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ADAPT (367)
San Francisco Examiner 10/1/87 Photo by Examiner/Gordon Stone: The frame of the picture is filled with people in wheelchairs, and people standing. All are protesters and in the center is a woman wearing glasses raises her hand in a power fist with a piece of paper in it, above her head. In front of him is a woman laying back in her chair (Laurie ___ from Chicago). Everyone is facing forward. Caption reads: CAROL RAUGUST, WITH FLYER, IS AMONG WHEELCHAIR ACTIVISTS They have a quarrel with public transit officials, convening in S.F. Title: Handicapped activists get day in court By John D. O'Connor OF THE EXAMINER STAFF The Hall of Justice resounded with victory whoops and the whirl of motorized wheelchairs as 43 'handicapped activists arrested for blockading the Powell Street cable car line got their day in court. Protesters used their arraignment Wednesday before Municipal Court Judge Philip Moscone as a platform for a new attack against the American Public Transit Association, which they say has not done enough to provide the handicapped with access to public transit. Moscone allowed designated speakers to address the court after each group of blockaders entered no contest pleas to charges of obstructing a public thoroughfare. The $50 fine the charge carried was dropped as Moscone credited the night the 43 demonstrator spent in jail as "time served." A second charge of failing to disperse was dropped "in the interest of justice," according to Deputy District Attorney Randall Knox. Jane Jackson, who spoke on behalf the first group of 14 wheelchair-bound demonstrators arraigned Wednesday, seized the opportunity to charge APTA with denying handicapped citizens of their civil rights. "It is for this reason that we believe Jack Gilstrap (APTA executive Ace president) should be asked to resign or should be forced to resign," Jackson said. "APTA is not acting in good faith." More than 15,000 public transit officials from around North America attended the four-day convention. Officials of the transit group have said they feel the access question should be handled on a local level. Jackson also said the coalition of handicapped-rights groups, which captured national media attention with four days of protests and blockades across the city, was pulling out of a scheduled meeting with APTA officials Thursday. "It's the only move left open to us," Jackson said later while members of the September Alliance for Accessible Transit and American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation cheered her and the other blockaders as they exited the courtroom. About 75 wheelchair-bound protesters lined the hallway outside the courtroom, chanting and clapping in approval and support as each group of blockaders were arraigned and allowed to leave. "They're our heroes," said Connie Arnold of San Rafael. "They're standing up for us." During the arraignments, police, sheriff's and emergency medical personnel stood by as defendants were wheeled in or entered the courtroom under their own power. Jennifer Keelan, a 6-year-old girl from Tempe, Ariz., whose bouncy enthusiasm and apparent unconcern over her handicap captivated the press and boosted the resolve of protesters, was wheeled in by a sheriff's deputy and sat writing her name over and over again in a small notebook. Unlike the group's earlier demonstrations, Wednesday's action was peaceful and there were no arrests. Protesters had staged noisy and sometimes violent demonstrations outside the APIA convention at Moscone Center Monday and on the steps of City Hall Sunday night. Handicapped-rights group organizers said Wednesday was their last day in The City as the APTA convention at Moscone Center ended a four-day conference and transit officials left town. But protesters declared the string of rallies and blockades a success. "We made our point," said Marilyn Golden of Oakland. "Now maybe they will listen."
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Time Magazine October 12, 1987 American Notes PHOTO by Michael Jones: Four men in wheelchairs block a cable car on Powell St. Left is JT Templeton, dark glasses, fist raised; the two men in the middle appear to be chanting. On the right side is Mike Auberger. Frank Lozano is sitting just inside the car and his service dog Frasier is on the steps going in the front of the car. A few people are standing on the sidewalk looking on. Caption reads: Protests: blocking the path of San Francisco's cable cars. Title: Wheelchair Warriors The whir of wheelchair motors and chants of We want access" filled the air last week. as some 200 disabled demonstrators from across the U.S. picketed the annual convention of the American Public Transit Association in San Francisco. The protesters blame association members for engineering the repeal of a 1979 federal mandate that required wheelchair lifts on all new buses and rail systems as well as the phased modification of existing systems. On Powell Street some protesters chained their wheelchairs to the city's century-old cable cars. Others crawled or rolled onto the tracks. shutting down the system for two hours. Many of the 134 arrested protesters were carted off in lift-equipped buses and vans.
ADAPT (773)
Oakland Tribune, Monday October 19, 1992 Photo by the Associated Press: A Woman in a manual wheelchair (Julie Farrar) is surrounded by three police officers in helmets. She holds her hands over her head and a poster on her knees reads "...services NOW." Caption title: Wheelchair protest Julia Farrer of the American Disabled Attendant program in San Diego is carried off by police officers yesterday as she tried to block an American Health Care Association meeting in San Francisco.
ADAPT (768)
San Francisco Examiner TITLE: Disabled protest for more funds for home attendants Subheading: Entrances to downtown Marriott are blocked By Wylie Wong of the Examiner Staff, October 19, 1992 About 300 demonstrators in wheelchairs blocked the entrances to the San Francisco Marriott, calling for more funds to allow the disabled to live outside of nursing homes. Sunday's protest was designed to drew attention to the 16 million disabled people who have no choice but to live in nursing homes, said the Rev. Wade Blank, a co-founder Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT). The protesters targeted the American Health Care Association, a nursing-home trade group whose members are staying at the Marriott on Fourth and Minion streets while attending a convention at nearby Moscone Center. ADAPT wants 25 percent of the $27 billion paid to nursing home operators under the Medicaid program to be used to help disabled people pay for personal attendants. But the Bush administration and the health care association, which represents about 10,000 nursing homes, oppose the plan. Only $600 million of that money currently is used for in-home attendant care, said ADAPT co-founder Michael Auberger. Police escorted the protesters on the eight-block trip from their Market Street hotel, and watched as they barricaded themselves at the Marriott's entrances. The protesters chanted. "Down with nursing homes, up with attendant care.” Police were able to keep some entrances open for hotel guests. No arrests were made. Kimberly Horton, who lived in a nursing home from age 6 to 21, described her experience as “living in a prison." "They take away your personal dignity," she said. "You had to eat what they put in front of you. They'd get angry at me for wetting my bed, but wouldn't help when I had to go.” Protester Blane Beckwith, a Berkeley resident, has a personal attendant who takes care of his everyday needs, from taking a bath to preparing food. But state budget cuts have slashed eight hours of care per month. As a result, he has only half an hour per week for grocery shopping with his attendant. "No one can shop for groceries in half an hour, My mother helps me, but she's 62 and can't do it forever." he said. Horton, who wants to take writing classes and become a free-lance writer, fear that more budget cutsar will force him to live in a nursing home. "A nursing home is stifling," he said, "You have no social life. You can't work." Conventioneers who walked past the protesters were unimpressed. "I have no argument with wanting more attendant care,” said John Jarrett, who runs a 79-bed nursing home in New York. "But they shouldn't take it from the elderly,” who would be hurt if ADAPT funding plan were implemented, he said. The demonstrators plan to protest the convention through Friday. A police commander said 90 police officers were on hand. “They haven’t been violent,” he said. “They’ve been very cooperative.“ Last week, officers took two hour classes at the Police Academy to learn how to arrest and search disabled people without harming them. PHOTO by Michael Macor, Examiner: The front of the ADAPT group marching down a downtown street and in the background the line of marchers goes out of sight. Paulette Patterson, Julie Nolan, Carla Laws, Brooke Boston? and Bob Kafka among those leading the march. Photo caption: Disabled people from the group ADAPT make their way down Mission Street to the Marriott Hotel.
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Title: 73 arrests in wheelchair melee by Darryl E. Owens Orlando Sentinel Monday 10/7 [This article is continued on ADAPT 688 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO by Tom Fitz/Sentinel: A woman (Anita Cameron) is being shoved over by a security guard or police officer, only his arm is visible. Her face shows pain and fear. She is falling into the lap of a woman in a wheelchair (Jennifer McPhail) who looks down at Anita and is being held forward by a woman and a man protester who are looking at the police. Behind Jennifer is another wheelchair user and behind them is another ADAPTer in a wheelchair and a man standing (Chicken-man Carl ______). Over the shoulders of the other two protesters more ADAPT protesters, in wheelchairs and standing, are up against other barriers but looking at what is happening to Anita. In the background the ADAPT bubble van is visible. Caption: [Unreadable][Anita]Cameron of Denver is shoved in confrontation with Peabody security force members Title: Disabled place hotel under siege by Darryl E Owens of the Sentinel Staff The battle lines were drawn early Sunday afternoon. For Wade Blank and the 210 or so members of ADAPT, or American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, the plan was simple. “We're going to block the entrance to the hotel because those people block our lives," he said of the American Health Care Association, which represents nursing home operators and has attracted 3,500 people to a convention this week at the Peabody Hotel. On the other side, hotel security and about 130 Orange County deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers were standing by to stop any protesters who blocked the doors with their bodies or their wheelchairs. “The main goal is to assist and help these people in a professional and sensitive manner," said sheriffs spokesman Cpl. Doug Sarubbi. “But when they break the law. we’ve got to enforce it." When the battle ended, one person had been hurt. one had suffered a heart attack and at least 73 had been arrested as ADAPT launched its four-day protest demanding fewer people be kept in nursing homes and more money be devoted to caring for the disabled at home. It was a battle authorities had mapped out extensively, making sure officials and facilities could accommodate the 'protesters' disabilities, said Sarubbi and Ed Royal, the Orange County Jail's assistant corrections director of programming. The costs of the special provisions had not been added up late Sunday, Sarubbi said. “This wasn't supposed to be the big day" of the protest, Sarubbi said. “We expect it every day and are prepared for whatever happens." More arrests were expected late Sunday, Sanibbi said. Each protester was charged with trespassing, taken to the Orange County Jail and held on $1,000 bail. A woman apparently was cut on the head when a table or bicycle lock fell on her while she tried to break through a barricade at the north entrance of the hotel. Pat Hasley, a top Peabody security specialist, suffered a heart attack outside the hotel and was taken to SandLake Hospital. His condition was unknown late Sunday. In demonstrations across the country, ADAPT has blocked meetings, disrupted speeches and shut down offices. “We chose to shut down the able-bodied system that suppresses us," ADAPT co-founder Blank said. "If they choose to arrest us, so be it." Denver-based ADAPT wants Medicaid to redirect 25 percent of its $23 billion nursing home budget to home care for the disabled. The group also wants 45 minutes on the convention agenda to make its position known. “We‘re not trying to change the world," said Toni Funderburk, who calls herself a nursing home survivor. “We're just trying to live in it." Linda Keegan, a vice president for the nursing home association, said the group could better spend its time at the bargaining table rather than barricading buildings. “I think it would make a bigger difference if they sit down with us and come to a compromise. "It's not our money to give," she said. “The real issue is an issue of choice. There needs to be choice on both sides. The only approach that makes sense is to sit down and form a compromise that makes sense for all." Sunday's showdown began at 12:35 p.m. as protesters filed out of the Clarion Plaza Hotel, across the street from the Peabody, with a phone number to a group lawyer scrawled on their arms, shouting "Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Nursing homes have got to go!" Others carried signs with such slogans as "End apartheid Destroy nursing homes" as others waved a modified U.S. flag with the stars forming the universal handicapped symbol. As the first protesters reached the Peabody parking lot, deputies confronted them. The protesters climbed out of their wheelchairs, crawled on the ground and tried to scoot past and through the legs of deputies in a race for the hotel doors. “Get to that damn door," barked Bob Kafka, a Texas ADAPT organizer. “Go! Go! Go!" Security scrambled to block the protesters, but ADAPT members managed to create a logjam at the entrance with their bodies or wheelchairs. “It's inconvenient," Peabody general manager Michael French said of the protest. “We respect their right to protest, but they must respect our right to operate a business." After the protesters refused security workers' request to leave, several school buses arrived, specially equipped for the disabled. Authorities brought in a moving van for non-disabled protesters. “We tried civil means and they just give us a cookie, pat us on the back and say, ‘Go away,'" Funderburk said. Deputies carried crawling protesters and ushered wheelchair users into the vehicles. The display drew looks of disbelief from some hotel guests and empathy from others. “It's awful," said Elma Oeters, visiting from Europe. Jacqueline Krygsman of Holland called the situation ridiculous, saying her country has a national health care policy. “They should have things at home." Police shuttled prisoners across the street to a makeshift booking office at the Orange County Convention and Civic Center before taking them to jail. Royal said open bay cells normally reserved for juveniles, psychotic inmates and those with other special needs were used for the protesters in wheelchairs. Guards were on duty in the bays. The open bays, which normally hold about 60 people, contained between six and 10 handicapped people, depending on their needs. Four nurses were added to the normal staff of five, he said. "The corrections staff underwent special training to understand the needs of handicapped individuals," Royal said. Other special provisions made by the jail included obtaining hand-held commodes and arrangements for the care of any guide dogs accompanying blind protesters. Those arrested will have to go through the normal process to be released. “Those who are able to bond will be allowed to bond," Royal said. “Those who are not able to bond will have to go to first appearance before a judge in the morning." Most protesters, after being informed of the $1,000 bond, said they could not afford to pay and would remain in jail, Blank said. "I guess Orlando wants to prove a point," he said. “We didn't travel 1,900 miles to haul it in after one day. It's not like it‘s anything new. Nursing homes or jail. We know what being incarcerated is all about." Mary Brooks of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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The Gazette, Montreal, Sunday, October 2, 1988 PHOTO by Allen McInnis, Gazette: A woman in a manual wheelchair (Stephanie Thomas) sits in front of a blank wall. She is loosely holding the push rims of her chair. Her left leg, closest to the camera, is broken and has a large cast on it. She is wearing a dark shirt with a button, and cotton wide legged pants with a floral pattern. Her eyes are slightly squinting and she looks determined. Caption: Wheelchair-bound Stephanie Thomas: "We try to hit conventions as forcefully as we can." Title: Transit activist expects ride to jail By LYNN MOORE, of The Gazette Stephanie Thomas of Austin, Texas, expects to see some sights most tourists don't during her stay in Montreal — like the inside of the Tanguay detention center for women. Thomas and her husband are among about 120 wheelchair-bound members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) who are prepared to go to jail in their fight for better access to North American transit systems. "We feel that degree of commitment is necessary to get our cause known and to get attention," said Thomas, who has spent 14 years in a wheelchair after a tractor accident when she was 17. The group is in town to continue its battle with the 900-member American Public Transit Association, which begins its four-day convention in Montreal today. The Montreal Urban Community Transit Corporation, a member of the association, is convention host. About 3,000 people are expected to attend. Transit executives "don't have to think of this problem at all," Thomas said, alluding to inaccessible mass-transit vehicles. "They can just ignore it. That's why we try to hit as forcefully as we can during their conventions." Civil disobedience is the name of the game for ADAPT members, and one they have played in every city where the transit association has held a meeting for the past five years. They have chained themselves to buses and buildings, blocked traffic and created major headaches for police. The group's Montreal targets are not yet known because it is keeping that information under wraps. But Montreal's Metro system, which is not wheelchair-accessible, has not gone unnoticed by the activists. Thomas, her fellow activists and several representatives of a Montreal disabled-rights group met yesterday with a lawyer who briefed them on what to expect from local police, jails and courts. The meeting was closed to the media. "Most of these people have done the letter-writing, the testifying and public hearings and things like that but it doesn't work," she said. Public confrontation gets much better results, she said. She pointed to the increase in the number of transit authorities that have bought buses equipped with mechanical lifts to replace their aging vehicles. According to APTA figures, the percentage of buses with lifts has grown to 30 per cent from 11 per cent in 1981. Once arrested and charged, ADAPT members usually plead guilty and opt for jail terms rather than fines, Thomas said. The end of article
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[This artlice continues in ADAPT 412, but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO 1: A group of protesters in wheelchairs, in a rough line, head down the street toward the camera. In front and to one side a policeman on a motorcycle/trike. Caption: ADAPT demonstrators, with police escort, on their way from the Arch to Union Station, via Market Street PHOTO 2: Four protesters in wheelchairs block a flight of stairs in a lobby type area as people walk by. From left to right they are Ryan Duncan, Heather Blank, unknown protester, and Wayne Spahn. Caption: Demonstrators blocked access to stairways in Union Station, trying to force a confrontation with APTA officials. [No Title or author or publication given for this article on the clipping. It does not appear be the start of the article.] "They bill it as door to door service, but it does crazy things like, if you want to go from west county to the city, it will pick you up but leave you at the city-county line." Bi-State plans to expand the service in December by adding 11 lift-equipped vans and extending the service into the city. The system will also extend its hours of operation, to 6 a.m. to 7 p m. Its use in the city limits will be limited to disabled passengers, Plesko says, and, with the extended hours, disabled workers will be able to use the service to get to their jobs. While some other cities are making similar (or greater) progress — San Francisco, for one, has lifts on every one of its buses — things are still moving too slowly for the members of ADAPT. And they blame the slow pace on APTA. (ADAPT members who came to St. Louis this week stressed that they were here because of their quarrel with APTA and were not here to demonstrate against Bi-State. They said they approved of the plans Bi-State had made for the achievement of 100 percent accessibility, but nonetheless questioned the slow pace at which that was occurring.) The fight between ADAPT and APTA has its roots in the 1970s. During the Carter administration, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued rules requiring transit systems to have at least half of their buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. Those regulatioms came out of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a landmark federal law that many in the disabled community point to as being equivalent to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But APTA filed suit against DOT for its regulations and a federal court upheld APTA's argument for "local option," that is, allowing individual transit authorities to decide how they would comply with the spirit of the regulation requiring adequate accessible transportation for the disabled. Says APTA's Engelken, "These decisions are best made locally, because the local transit systems understand the needs of their passengers. For example, it would not be feasible to have a transit system for the disabled based on 100 percent lift-equipped buses in Fargo, North Dakota, because in the winter it would be almost impossible for someone in a wheel chair to get to a bus stop and wait for a bus. Able-bodied people have enough trouble (there)." Says Bob Kafka, another ADAPT leader, "(That) is one of the arguments people use for not providing transportation. They say, 'People in a motorized wheelchair can't get there, so why provide (accessible buses)?' But do you know what a person in a motorized wheelchair has to do to get to the bus stop? He has to hit a joystick. Little old ladies cleaning people's homes for years, with fallen arches, and having to carry shopping bags, no one has ever said we need special transit for them. But a disabled person who has to hit a joystick to operate his wheelchair, we need special transportation for them because it’s too cold, too snowy, too hilly, too wet, too this. "It's like were going to break, were going to fall apart." ADAPT sees APTA's insistence on local option as an attempt by the group to foster so-called "separate-but-equal” transportation systems. They say that APTA is attempting to segregate transit systems; keeping disabled passengers out of the mainstream system. ADAPT was formed in 1982 in Denver by Auberger and a handful of other members of that city's disabled community. It was put together because APTA had scheduled a convention for Denver and APTA's resistance to 100 percent accessible main-line public transportation for the disabled made the trade organization the moral equivalent of "the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi party" for disabled Americans, Kafka says. Thirty demonstrators showed up at the first protest, and there have been eight subsequent protests, all at APTA regional or national conferences. The demonstrators model their actions after the non-violent civil rights activists of the 1960s. They block access to buses: they block access to the APTA convention sites. Some, including Auberger, chain themselves to buses or to doorways. The aim is arrest and the accompanying media attention. Auberger has been arrested at least 30 times by his own count, including this past Sunday at the Omni Hotel. ADAPT's militant tactics have drawn criticism from several corners, including others who work in the disabled community. "While we agree with the goals and-objectives of accessibility for disabled persons, we don't agree with the tactics of civil disobedience or confrontation as a means to achieve those objectives," says Ginny Weber, assistant to Deborah Phillips, the commissioner of the city's Office on the Disabled. "There are other ways to get things done," she says. "You can go through the legislative process. You can conduct public awareness campaigns. Over the last 10 years, some progress has been made. To change conditions that have been in existence for a long time takes a while. You have to just stay in there' and keep working towards it." Sheldon Caldwell, executive director of the St. Louis Society for Crippled Children, agrees. "I don't think it pleads our case well to have a group with a disruptive militant attitude. This is my personal opinion: I haven't polled my staff on this, but I don't think disruption is ever the way to go about it. But others are not as harsh in their judgment. "I take a different position (from those who criticize ADAPT)," says Paraquad's Tuscher. "I have the point of view that there are many ways to get from where we are to where we want to go. We're more likely to use negotiation, legislative action, legal action, public relations campaigns. Confrontation is not one of our methods, but I don't think it's my place to judge (ADAPT). Let history judge: let history prove whose method is the right one." About the criticism from within the disabled community, ADAPT's Kafka says, "Those who are in power are not going to give it up to you willingly. Without the push of civil disobedience, even the Civil Rights Act would never have come about." Says Auberger, "(Negotiation and public relations campaigns) delay the justice. It's not perceived as delaying justice, but it is. They are doing harm to their disabled brothers and sisters by saying, 'I don't support their tactics, but I do agree with their position.— Because other groups for the disabled receive so much financial support from corporations, they are less willing to be as direct in their demands as is ADAPT, he says. "They will eat a lot of garbage just to get half the loaf. "If you're going to change things, you have to get rid of the notion right away that you are going to be someone's friend," he says. "Be-cause someone is going to want something different than you do. The city of St. Louis and I will never be friends. The police and I will never be friends, but I won't lose any sleep over it. I know when I leave here, people will be talking about this issue in a way it hasn't been talked about before and something might change. "You look at demonstrators in history. Go back to the civil rights movement. The blacks who demonstrated weren't seen as 'nice.' If you go back further, to the women's suffrage movement, those women who wanted the right to vote weren't seen as mom and apple pie. But typically people who have been vocal about their rights are never perceived as being nice." PHOTO 1: Two men, one a plain clothes policeman and the other the bus driver, load a man in a scooter onto an accessible bus as several other people in suits and uniforms look on. Caption: St. Louts police arrested 41 demonstrators at the Sunday protest by ADAPT at the Omni. PHOTO 2: A man (Mike Auberger) with his hair pulled back tightly, wearing glasses, a beard and an ADAPT no steps T-shirt, sits in a long hall with bars of light on the walls and ceiling. He holds up his hands, fingers permanently folded at the first joint, guesturing as he speaks. He has a chest strap to hold him in his motorized wheelchair. Caption: Mike Auberger, one of the founders of ADAPT
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Six people are sitting on the ground in the street (two others are behind them), on top of the device that turns the famous cable cars around so they can return on their route. In the from row (left to right) are: Patrick ?, Michael Winter, Bob Kafka with young Jennifer Keelan in front of him, and Maryann ?. Behind them stands a woman with a white cane and Jane Jackson is sitting in her wheelchair. A crowd is gathered watching them from the sidewalk which is separted by some kind of flimsy barrier. Police stand in front of the barrier. To the far right in the picture Tim Cook stands (in a green shirt) looking on.
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California Magazine Column Title: California Reporter Title: Wheelchair Militants By Geeta Dardick Last September 29 marked a radical change in the tactics used by those seeking equal access to public transportation. Disabled demonstrators protesting the policies of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) defied police orders and and lay across San Francisco’s famed cable-car tracks. As the local and national media recorded the event, police arrested more than 75 picketers - the largest mass arrest of disabled people in California history. Now the activists who organized the action are hinting that similar tactics are in store for 1988. “When severely disabled people put their bodies on the line, it rivets public attention,” explains Joc Koontz, of the San Francisco Physically Disabled Quorum. “Few people had ever seen this sort of activity before September. Some California transit authorities may consider dropping out of the APTA because of its refusal to listen to the demands of the disabled.” Militant action by the disabled seems likely when the APTA reconvenes in Monterey, April 15-20, “There will definitely be demonstrations,” says Berkeley resident Michael Pachovas, a spokesperson for the California-based Coalition for Accessible Transportation (CAT). Mark Beckwith, another CAT member, explains why he intends to participate in the demonstration. “I don’t necessarily want to go to jail in Monterey, but I will if I have to, to get the point across.” PHOTO: A man (Mike Auberger) with long braids and a headband sits in his motorized wheelchair on the cable car tracks. Behind him, another person in a power chair is blocking a cable car. Several passengers are climbing out and standing beside the cable car and most are looking toward the camera and Mike.
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PHOTO (Tom Olin?): A Row on police and other AB men stand with their backs to the camera. Through them you can see a line of people in wheelchairs blocking a San Francisco cable car. On one side a very large crowd is visible on the sidewalk.
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PHOTO: Six protesters sit in a row on the ground in the street in front of the Powell Hotel. From left to right the are: Patrick Connally, with his fists raised in the air, Michael Winter, wearing a white button down shirt and tie and both fists also raised; Bob Kafka in a green ADAPT t-shirt and graying beard and hair; in Bob's lap is Jennifer Keelan, a small child of 5 or 6 years; Clayton Jones in green ADAPT t-shirt and red suspenders; and Leslie Holden also in the green ADAPT shirt with both her fists raised. They are sitting on the San Francisco cable car turn around. Behind them stands a blind woman with a cane and a woman in a large wheelchair (Jane Jackson) and a kerchief and dark glasses. Behind them a couple of police officers stand, arms crossed across their chests looking off into the distance. And behind them a line of tourists and bystanders are behind some kind of stanchions looking on. Tim Cook stands to one side with something clenched in his right hand. He has an orthopedic shoe which is built up about 4 inches.
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San Francisco Examiner, Wednesday, September 30, 1987 PHOTO by Examiner's Katy Raddatz Two uniformed officers lift a woman [Leslie Holden] in an ADAPT no-steps T-shirt from the ground. She is smiling and has her arm around one of their necks. They look like they are concentrating. A film cameraman is kneeling behind them. Caption reads: Wheels of Justice Police lift Leslie Holden into her wheelchair before taking her to the hall of Justice. Seventy-eight disabled protesters were arrested Tuesday after they used their wheelchairs and bodies to block the Powell Street turnaround for more than two hours. They hope this demonstration and others will force the American Public Transit Association to adopt a national policy on accessibility to public transit.
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THE TRIBUNE, Oakland, California Wednesday, Sept. 30, 1987 A-5 PHOTO by United Press International: Two uniformed police officers look at one another through dark sunglasses. In the space between them you can see six people in wheelchairs blocking a San Francisco cable car. Caption reads: Access Now' Disabled activists in wheelchairs seeking improved access to public transportation blocked the San Francisco cable car turnaround at Market and Powell streets yesterday. Police have arrested 130 people, including 76 who blocked the turnaround. 'I hope the public understands. This In not directed toward them. It is directed toward our right to ride,' said Kitty Cone of Berkeley.
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The Cincinnati Post Thursday May 22, 1986 1B [This article continues in ADAPT 251, but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO by Patrick Reddy/The Cincinnati Post: A lone man in a wheelchair (Glenn Horton) sits in front of a metal police barricade. He wears his pale ADAPT T-shirt with the ADAPT no steps logo imprinted in black on the front. He looks casual but determined, with one foot resting higher on his chair than the other, and his hands folded in his lap. Behind him is cavernous black, some kind of entrance. And around him stand four police officers dressed in dark colors, with light colored hats with eye shades. Each officer is looking determinedly in a different direction. Caption reads: Four police officers look on as Glenn Horton of El Paso, Texas, waits for a van to take him to the Hamilton County Jail after he was arrested at a protest at the Westin Hotel. Horton was among 17 disabled protesters arrested Wednesday. Title: Protesters ready for long jail stay Post staff report Comparing Cincinnati to Selma, Ala., in the 1960s, 11 members of a handicapped activist group are vowing to stay in jail to end alleged discrimination against the handicapped. Of 17 disabled protesters arrested Wednesday, 14 were charged with disorderly conduct for blocking the Westin Hotel entrance. Three were charged with criminal trespassing after chaining themselves to the front doors of Queen City Metro’s offices at 6 E. Fourth St., downtown. Scheduled court dates ranged from May 28 through June 2, so some of the protesters could be in jail for as long as 12 days. Demonstrating against lack of access to Queen City Metro buses, members of Americans Disabled tor Accessible Public Transportation have timed protests this week to coincide with an American Public Transit Association conference at the Westin. The five-day conference ended Wednesday night. “This (Cincinnati) is the Selma, Ala., of the disabled civil rights movement,” said the Rev. Wade Blank of Denver, a founder of ADAPT. “People from all over the country have been calling to say they are willing to get arrested. This has not happened in many cities.” Access Service, Queen City's alternative transit system for the elderly and handicapped, is inadequate and overloaded, ADAPT members say. “We are committed and the people who got involved in this knew it would be more than an overnight stay in jail," said Stephanie Thomas, an ADAPT organizer. “We will not post bond for them." The 11 jailed ADAPT members have been separated from the rest of the prison population and have a full-time employee watching over them at the Hamilton County Justice Center, said Victor Carrelli, Hamilton County chief deputy sheriff. Hamilton County Municipal Judge David Albanese held a special two-hour hearing Wednesday for the 17 under judicial orders covering mass arrests or civil disobedience cases. Those charged with crimi nal trespassing were Michael W. Auberger, 32, of Denver, Colo.; George Cooper Jr., 58, of Irving, Texas, and Robert Kafka, 40, of Austin, Texas. Albanese set bond for the three, who pleaded not guilty, at $3000 cash and "banned them from the city if they chose to post bond. They did not. Kelli Bates, 21, of Denver, the only woman arrested, was the only ADAPT member to plead no contest to a disorderly conduct charge against her. Albanese found her guilty and sentenced her to 30 days in jail if she has not left the city by Friday or enters the city before Friday. Lonnie Smith, 30, of Denver, charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, pleaded not guilty. Albanese set a $2500 10-percent bond for the resisting charge and a $1500 10-percent bond for the disorderly conduct charge. Those pleading not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct and placed on a $1500 10 percent cash bond were Ernest Taylor, 31, of Hartford, Conn.; William Bolte, 54, of’ Los Angeles; Glenn Horton, 46, of El Paso, Texas; Joseph Carl, 47, of Denver, and James Parker, 40, of E1 Paso. Those pleading not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct and given higher bonds because of prior records were Robert Conrad, 32, of Denver, on a $2000 10-percent cash bond and George Roberts, 37, of Denver on a $3000 10-percent cash bond. Those pleading not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct and released on a $1500 unsecured bond because of medical problems were Arthur Campbell, 39," of Louisville; Kenneth Heart, 36, of Denver; Efrain Lozazno, 35, of El Paso; George Florom, 43, of Colorado Springs, Col; and Rick James, 36, of Salt Lake City. In all cases where bond could be posted, Albanese warned the people not to return to Cincinnati except for court appearances or meetings with their attorneys. Prosecutor Charles A. Rubenstein in many of the cases protested Albanese’s decision to allow the prisoners to be released on bonds. “There is a great likelihood if they are released on bond they would create "further problems and turn this court into a revolving door,” he said. However, James Nicholas of the public defenders office, who was appointed to aid the group's privately hired legal counsel, said "the group would cause no further problems. “The reason that they came, here is finished. They have no reason to remain." After the hearings were finished, Nicholas said most members of the group had vowed to remain in jail.
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8B The Cincinnati Post, Monday,May19,1986 Title: Disabled activist group faces arrest By Edwina Blackwell, Post staff reporter Cincinnati police will arrest members of a national handicapped activist group today if they fulfill a vow to block and chain themselves to Queen City Metro buses to protest the inaccessibility of buses to the handicapped. Michael Auberger, community organizer for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). said the group's civil disobedience will take a more disruptive turn as the week progresses. “Whatever it, takes to disable the bus, that's what we'll do to show that the bus is inaccessible," Auberger said during a Sunday protest by the group at the downtown Westin Hotel, where public transit officials are meeting. However, Police Capt. Dale Menkhaus said extra officers will patrol the downtown streets where protesters say they will block buses and chain themselves to bumpers while the buses are stopped for traffic lights. “We're prepared to do whatever necessary to protect them (the protesters) and the general public. If they elect to violate the law, they will pay the consequences," Menkhaus said. About 85 ADAPT members - who have been arrested during similar protests in other cities — made their way Sunday afternoon from the Newport Travelodge to the Westin Hotel, where the American Public Transit Association is meeting. With most of its members confined to wheelchairs, some of the protesters relied upon able-bodied members to push them through the streets. Several of the protesters were draped with chains and locks that they plan to use to chain themselves to buses. Extra Cincinnati police officers guided the march and some were waiting for the group at the Westin, where the protesters were greeted with barricades at each of the hotel's entrances. The demonstrators arrived at the Westin and picketed in front of the hotel's entrances on Vine, Fifth and Walnut streets. “We will ride!“ they chanted. There were no arrests Sunday, although police warned pickets they would be arrested if they blocked the hotel's entrances. Menkhaus met with the protesters Sunday and cautioned that they would be arrested if they disrupted bus traffic. Auberger, a former Cincinnatian who now lives in Denver, was pleased with Sunday's protest. Leaning back in his wheelchair with a lock and chain around his neck, he said, "I think we made a strong statement to APTA and Cincinnati that disabled people aren't powerless." Murray Bond, assistant general manager for Queen City Metro, said the city-owned transit company has been working with police for several weeks in anticipation of protests by ADAPT. Members of ADAPT, a Denver—based organization, arrived in Cincinnati to coincide with the eastern education and training conference of the APTA. Nearly 600 transit officials are attending the five-day meeting, which ends Thursday. The convention's general session was to begin this morning. U.S. Rep. Martin Sabo. D-Minn., will give the keynote address. On Wednesday, the conference will address the transportation needs of the disabled during a 2 p.m. workshop. Auberger said the risk the group's members take shows how important it is to them to be able to use public transportation at will. "The point is so vital to make," he said. Bond said Queen City Metro knows of the tactics used in other cities. “Our chief concern is for the safety of the people and our riders," he said. In Cincinnati, ADAPT wants Queen City Metro to operate the wheelchair lifts currently soldered into place on 87 buses. The group also wants all buses purchased in the future to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. At present, 19 vans are used to pick up handicapped individuals in Cincinnati through a contracted service called Access. Judith Van Ginkel, director of communications for Queen City Metro, said the service was recently expanded to include three more neighborhoods and [unreadable] for those who don't need wheelchair lifts. She added it would cost Queen City Metro $350,000 to make the lifts on the 87 buses operational. Albert Engelken, APTA deputy executive director, said money problems being faced by transit systems are at the root of transportation for the handicapped. "We don't see this as a civil rights issue," he said. "We see this as a funding issue." ADAPT disagrees. Jerry Eubanks lost his legs to gangrene as a child. On Sunday, he served as a group cheerleader pushing for what he sees as a civil right for the handicapped. "When you make transportation, it's public. It's for everyone," said Eubanks, a Chicago resident. “We're only fighting for what's already here. "