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Degemer / Rummadoù / Merkerioù APTA
+ accessible transit + ADA 5
ADAPT (585)
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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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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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.
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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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This story in its entirety is on ADAPT 496.