Dozens of disabled people blocked access to the Richard B. Russell Federal Building today by parking their wheelchairs in front of revolving doorways to protest the lack of handicapped accessibility on public transportation. The protesters converged on the federal building to demand that Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner sign an executive order requiring any bus purchased with federal dollars to have wheelchair lifts. They also want the Air Carrier Accessibility Act of 1986 implemented. The act requires equal access in airports for disabled people. The protest coincided with Mr. Skinner's appearance in Atlanta as part of the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) convention. The association has said local governments should be given the option of purchasing wheelchair lifts on buses, but the demonstrators want them mandated by federal law. “We're here and we aren’t going to leave until Sam Skinner signs the executive order," said\.Diane Coleman of Nashville. Ms. Coleman. who has been using a wheelchair since she was 11, said her disability is not the problem. “The problem . .. is discrimination,“ she said. “And behind that, the barrier is attitudes. We've been discriminated against for too long. and we‘re not going to sit for it any longer." The demonstrators forced scores of employees and people doing business at the federal building to exit from the basement. if they wanted to leave. All main level entrances to the building were blocked. After some people stepped over wheelchairs to get out, protesters lined their wheelchairs two and three deep to prevent people from walking over them. But some onlookers sympathized with the protesters. “I think these people have every right in the world to be concerned about their ability to gain access to public facilities. If it means I am temporarily inconvenienced, that's OK with me," said Edward Katze, a lawyer. The demonstrators vowed to hold their positions until Mr. Skinner comes to the federal building and suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles. a tactic used to prevent security from simply lilting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon, Mr. Auberger, 35, said, “They‘ll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." At 6 p.m., Atlanta police and officers from the General Services Administration, who provide security for the building, ordered the protesters to leave and began carrying them outside. The guards used large bolt cutters to sever the chains holding some demonstrators to the doors. At about 8 p.m., as guards were removing the last of the demonstrators, Gary C. Cason, regional administrator of the General Services Administration, told police and maintenance workers to allow the protesters back into the building. “The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest," Mr. Cason said. Mr. Cason said Mr. Bush also said he was concerned about the protesters sitting outside in the chilly overnight temperatures and rainy mist. Maintenance crews appeared a half-hour later with blankets. and cots were promised. Mr. Cason said the protesters would be restricted to the lobby floor and would have access to the restrooms. Protest organizers credit White House counsel C. Boyden Gray for Mr. Bush's action. Mr. Auberger said they contacted Mr. Gray, who took their case to Mr. Bush. The president then called the head of the GSA, Richard G. Austin, in Washington, telling him to allow the demonstrators back inside. Mr. Auberger said the group planned to stay in the building overnight and would block the entrances again at noon if the Transportation Department does not order changes in transit-access rules. “At noon the administration has to decide whether or not they are going to arrest us, or we're closing the building do\vn again," he said shortly before 11 p.m., as the protesters ate Chinese food they had ordered and made themselves comfortable in the hallway on the Spring Street side of the building. The protest forced most visitors to the building Monday to use a basement entrance adjacent to an underground parking lot. The demonstration was the second in as many days held by ADAPT, a nationwide organization. The event was held in Atlanta to coincide with the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), meeting this week in Atlanta, and to attract the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who spoke to APTA Monday morning. APTA opposes legislation pending in Congress — that ADAPT supports — called the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposal would remove barriers in public transportation by requiring public transit authorities to have wheelchair lifts on any new buses purchased 30 days after the measure was enacted. APTA officials say they oppose that portion of the measure because it would cut into limited federal funds. While Mr. Skinner has said he supports the bill, ADAPT wants him to issue an executive order so the stipulation can take effect immediately prior to congressional action. Protesters demanded to talk with Mr. Skinner while he was in Atlanta, but Mr. Skinner departed for St. Croix without meeting with them. Robert Marx. a spokesman for Mr. Skinner, said the secretary does not have the authority to issue such an order, only the president.
ADAPT (503)
Handicapped Coloradan [Headline] The night they drove old APTA down Photo: About a half dozen folks in wheelchairs and one standing person sit together in the parking lot by a van and the entrance to the Holiday Inn Days Inn. Some are in manual wheelchairs, others in electric wheelchairs. They are faced toward the hotel and away from the camera. Caption reads: In our motel parking lot. By RENATE CONRAD Special to the Handicapped Coloradan Friday, Sept. 22-Arrived at the Days Inn in Atlanta at 9:15 p.m. Got room assignments and collected luggage. Saturday, Sept. 23-Bob and I went to the Hotel Hilton at 10:45 pm. to request press passes. We were told to come back between l p.m. and 6 p.m. to talk to Albert Engelken, PR person for APTA. 5:15 p.m.—Returned to the Hilton. Mr. Engelken had left for the day, We were asked to return in the morning at 9a.m. l-5:15 p.m.-First meeting. Topics discussed included the ADA bill and the Air Carriers Act. Some comments: "Everyone thought it was a joke when 35 people started ADAPT, but now no one is laughing. . . You’ve created a Utopia."-Wade Blank “Paratransit is a gun to disabled persons’ heads . . . We've taken the bullets out of the gun."-Arthur Campbell, Jr. "We've sent a message to Bush that we are serious." There was a good deal of applause and then the conversation shifted from the ADA bill to transportation. Julie Farrar from Los Angeles said that she had been to a large human resources conference given by APTA. In the course of the conference it was stated that “everything would be accessible if it wasn‘t for ADAPT." This was greeted with obvious boos and hisses. Later Julie Farrar told the group that Fred Curry of the Greyhound Company said, "If the ADA passes as it is the private bus industry will go broke." After that introductions were made and strategies discussed as to the next day. It was decided that there would be a march beginning at l:30 from Hurt Park to the Hilton Hotel where APTA is staying. Sunday, 9:15 a.m., Hilton Hotel - Albert Engelkin, PR for APTA, met with us. We asked him if he thought the ADA bill will pass "Yes " he said. “I feel that it will. Now we must ask that ADAPT join with us to go to congress and get monies to pay for our effort, the cost being $6 billion. This is a 20-year plan. Now we must come up with a marketing plan." Received press packet and pass with very little difficulty. The only problem was finding the correct elevator. We got a few strange looks entering and leaving the elevators, and many people were noticeably relieved to see our yellow press passes. The only comment we got from the PR director was that “APTA was a little nervous about people in wheelchairs." 11:30 Amid cries of “Access now!" "We will ride!" and "Access is a civil right!" a large flag is unfurled, with red and white stripes and stars on a background of blue that form the shape of a wheelchair. The march to the Hilton begins. lt is a long pull. Atlanta is a very hilly city, which comes as quite as a surprise because I had always envisioned it to be a rather flat place. Cries of “We will ride!" ring out along the way as approximately 200 people make the long haul to the Hilton. When we reach the front of the line and look down the street, we see a four-block-long procession of bumper to bumper wheelchairs. l spoke with four different police officers and was given an estimate of between l8 and 150 police pulling extra duty for this "parade." We reached the hotel and within minutes the barriers were in place. At that point the press was informed that NO press was being allowed inside. The question was then asked, "When will the press be allowed in?" The answer, from Major Holly of the Atlanta police, was: “That depends on the hotel." Later press members were allowed to talk to Jack Gilstrap of APTA, who stated that “there is a great deal of opposition to the ADA bill." NO ARRESTS were made. Monday, Sept. 25, 11 a.m.—At the Hilton Hotel, Secretary Samuel Skinner gave a rousing speech. He said they had completed the outreach portion of their policy, that the needs and problems of the population concerning transportation were discussed, and that they had spoken with citizens and businessmen alike and that early January was the projected time for the policy to be released. "We must look at the forest rather than the trees." The first priority is that 40 percent of the unemployed are in the cities, the second priority is finding a way to get people to jobs. “There is a greater need for state and local moneys,” he said. “[The ADA] is not a new issue, but an issue that has been around too long. We need mainstream access as soon as possible. There has been a lot of give and take. It's not perfect, but we support the legislation. "l ask how can we achieve our goal of total access? We must find a way to make it happen. We need to be concerned about dollars, but this legislation is not a sham or a shell. Access for personal and business reasons is our goal. "Why should a skilled worker be left at home because we are not smart enough to get them to work?" Bob and I chase Skinner through the kitchen area after his speech and catch him as he is getting into the elevator. As we were attending the meeting at the Hilton, people had gotten into the Federal Building and blocked it off with 125 people inside. Tuesday, Sept. 26, 7 a.m.-By executive order President Bush asked that blankets, food and cots be brought into the Federal Building to accommodate the protesters. No arrests were made. Amid chants of "Access now!" and horns blasting, protesters who have been up all night block doors into the Federal Building. 12:50 p.m.—ADAPT members capture the elevators. 1:50 p.m. - l have been told that they are trying to get the President's office on the phone. 2:01 p.m. - Police ask for cooperation to get a meeting set up. 2:07 p.m. - People are meeting with UMPTA now. 2:15 p.m.- Agreement has been reached . . . no arrests have been made. (See text reprinted elsewhere in paper.) 12:45-4:30 p.m.—Went down to the cafeteria. At that time elevators were again shut off and we could not get b[ack] to the first floor lobby. 4:30 p.m.—Maintenance personnel turn elevators back on. 4:45 p.m.—Back to the hotel. Wednesday, Sept. 27—Chanting "We will ride!" 27 people were arrested at the Greyhound Terminal after blocking and chaining themselves to buses. They were taken to jail in a lift-equipped bus and released on their own personal recognizance. Criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct were the charges filed. The bus station and buses were in turmoil for five hours, starting from 3:30 when the protest began. Thursday, Sept. 28 - Home!! Photo 2: In a low-ceilinged room with folding partitions pushed back the big group of ADAPT folks is gathered, facing approximately in a circle. Wade Blank is standing on a chair or something so he is above the crowd, with his right hand held up, he is speaking. Behind him Lincoln is standing. In front Bernard Baker is looking over his shoulder at the camera. Kate Jackson has her back to the camera as do many others in the room. Through these people you can see Mike Auberger's head and someone else's head. A line of people sit across from Wade. There are a couple dozen people visible in the meeting. Caption: Everyone thought it was a joke when 35 people started ADAPT.
ADAPT (504)
Court Says Yes Again Bush agrees to back lifts, allows ADAPT to occupy federal building [This is part 2 of the story that starts on ADAPT 508, the full text of the story appears on 508]
ADAPT (507): 300 strong ADAPT waits outside APTA Hotel
PHOTO (by Tom Olin): Black and white photo looking up the street divided by the wooden barricades. The picture is taken from behind the ADAPT people behind the barricades which curve across to block the whole street in the foreground. A car comes down the empty side toward the camera. Metal barriers divide the other side of the street from the sidewalk where there are a couple of low temporary structures. A police officer in a helmet and leather jacket stands at one side of the picture, handcuffs and gun visible on his or her belt and radio on the shoulder. All the ADAPT folks seem to be looking up the street at the approaching car. The crowd is two or three people deep and seems to extend a city block or possibly more. Bernard Baker wears a “We Will Ride” sign on the back of his motorized wheelchair and Mike Ervin has a sign reading “On It or In Front of It” on his. In the far distance, beyond the car a policeman seems to be talking with some of the protesters.
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The Handicapped Coloradan AUTUMN 1989, VOL. 12, NOS. 4 & 5 [This is the full text of an article that appears in ADAPT 508 and 504] [Headline] FEDS GIVE IN! [Subheading] It ain't over till it's over—and it’s over A struggle that began ten years ago in falling snow on the streets of Denver may have ended this October in Atlanta, the city where Martin Luther King, Jr., preached the value of civil disobedience from the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. As more than a hundred demonstrators held the Richard B. Russell Federal Building hostage, representatives of President Bush and the American Disabled for Public Transportation (ADAPT) hammered out an agreement that will eventually put a wheelchair lift on every bus in America. The statement stopped short of a full promise to mandate lifts, but it did contain this Statement: "Full accessibility in public transit is the President's policy." And it did promise that the government would try to prevent any transit system from purchasing non-equipped buses before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is adopted. That measure does mandate full accessibility and is expected to be approved by Congress and signed by the President. Privately, federal negotiators told ADAPT that they would guarantee that no more systems buy liftless buses, according to informed sources, who said that a videotape of this promise exists. It is probably too late to block the purchase of non-accessible buses in Pittsburgh and Albuquerque, however, since these cities have already had their proposals approved. The Atlanta agreement comes in the wake of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia that reaffirmed an earlier decision by the court that persons with disabilities must be provided effective access to public transportation services throughout the nation. In the 9-3 ruling, the Court of Appeals struck down a regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation limiting the amount that transit systems had to spend on disability access to three percent of their operating budgets. The Court said that the limit was "arbitrary and capricious.” By an 8-4 vote the Court ruled that existing buses need not be retrofitted but that all new buses must be equipped with lifts. Timothy M. Cook, director of the Washington-based National Disability Action Center, who argued the appeal on behalf of ADAPT, said the decision will lead to the adoption of multi-modal systems that include accessible mainline buses as well as door-to-door transit for those who are unable to board lift-equipped buses. The July 25 ruling reaffirmed a similar ruling made in February by three of the judges. That decision had been appealed by the DOT. The Court of Appeals has sent the case back to the lower court with instructions that it set a specific time-table for the issuance of new regulations by the Secretary of Transportation. One of ADAPT's founders, Wade Blank, said the court decision and the concessions made by the President in Atlanta were very satisfying, but that somehow the group was unable to celebrate, at least in a formal fashion. “I went down to a meeting [of the RTD Handicapped Advisory Council] and told the people there that we had won this great victory, and most of them didn't even know what I was talking about," he said. Blank said the accessibility victories that had already been won in Denver had made these people complacent. It was a different story in Atlanta, however, where scores of demonstrators from across the country had converged to picket the annual convention of their arch-nemesis, the American Public Transit Association (APTA), which has consistently opposed any attempt to require mainline wheelchair accessible service. ADAPT has been picketing national and regional conventions of APTA since the organization met in Denver in 1983. Except for Denver, where the demonstrators had the endorsement of the city’s mayor, Federico Pena, those meetings have been marked by demonstrators being arrested for picketing the APTA convention headquarters and for blocking city buses. The story was a little different in Atlanta where the demonstrators made a token push at the barricades around the Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Oct. 24, before they moved on to their real objective, the Russell Federal Building, the next day. Wheelchair protesters poured into the building, jamming hallways and blocking elevators, which trapped federal employees on the top floors of the building. At 6 p.m. federal marshals moved in and began physically removing demonstrators, but with little success. As marshals pried open a door and wheeled one demonstrator out, several more sped inside. One demonstrator managed to be escorted out of the building seven times. It was a game of musical wheelchairs until President Bush intervened, ordering the marshals to let the demonstrators back into the building. Things quieted down until the next day, Tuesday, Oct. 26, when the demonstrators once again poured into the building and blocked the elevators. “It got a little ugly," Blank said. "Some of the disabled people were attacked by federal employees." But even as demonstrators and federal employees were battling to see who would eventually gain control of the building, the historic agreement that would end non-accessible public transit was being signed. ADAPT had won, although a few blocks away APTA officials were arguing that the group had not been instrumental in the decision. With a public transportation victory in their hip pocket, ADAPT turned its attention to the private sector on Wednesday by halting bus service at the Greyhound terminal in downtown Atlanta for more than five hours. Demonstrators blocked the driveways and in some cases chained themselves to the drivers’ steering wheels. More than two dozen of them were arrested, but all were later released on their own recognizance. Greyhound regional manager Tom Street said that only four buses, carrying a total of 80 passengers, left Atlanta during the siege, instead of the normal 20 buses and 600 passengers. Greyhound has a “Helping Hands" program where persons in wheelchairs may ride the buses so long as they are accompanied by an able-bodied friend, who rides free. Demonstrators said that this policy severely restricts their freedom of travel. They were also upset that Greyhound does not allow battery operated wheelchairs to be transported on their buses. Boxed Text: Text of statement signed by Feds, ADAPT in Atlanta The following is the text of the statement issued on Sept. 26, I989, in Atlanta by representatives of ADAPT and the federal government. We have had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the disabled community here in Atlanta today. We have mutually agreed to the following points: 1. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration will recommend to Secretary Skinner that officials of the Department of Transportation and representatives of the disabled community shall promptly meet and confer for the purpose of establishing a process for identifying and dealing with any eleventh hour attempt to circumvent the principle of accessibility prior to the adoption and effective date of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Full accessibility in public transit is the President's policy, We are making this recommendation because the Department cannot issue a summary order commanding immediate accessibility, including wheelchair accessibility for all transit. We would, if we could. 2. Because the President shares the sense of urgency of the demonstrators here in Atlanta for the passage by the House of Representatives of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we have agreed to recommend that a workable arrangement be negotiated to accommodate a continuing symbolic presence by the disabled community at the Richard B Russell Federal Building. 3. We have also agreed to communicate to Secretary Skinner the concern expressed here that the current rule-making for implementation of the Air Carriers Access Act of 1986 is not on a sufficiently tight timetable and should be resolved at the earliest practicable date. End of boxed text. PHOTO (by Tom Olin?): A medium close up of Lillibeth Navarro, a small Phillipina, who leans forward intensely, chanting or yelling full force. She sits in her motorized chair her right hand in a fist resting on her armrest. Her large glasses and glossy dark hair seem almost out of place with her intensity. She is wearing and ADAPT shirt that says "I Will Ride" and has the old "no steps" (a set of steps covered with a circle and a diagonal bar across - the no symbol) logo surrounded by "American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit." On the left shoulder of her shirt you can see the list of cities ADAPT had held actions. In her lap a bandanna covered with the "no steps" logo. Caption: I am a disabled person. Hear me roar.
ADAPT (509)
This story in its entirety is on ADAPT 496.
ADAPT (513)
FRI. SEPTEMBER 29, 1989 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution [Headline] ADAPT: ‘Militant Group' Takes on the Mainstream Disabled Protesters Tired of ‘Lousy Way to Live’ By Pat Burson, staff writer Sallie Bach said she used to look at people with disabilities “like they were nothing.“ “When you're able to walk, you see people like this and you stand up and laugh at them. l know. l did it," said the 50-year-old Chicago woman, a waitress for 21 years until she became physically disabled after jumping from a third-floor window to escape an apartment fire. “l know what it feels like now," she said. “Now I understand.“ Ms. Bach joined more than 100 other disabled and non-disabled people who are members of American Disabled for Accessible Transportation, or ADAPT, as they blockaded a federal office tower and the Greyhound bus station in Atlanta this week to call attention to their demands that wheelchair lifts be installed on all new buses purchased with federal dollars. ADAPT, based in Denver, promotes non discriminatory, mainline public transit system that are accessible to people who use wheelchairs. This week's protests were planned to coincide with the American Public Transit Association‘s (APTA) annual convention ADAPT has held similar protests in Denver, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Montreal, trying to persuade APTA members to support total accessibility of public transit systems. The transit group and ADAPT differ on the federal government's role in mandating access to public transportation. APTA agrees that transit systems should make their buses and trains accessible, but the group believes local government not Washington, should decide. Whether or not members of the disabled community agree with ADAPT's more radical tactics, they applaud its members unceasing demand for access. “They are a militant group, and l think their militancy had been imposed upon them," said Jay W. Brill, a longtime activist for disability rights and manager of the Initiative on Technology, Disability and Post-Secondary Education at the American Council on Education in Washington. "There's a point where the community [of disabled people] becomes so frustrated with transit authorities, and a door opens wide for ADAPT," said Mr.Brill. ADAPT founder Wade E. Blank, a 48-year-old minister with shoulder-length blond hair, said he got the idea to start the group when he worked as a nursing home orderly. "l said to myself, 'What a lousy way to live your life," he said Wednesday, standing behind a police barricade as 25 fellow protesters at the Greyhound station were loaded onto a lift-equipped bus by police. Co-founder Michael Auberger describes ADAPT as “a fringe group‘ that has become mainstream." “It attracts the person who has been within the system and tired of it and the person who is locked out of the system,... somebody who's really disabled, on a fixed income and needs to use public transportation." The organization, formed in 1983, has about 1,800 members and 33 local chapters. As protesters tried to close down the Richard B. Russell Federal Building this week, linking arms and wheelchairs at the tower's main doors and elevators, some compared the demonstration to those during the civil rights movement of a quarter-century ago. "The civil rights movement started because of busing" said Jerry Eubanks, a 31-year-old-dispatcher for the Chicago Sanitation Department, whose legs were amputated below the knee after a train accident. “We just want the right to ride the bus."
ADAPT (516)
The Atlanta Constitution MONDAY SEPTEMBER 25 1989 Photo (Dianne Laakso/Staff): A long line of ADAPT protesters marching single file. Above their heads is a very large banner reading "ADAPT WE WILL RIDE." The first young man in line is wearing a sign across his knees reading ADAPT or Perish. Caption: Disabled demonstrators roll down Peachtree Street Sunday en route to the Atlanta Hilton Hotel on Courtland Street, site of an American Public Transit Association convention. The disabled group wants removal of all barriers to public transportation. [Headline] Disabled Demand Accessible Public Transportation Protest Directed at Mass Transit Conference Here By Sandra Mclntosh, Staff Writer About 100 disabled people from across the United States and Canada, most of them in wheelchairs, protested in front of the Hilton Hotel in Atlanta Sunday at the start of a convention of mass transit authorities. Stephanie Thomas, a spokeswoman for the group calling themselves ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), said the protesters are angry over the transit group's continued opposition to federal legislation that would prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. The protest was timed to coincide with the opening of the convention of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), a trade group representing a majority of public transit systems in North America. The bill, known as the Americans With Disabilities Act, would make it illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations, would assure those with speech or hearing impairments of special equipment allowing them to communicate with anyone, and would remove barriers in transportation. It is the latter part that upsets the members of the APTA. "We assume it will become law, and if it does we'll implement it," said Albert Engelken, APTA’s deputy executive director. "But that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it." Mr. Engelken said he does not want to sound cold-hearted but with shrinking federal transportation funds it sometimes does not make sense to use those funds to install seldom-used wheelchair lifts on buses. "We‘re not harsh people, but our job is to offer the most people the most mobility for the best possible price," Mr. Engelken said. Ms. Thomas said her group does not expect the transit systems to refit all their buses immediately, nor make all the train stations immediately available to the disabled. "We realize it's a longtime goal, and we're willing to wait. We know the costs involved." Ms. Thomas said as other members crowded around, “All we're asking for is a commitment that they‘re willing to do these things and they won't give us that." The protest, which closed part of Courtland Street. lasted about four hours, and was watched by nearly as many police officers as there were protesters. Police Maj. W W Holley said no arrests were made. ADAPT members had a permit to hold Sunday's protest, but Major Holley said no other permits have been issued. The group said it plans to stay until Thursday when the convention ends, and may protest again.
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METRO Magazine March/April 1991 This article is on 568, 555,551 and 547 and is included here in its entirety for ease of reading. Disabilities Act Forces Sweeping Transit Changes Public, private operators must comply with new ADA law. Uncle Sam hustles to fine tune countless provisions. By Lenny Levine The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will force sweeping changes on the transit industry, both public and private, and the battle to implement it is just being joined. When President Bush signed ADA into law last July shortly after overwhelming approval by Congress, it was the culmination of a decade-long struggle by advocates for the 43 million handicapped Americans and others to provide equal access for the disabled. The law affects transit buses, passenger trains, motorcoaches, stations and how the people who run them do business. Much is known about the law. Indeed, many in transit have long anticipated its provisions and made pieces of their operations “accessible,” the operative word. More, however, is not known. A slew of federal agencies is tuning the law. The name of the tune will unfold with time. What is known is this: Public agencies must make accessible all new vehicles purchased after last Aug. 25. Transit systems buying used vehicles must demonstrate “a good faith effort" to get accessible vehicles. Agencies that remanufacture vehicles to extend their life at least five years must make them accessible. All criteria, much of which has yet to be spelled out, must be implemented regardless of cost. All that also applies to private operators contracting with public agencies. There is some wiggle room, however. Waivers may be obtained in certain cases. That, too, will be spelled out as ADA is further refined. Motorcoach operators have more wiggle room, years of it. ADA says small private operators have six years after enactment of the law to become accessible, large operators, seven. But there begins the bureaucratic snafu. “What ‘small’ and ‘large’ mean haven't even been defined for us yet," said Steve Sprague, vice president for governmental affairs of the United Bus Owners of America (UBOA). He said “large” will probably be defined as Interstate Commerce Commission Class I operators. But the definition is a long way off. That definition — and countless other details that will govern the motorcoach industry —— will come from an old friend of bus folk. It is, ta da: THE STUDY. ”The study was mandated by ADA to govern the motorcoach industry. It is to be conducted by a broad-based committee of government, industry and technical people and advocates for the disabled over three years. Then the secretary of transportation reviews it for a year, and public comment is collected after that. Problem is, the study’s birth is overdue, wrapped up in Washington's womb of bureaucracy. Sprague, a member of the study’s committee, explained the delay like this: The committee is to be set up by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), an arm of Congress. OTA has never conducted such a study. And Congress has not yet given OTA money to do the study, although “the powers that be at OTA are trying to get the money." Sprague predicted the end result of the study will be that “overall, access must be provided for the disabled" by private operators. That could take many forms, Sprague said: There could be a subsidized pool of over-the-road vehicles regionally; the public fleet could be subcontracted to private operators; and, of course, private operators could make their vehicles accessible, one way or another. QUOTE highlighted from text: "It's a good thing we were given time to get things done" —Steve Sprague Charter law prevents public agencies from doing charter business if private charter buses are available, Sprague said, and it will remain so, for now. And there’s still the definition of what “access” means. UMTA is drafting rules and regulations. And the federal Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board has been holding hearings around the nation and must publish a final rule by April 26 on access to buildings and terminals, but not buses. In the meantime, while waiting for the federal government to define "access," Sprague said the secretary of transportation cannot demand wheelchair lifts on motorcoaches, but can only say buses must be accessible; that could be lifts, ramps or free assistance in boarding. “So it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a bunch of new lifts," Sprague said, “because the secretary could not demand physical changes in equipment while the studies are under way. He can just say, ‘Don't discriminate.”’ With all the expected changes due, Sprague said, “It’s a good thing that we were given time to get things together.” If private operators have a few years to get things together, public transit agencies face Armageddon July 26. That’s when UMTA publishes a final rule on access. The notice on the rule will be published in March, said Richard Centner, UMTA director of public affairs, and there will be 60 days for public comment. Included in this complicated rulemaking process is input from federal agencies previously mentioned, plus the Federal Railroad Administration, Justice Department and other agencies within the Department of Transportation. An interagency task force has been formed, Centner said, to make sure all segments of the bureaucracy are on the same track. APTA recently was cosponsor of a seminar on accessibility, and is collecting data. For more information, phone Deborah Dubin at 202/ 898-4098. Transit agencies around the nation have long been providing service to the disabled, be it with paratransit, demand-responsive service or accessible buses. Some were doing it before ADA became a buzzword, others in anticipation of it. The Rapid Transit District in Los Angeles, for example, recently celebrated a decade of accessible service to the disabled. In 1974 the RTD became the first transit agency in the nation to begin buying all new buses with wheelchair lifts. “Today, 97 percent of RTD’s bus fleet of more than 2,600 buses are equipped with a wheelchair lift, and in the next couple of years the entire fleet will be lift equipped," said RTD General Manager Alan F. Pegg. Three percent, or 40,000, of RT D’s 1.3 million daily riders are disabled. Wheelchair boardings average 400 a day. In 1986 half the proceeds from a San Francisco Muni senior citizen fare increase were earmarked for paratransit. In 1989 San Francisco voters followed the lead of other voters in the area and approved a local sales tax increase for transportation, with eight percent of it set aside for paratransit. The Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority in Ohio recently began a program to help visually-impaired bus passengers. Cards are provided displaying the passenger’s bus route in a number large enough for a driver to see. The Central Ohio Transit Authority and a local group will share a $42,000 grant from Project ACTION to create and demonstrate cooperative methods for improving accessible public transportation. A local steering committee has proposed: mobility fairs where passengers can get training in using lifts; training for drivers; tapes to train passengers to become independent when using the transit system; and hosts and hostesses on the agency’s 41 new lift-equipped buses to help new riders. In addition to changing the face of transportation, ADA is also spawning a host of products. New wheelchair lifts and securement devices are only the beginning. One new product, Luminator’s large-format GTI Matrix Sign, is nearly double the size of the company’s MAX sign system. The new system has 16 rows by 112 columns and can display characters 9.5 inches high on a single-line message or two lines of characters 4.1 inches high. Luminator, of Plano, Texas, promotes the system as beneficial to riders who have limited vision. Remember ADAPT? “We've gotten everything we wanted in public transit,” said Wade Blank, founder of a group called ADAPT. Blank’s group was a driving force behind ADA and he and his colleagues have been a fixture for years demonstrating at APTA conventions. “I missed the intrigue of this year's convention," Blank admitted. ADAPT is still active in the rulemaking process for buses and trains, working with UMTA on an advisory task force.... Blank said, though, there is still some work to be done in the private sector. He said he is negotiating with Greyhound to allow a wheelchair on its buses instead of stowing the wheelchair and having an attendant put the wheelchair passenger in a regular bus seat. Blank also noted that it might not cost much more to build all buses from scratch with wheelchair lifts. He said, “We have agreed to accept the regulatory process and accept the five or six years" it will take to implement ADA for private operators, but “we really don't need five or six years. "The writing is on the wall." Although Blank may miss the intrigue of bus conventions, his group is taking on a new public giant. The group has changed its name from Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit to Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. ADAPT is tackling the nursing home industry, which Blank said gets $19 billion yearly from Medicaid. Blank would take S5 billion of that and put attendants in homes of the elderly to care for them, thus keeping them out of nursing homes. Many questions remain on implementing ADA They involve more than just making buses and trains accessible to wheelchairs. Are elderly people, for example, considered “disabled?” There will be detailed regulations devised to accommodate the blind and the deaf. That could include special markings on vehicles and terminals. Route signs, handrails and fare boxes must be “accessible.” What about securement devices? And ADA specifies new employment provisions. Beginning July 26, 1992, employers with 25 or more employees cannot discriminate against qualified people with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, promotion, firing, pay and job training. The employer must also make “reasonable accommodation" to disabled workers such as making existing facilities accessible, job restucturing, part-time or modified work hours and the provision of qualified readers or interpreters. On July 26, 1994, the provisions extend to employers with 15 or more workers. Transit people “are concerned about implementing ADA without cutting service," said an industry insider. “People candidly ask what will happen it they don’t (implement ADA)? lt will be a given there will he a lot of lawsuits if they don't, but we're all working together on this." "... in the next couple of years the entire fleet will be llft equlpped." -- Alan F. Pegg PHOTO: Close up of Wade Blank. He is wearing tinted, wire-rimmed, round glasses and his long hair falls from the part in the middle of his head. Caption reads: Blank. PHOTO: Close up on sign on the front of a bus reads "FLXIBLE" and an access symbol on one side. Caption reads: Luminaior's new matrix sign with letters 9.5 inches high is easier to read for passengers with vision problems.
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WHEN IS TOO MUCH: "Helping" the Disabled by Mary McKnew Just as airplane pilots want assurance that a plane's steering wheel won‘t come off while flying over Europe, people utilizing a bus wheelchair lift deserve to expect that the lift will operate in a safe and predictable manner. However, I have to admit that too much focus on “safety” issues has me a little worried. To some transit officials, “safety” issues in providing transportation services for people with disabilities raise old stereotypes of helplessness and can quickly become a rationale for imposing paternalistic policies. For example, here in Olympia, the local Intercity Transit Authority and the state's Department of General Administration are co-sponsoring a shuttle service between the capitol and downtown Olympia with routes passing other major states offices. With the local parking problem, this system is extremely convenient. From the beginning, all vans used in the service have been equipped with wheelchair lifts. All this, of course, is very commendable. So, what's the problem? Unfortunately, the van's tie-down system, lack of grab-bars and driver policies reflect a paternalistic attitude towards disabled passengers by promoting dependence in the name of safety. The tie-down system is one of the most primitive I have ever encountered. It uses straps to bind each of a wheelchair's four wheels to the floor in a rather intricate system that takes the driver approximately five minutes to accomplish. To tie-down a wheelchair, the driver must get on his or her hands and knees. Thus, it is not possible for even very mobile wheelchair users to accomplish this independently. However, once the straps are in place, none of the wheels will move even a centimeter. During this five minute routine, other van passengers wait outside (some glancing at their watches) until the driver folds the lift back in place and allows them to board. After being strapped down, the driver then will place a seat-belt around the wheelchair user. Seat belts are not available for other passengers. If the wheelchair user decides to reject use of a seat belt, the driver will attempt (sometimes loud) persuasion, finally telephoning into the office to report that the passenger has refused use of the belt. I use a wheelchair for mobility due to a low and incomplete spinal cord injury. I object to many of the features in the Intercity Transit system that, to me, are designed on the premise that people with disabilities will always need a lot of assistance from the driver. Although the driver should be trained and willing to provide assistance if it is requested, the system should be designed to promote maximum independence. Most tie-down systems can be easily manipulated by most wheelchair uses with finger movement. Although some wheelchair users need a seat belt due to problems with balance, drivers should not assume they are needed by all such passengers. A policy that requires a driver to phone in to report a passenger's rejection of the seat belt is founded on the belief that people with disabilities are incapable of making sound decisions regarding their own safety. Additionally, although grab-bars are located along the ceiling walls of other seats, none are available near the tie-down area. Thus, if the bus lurches while enroute, a wheelchair passenger has nothing to hold onto. I suppose this makes it more likely a wheelchair passenger will comply with the seat belt policy, recognizing that a passive restraint is better than none at all. Intercity Transit has been providing paratranslt services to people with disabilities for a number of years. They have moved into the provision of mainline transportation services (i.e., access to the regular bus service) only recently. It appears that they have simply shifted their operating policies and procedures from one system to the other without considering if these are applicable to the new service. I have brought my objections to Intercity Transit’s attention. Although the staff disagree with most, they are reconsidering others. Safety is a concern to people who use wheelchair lifts. However, we cannot allow it to become a convenient rationale for either eliminating the service or instituting restrictive policies that treat people with disabilities in a disparate manner from other passengers. PHOTO (by Tom Olin): A large crowd marches downhill on a wide street. In the front row a little girl in a wheelchair (Jennifer Keelan) is pushed by her mother (Cindy). Beside them a woman in a motorized wheelchair (Diane Coleman) and a long skirt and white jacket has a sign behind her reading "we the people." Beside her a man in a manual wheelchair (Bob Kafka) with a big salt and pepper beard rolls along. In the row behind, between Bob and Diane, is a woman in a wheelchair (Mary McKnew) and a man who walks (Lannie Schuman) are visible and next to them another man marches behind Diane. Behind Jennifer and Cindy is Tari Susan Hartman. Rows of marchers go further and further back up the street to the top of the hill and presumably beyond. Caption reads: Just to the right at the placard Washington residents Lannie Schuman and Mary McKnew participate in a San Francisco demonstration for transportation rights. ABOUT THE AUTHOR... In 1987, Mary McKnew tried to get arrested for the first time. She sat in front of a San Francisco police van and refused to move. She sat in her wheelchair directly under the wheels of a bus and refused to move. "I did many illegal things." she says wryly. What she did, she did in the name of accessible public transportation for people with disabilities... a personal and political quest McKnew has been following for the past 12 years. Although McKnew wasn't arrested at that demonstration (in spite of her civil disobedience efforts), many others were. More than 500 people organized by the American Disabled tor Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) marched through the streets oi San Francisco to the city hall to protest the continuing discriminatory policies supported by the American Public Transit Association (APTA). ADAPT has been a persistent thorn in the side of APTA for many years. Fortunately, their persistence paid off. With the final signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) expected any day, ADAPT—- and McKnew — will see many of their demands for fair, accessible transportation become reality. But McKnew says that just because you pass laws doesn't mean you quit being an activist. "The ADA will bring private transit companies under regulations just like public ones," she says, "but just passing a law doesn't mean we solve the problem. implementation is a whole other thing." In part, McKnew was referring to the possibility that some private companies may reduce the seating capacity in some of their smaller vehicles in order to side-step the accessibility requirements mandated by the ADA. "What the ADA will do is provide a clear avenue for lawsuits," she says. Is McKnew planning on handling some of those lawsuits herself? It may be too early to tell. Currently an executive policy assistant in the Office of the Governor, McKnew is also a second-year law student at the University of Puget Sound. (This story continues in the original format on 571 but is included here in its entirety for ease of reading.)
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Handicapped Coloradan [Headline] These are the people who chased APTA George Florum, 47, of Colorado Springs, is a T3 para who fell out of a cherrypicker. He went to work for Atlantis and became involved with ADAPT in April of 1985. Florum has been arrested between 15 and 20 times on charges ranging from instigating a riot, blocking entrances, and chaining himself to doors and buses. "I think the disability movement has really grown," Florum said, "In April of '85 in San Antonio 15 people were willing to be arrested. Now people are standing up for their rights, and I think it's great." Joe Carle, 51, of Dallas, is a single amputee with artery problems. "I was the first to go through the training seminar," Carle said. "The second big seminar was to take on McDonald’s. Now, transportation is fairly won, but access will be a continuing battle. The disability movement can go anywhere." Rick James, 39, had encephalitis when he was two years old. Five years ago he was one of 20 people who did a "crawl on" on a bus, and three weeks later he was part of a group that got together and blocked a bus. “We will get ADA passed," James said, "and then take on any issues we feel necessary, such as health care, attendant care, the Greyhound company, housing - any of a number of issues." Cathy Thomas, 60, of Irving, Tex., has spina bifida and became involved with ADAPT - when a disability group she belonged to that was trying to get accessible transportation in Dallas asked ADAPT for help. She says, “At this point rights for disabled people are inevitable, We want to get as many buses accessible as possible. If President Bush is sincere in wanting to mainstream people with disabilities, then it's time he took the first step in getting us accessible transportation so we, too, can pursue the American dream." Rhonda Lester of Denver is the mother of Kenny Perkins, 5, who was refused access to an RTD bus in October 1987. “They viewed Kenny as a baby because of his chair," Lester said. “They wanted to board him separately from his chair-in other words, he was to be carried on. So I called Wade Blank on a Thursday and on Friday help came. Larry, George, Ken, ET and Julie blocked a bus. They let us on, we changed the policy, and I was allowed to attend a training meeting." When asked if there has been a lot of resistance to Kenny, Lester said, "Oh, yeah. People see one of ‘Jerry's Kids,' not the wheelchair I hope our actions and civil disobedience help to get full integration for my son." As to the controversial issue of children in the disability rights movement, Lester said, "As the mother of a disabled son, I feel that no one has a bigger right than myself to fight for my son's rights, although there are some who would disagree very strongly with this view. "Children need to be in the movement because it is for the children . . .the ultimate goal.” THANK YOU, ADAPT A poem by Rhonda Lester There is a little boy Very close to my heart Who is a bit different But handsome and smart. Strangers who meet him Can't get past the chair, But he goes on bravely, Not seeming to care. He's strong and he's tough- He almost has to be- But he is one of the warriors Who wants to be free. We are always standing by you, For our fight is real. We wanted you to know How grateful we feel. So thank you all clearly For all that you've done For the movement, myself, And my son. All photos in this issue by Bob Conrad. PHOTO: of George Florum looking to the side in an "ADAPT or perish" t-shirt. His dark hair is short and a trim beard and mustache outline his mouth and jaw. He looks fit and determined. PHOTO: George Cooper, an older man in a wheelchair blocks a doorway partially with another person in a manual wheelchair. Walking bureaucrats, some with badges stand behind them looking as though they want to get through. George is speaking with a woman who is looking down toward the floor. Caption: George Cooper of Dallas occupies the Federal Building. PHOTO: A small person in a manual wheelchair being pushed by a woman behind, sits at one end of some police barricades while a man in a manual chair sits at the other end. Behind the barricades a ways off is a line of police standing together. Caption: At the barricades. PHOTO: A group of people in wheelchairs is gathered at one side of the picture, a woman in a wheelchair at the back of the group holds high the ADAPT flag. Beneath it you can see Lincoln Blank and a few other protesters are clustered on the other side. The group seems to be at the entrance of a hotel type building. Caption: A large flag is unfurled.
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PHOTO: An African American woman in a motorized wheelchair sits in front of a group of other people in wheelchairs and standing. Several are wearing ADAPT no stairs logo T-shirts. The woman in front has a sign across the front of the wheelchair that says "Access Now. We will Ride." They are on a city street in an urban downtown area. Caption says: SINCE 1983, ADAPT has picketed APTA is national and regional conventions, always an unwelcome guest. Scores of demonstrators have been arrested hundreds of times as they blocked the entrances to APTA's various hotel headquarters in such cities, as Denver, Detroit, Montreal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, San Antonio, and Reno. Only once, in Denver in 1983, was ADAPT allowed to make its plea for accessible public transit before an APTA meeting, and then only after the city's mayor, Federico Pena, intervened. APTA insisted throughout the demonstrations that they weren't opposed to lifts per se, only to making the lifts mandatory on all public transit systems. APTA argued that it was a matter best decided by local transit providers.
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PHOTO (by DIANNE LAAKSO/Staff): A tall African American man dressed in a casual clothes and carrying a baby in his left arm is extending his right leg forward to step over two people in wheelchairs who are attempting to block a glass doorway which is open. The man and the child have calm expressions and are looking down. The man holds the arm of one of the people in wheelchairs who is facing away from the camera. This person has a bumper-sticker on their battery box that reads "End USA Apartheid" and this person has both arms bent at the elbows and raised and is dressed in a warm jacket over a hoodie. To this person's left is a woman (Christine Coughlin) sitting with her wheelchair facing the first wheelchair so her feet touch the other chair's wheel. Both protesters look somewhat tense and rigid. On the back wall of the lobby is a abstract mural. Caption reads: Members of ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation block the doors of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building this morning as they protest lack of accessibility on public transportation. The protesters want Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner to sign an executive order requiring any bus purchased with federal money to have wheelchair lifts. [Headline] Handicapped Protesters Block Russell Building In Demonstration Over Transportation Access From Page Al [we do not have the first part of this article. Also, the bottom of this page is torn so parts of the 6th paragraph and last 2 paragraphs are missing.] agrees to their demands. Sen. Sam Nunn‘s office, which is located in the federal building, was asked to relay a message to Mr. Skinner, who was at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel, that his presence was wanted. In the meantime, protesters, using bullhorns and their strongest voices, shouted “What do we want? We want Skinner!" This morning a protest followed a demonstration Sunday in front of the Hilton Hotel as the convention started, Stephanie Thomas, a spokeswoman for the group ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), said the protesters were angry over the transit group's continued opposition to federal legislation that would prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. The protest was timed to coincide with the opening of the convention of APTA, a trade group representing a majority of public transit systems in North America. The bill, known as the Amer[icans] with Disabilities Act, would [make it] illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations, would assure those with speech or hearing impairments of special equipment allowing them to communicate with anyone and would remove barriers in transportation. It is the latter part that upsets the members of APTA. “We assume it will become law, and if it does we'll implement it," said Albert Engelken, APTA‘s deputy executive director. “But that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it." Mr. Engelken said he does not want to sound cold-hearted, but with shrinking federal transportation funds it sometimes does not make sense to use those funds to install seldom-used wheelchair lifts on buses. “We're not harsh people, but our job is to offer the most people the most mobility for the best possible price," Mr. Engelken said. Ms. Thomas said her group does not expect the transit systems to refit all their buses immediately. nor make all the train stations immediately available to the disabled, ' “We realize it's a longtime goal, and we're willing to wait. We know the costs involved," Ms. Thomas said as other members crowded around. "All we're asking for is a commitment that they‘re willing to do these things, and they won't give us that." The Sunday protest, which closed part of Courtland Street, lasted about four hours and was watched by nearly as many police officers as there were pro[testers.] Police Maj. W.W. Holley [... ar]rests were made. ADAPT member [...] to hold Sunday [...] Holley said n[...] issued. The gr[...] protests in oth[er...] years. TEXT BOX INSERTED IN MIDDLE OF ARTICLE reads: The Americans With Disabilities Act would make it illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations and remove barriers in transportation.