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Почетна / Категорије / Ознака Bob Kafka 80
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- ADAPT (475)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: A crowd of ADAPT protesters in various items of Revolutionary War Patriots garb surround the Liberty Bell. Park Rangers stand on either side of the bell. A man in a manual wheelchair wearing a wig and rainbow suspenders sits with his back to the camera, a Disabled But Able to Vote bumper sticker across the back of his chair. Bob Kafka in a colonial jacket and tri-cornered hat faces the camera, to his left Mike Auberger is talking with a person with a small child on their hip. In the center of the picture, partially obscuring the Liberty Bell is a poster that reads "We Need to Get There Too!!" In the background green trees can be seen through a huge plate glass window. - ADAPT (332)
Arizona Republic Saturday, April 11, 1987 Title: Wheelchair Activists are Released from Jail By J.F. Torrey The Arizona Republic Sixteen wheelchair activists who had blocked city buses and picketed a transportation convention earlier this week were released Friday after three days in jail. The 16 pleaded no contest to a variety of misdemeanor charges, including trespassing and obstructing a public thoroughfare. Phoenix Municipal Judge Michael Lester sentenced the defendants, all members of the Denver-based American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, to three days in jail. They were credited with the three days they had served and released. Phoenix police made 73 arrests this week of people in wheelchairs who had blocked buses and disrupted meals and meetings held in conjunction with the Western meeting of the American Public transit Association. The 16 released Friday had been arrested Tuesday after they rolled their wheelchairs in front of buses at the downtown Phoenix Transit System terminal and several other bus stops. The group wants all mass-transit buses equipped with lifts for handicapped passengers. A number of those jailed Wednesday had been arrested at the earlier demonstrations, and it is common for people arrested a second time on misdemeanor counts to be jailed, said Sgt. Brad Thiss, a Phoenix police spokesman. The hearing for 14 of the defendants was held in a room at Maricopa County Durango Jail because of the difficulty of transporting the defendants to the Madison Street Jail, where hearings usually are held. Two protesters held at Madison Street were released Friday night. Joe Rossano, a spokesman for the county Sheriff’s Office, said that inmates usually are held at Madison Street but that the group of 14 protesters was brought to Durango so they could be kept together and have more exercise room. “We wanted to keep them all in one spot,” he said. “This is a nice, low stress jail. It’s nice and airy. They had access to a patio, outside. If you have to go to jail, go to Durango.” However one of the defendants, Robert Kafka, 41, said near the end of the hearing that the protesters had filed nine grievances against Durango, alleging improper medical care. “It’s an abomination that this jail accepted handicapped people when they were not able to take care of them,” Kafka said. Earlier in the day, Rossano said that the handicapped inmates had received double mattresses and that those with bedsores had been given sheepskin covers. Kafka said no sheepskin covers were handed out. When the hearing bean, Lester ordered it closed to everyone but court personnel, attorneys and defendants because of the small size of the room. After reporters covering the hearing protested and Lester consulted with M. Louis Levin, the presiding judge of Phoenix Municipal Court, he allowed the press to attend the hearing but barred supporters of the defendants. Ken Skiff, a court-appointed attorney for the defendants, said, ‘I had them all read the police reports and they agreed that they were accurate , and I felt that the sentence would be appropriate because there would be no fine and no probation.” Tom Timmer, a deputy city attorney who prosecuted the case, said he agreed to the plea agreements because “this is the best resolution for all concerned.” Police on Sunday night arrested 29 people in wheelchairs who were blocking entrances to Rustler’s Rooste restaurant at the Pointe at South Mountain. Conventioneers were attending a steak fry at the restaurant. On Monday, five protesters were arrested outside the downtown Hyatt Regency hotel for continually blowing their wheelchairs’ horns. On Tuesday, 39 more arrests were made of protesters who blocked buses at the downtown terminal, at First and Washington streets, and at several other sites, including bus stops at the Capitol and Central Avenue and Van Buren Street. - ADAPT (732)
Photo Tom Olin?: A view from on high of the line of the ADAPT march down a Chicago street. The line is mostly single file with a T at the front. On the sides a few walking people with ADAPT are helping and police are walking along the street side of the march. On the sidewalk a TV cameraman is filming. From the front of the march left to right you can see Jerry Eubanks being pushed by Bill Henning, Bob Kafka, and Paulette Patterson. Behind them is another row of three activist including Paulette Sanchez and one woman pushing a wheelchair with a small coffin in it. Behind them is another row of three Dorothy Ruffin, a small person behind the coffin and Debbie ______, behind them is someone in a white shirt and Sparky Metz, then George Roberts in a cap and behind him Janette Roberts is holding his chair, next to her San Antonio Fuentes, behind him is possibly Walter Hart and Bobby Thompson is a bit out of the line, then three people, then someone being pushed possibly by Bill Scarborough, then Danny Saenz, then Jennifer McPhail in a purple shirt behing pushed by Richard Zapata, someone is rolling beside them and Babs Johnson is walking beside them too. Behnd that group it gets more difficult to make out faces, but the line goes on out of the top of the picture. - Incitement v.1 n.1 p.2
page 2 includes photo of ADAPT marching in San Antonio; Article: Short History of ADAPT; article: Why Incitement?; photo: ADAPT rally at the Alamo; article: Getting Involved with ADAPT; early We Will Ride logo; position statement of ADAPT of Texas; contact info for the editors of the ADAPT collective (Stephanie & Bob, Jim Parker; George Cooper; Rand Metcalf) - ADAPT (801)
The Washington Post, Metro Section 5/6/93 [Headline] The Disabled Plan to Show Washington They're Enabled—and Entitled By Liz Spayd, Washington Post Staff Writer Michael Auberger has shackled his wheelchair to city buses in Dallas. He has barricaded hotel entrances in San Francisco, and he has thrown himself in front of federal buildings, government officials, even oncoming traffic, all to draw attention to the rights of the disabled. This weekend, Auberger and hundreds of other activists from across the country plan to converge on Washington for a three-day blitz of demonstrations and marches in what promises to be the largest protest in history for people with disabilities. “We've written the letters, made the phone calls, had the meetings, and the bottom line is we're still being treated like second-class citizens." said Auberger, co-founder of ADAPT, an activist group that is spearheading the activities. “lf those channels don't work, you take to the streets." Organizers say the immediate purpose of the demonstrations is to demand that the federal government commit more money to helping disabled people live at home, instead of in institutions. At the same time, they want to continue the larger campaign for equal rights that produced the Americans With Disabilities Act, landmark legislation that went into effect last year. A march to the White House and a memorial service for Wade Blank, who was a leader in the movement, are expected to draw the largest crowds, both on Sunday. What may draw the most attention, however, are demonstrations on Monday and Tuesday, when protesters are expected to disrupt Washington with human blockades of buildings and streets. The exact places and times for those actions aren't being disclosed, but the targets could include public buildings, such as the Capitol and the White House, and some federal agencies. “We like to preserve the element of surprise," Auberger said. ADAPT — an acronym for American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today — has been staging protests every six months for more than a decade to fight what it says is the inhumane treatment of the disabled at nursing homes and other institutions. The group said it hopes to redirect 25 percent of the $23 billion in Medicaid funds currently budgeted for nursing homes into programs that would enable those with disabilities to have attendants in their homes. Currently, each state sets policy for how much Medicaid money will go toward attendant care programs, but there is no national policy. [Subheading] Disabled Activists Plan 3-Day Protest The strike on Washington is timed to pressure the Clinton administration into focusing on people with disabilities as part of its package of health care revisions, due out soon, activists said. "Clinton has talked about change and says he wants people to be able to live at home, but what we're looking for is more than just words," said Bob Kafka, an ADAPT organizer in Texas who plans to bring a caravan of about 50 people to Washington. In the past, ADAPT activists have drawn attention to their cause by employing sometimes sensational tactics. They have done belly crawls across hotel lobbies in San Francisco, clawing at passersby. They have taken sledgehammers to street curbs in Denver to protest sidewalks that were inaccessible to wheelchair users. And they have swarmed and blockaded buildings in virtually every major U.S. city; a demonstration in Chicago last spring forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 American Medical Association workers and created disruptions in a half-dozen other downtown facilities. Though such events have attracted media attention, some individuals and `groups` sympathetic to ADAPT’s cause question how effective they are in achieving the larger goal of attaining more money for in-home care. “We're sympathetic to their concerns, but we think the tactics they use bring attention to ADAPT and not the problem," said Claudia Askew, a spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association, which represents 11,000 nursing homes and is a frequent target of ADAPT protests. Disabled people also are somewhat splintered over whether ADAPT's approach helps or hurts their cause. “There are people with disabilities that think ADAPT is a little extreme," said Patrick McCurdy, vice president of Marylanders for Adequate Attendant Care, a group that generally relies on peaceful protests and negotiations to lobby for in-home care. McCurdy did defend ADAPT's technique as a necessary part of an overall approach to force change in a society that he said has long ignored the rights of disabled people. Few spoke up for those rights until recently, but the Americans With Disabilities Act provided new protections to disabled people and helped forge a civil rights movement among the 43 million people with physical or mental impairments. “A great byproduct of the [disabilities act] is the new sense of confidence and empowerment it has instilled within the disability community," said Justin Dart, chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, a small federal agency. “It's generated an enormous infusion of dignity and pride." Gregory Dougan, a District resident, said the renewed sense of hope is one reason he will take part in Sunday's march. Dougan, who was born with cerebral palsy and uses crutches, said he is fortunate to be able to live at home. But several of his friends live in institutions because they can't get the in-home care they need. And on Sunday, Dougan said, he will be thinking of them. "I'll be tired at the end of the day," he said, "but my crutches and me are going to that march." - ADAPT (666)
Looking into a crowd of ADAPT folks. Bob Kafka in center is talking through a microphone. Left of him is Chris Colsey with a headband, to Bob's right is Mike Auberger looking down, Bobby Thompson facing sideways, and Jane Embry. Directly behind Bob is Robert Reuter facing backwards, and another man from Chicago or Atlanta ? In the row behind them (L-R) Jimmy Small, Wayne Becker, Marilyn of Atlanta, Bernard Baker, and behind them other ADAPT members. In front on left Shel Trapp is facing the group at edge of picture, and Mike Ervin is facing forward. - ADAPT (385)
[This is a continuation of the article in ADAPT 386. The entire text of the article is included there for easier reading.] Montreal Daily News Monday, October 3, 1988. Photo 1 by Allan Leichman/Daily News: Three uniformed police officers lift a protester (Bob Kafka) whose face is contorted in a yell of pain. One is bending over his legs while the other two have him by the arms. Behind and out of focus other officers and protesters are visible. In the foreground is the trunk of a car. Photo 2 missing picture id inset below the other picture: An officer pushes protester (Bob Kafka) away in his manual wheelchair. Two people stand in the foreground one watching. Caption: Police arrested some 25 wheelchair demonstrators after they forced their way into the lobby of the Sheraton Centre. They were protesting the American Public Transit Association's reluctance to endorse wheelchair lifts on new buses. - ADAPT (257)
The Cincinnati Post May 27, 1986 Wheelchair protesters freed early Post staff report A motion for early release of three wheelchair-bound activists was granted today by Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge J. Howard Sundermann Jr. On Friday, Sundermann sentenced Michael Auberger of Denver, George Cooper of Dallas and Bob Kafka of Austin, Texas, to 10 days in jail for their part in a protest last week at the main office of Queen City Metro. Attorney Joni Wilkens had argued against a jail term for health reasons. Today Sundermann ordered the three released after serving six days of their sentences for trespassing. Before granting the motion for early release, Sundermann asked them if they planned to go to another city and “do the same thing?” Auberger and Kafka said no, that they planned to return to their homes. Cooper did not reply.w “I think we made our point. The issue (of access to public transportation) won’t go away,” Kafka said following the hearing. Auberger, Cooper and Kafka are members of Americans Disabled for Public Transportation, which demonstrated against the lack of access by the handicapped to Queen City Metro buses. - ADAPT (348)
The front of the march with the rest of the marchers in the background and tall city buildings in the background. Across the front row young Jennifer Keelan is being pushed in her chair by her mother Cindy. Next to her is Bob Kafka in his manual chair and with his no steps ADAPT logo T-shirt and a piece of blue duct tape on his knee. Beside him is Diane Coleman in her motorized wheelchair and with red tape on her knee. Over her head you can partially see a sign reading "We the People..." Beside the sign Julie Farrar's face is visible and behind Bob you can see Justin Dart. Behind Jennifer and Cindy a motorcycle policeman is visible. - ADAPT (745)
Fourth Wave Magazine (Washington University) [This article continues in ADAPT 729, 721 and 739, but it is included here in it's entirety for easier reading.] Wheelchair Warriors Story and Photographs by Jan Neely Editor's note: Last May, Fourth Wave editorial intern Jan Neely and I flew to Chicago for our first ADAPT demonstration. ADAPT (or American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, as it is more formally known), first took to the streets 12 years ago in Denver, Colorado, to fight for wheelchairaccessible public transportation. Today, with the passage of the ADA securing transportation access, ADAPT has taken on the nursing home industry, institutions and the United States government in an attempt to provide community based personal attendant care and housing to all persons with disabilities in all 50 states. Here’s what happened: ..... Editor Photo: A city sidewalk jamed with wheelchairs and a couple of cameramen standing beside them between parked cars. Larry Biondi is on front right side of the photo. People are basically lined up waiting to move out. Article begins: DAY ONE: ADAPT arrives in Chicago. Its my first demonstration and my first job as a photojournalist. "Click, click" goes my camera. Everybody else may look cool. but I'm shakin' in my shoes. Try to picture 300 people (most in wheelchairs) on the same mission. No pro-nursing home advocate is safe here! I feel as if I've just entered THE ADAPT ZONE! Actually, the first day was mellow and taken up with pre-action planning. ADAPT doesn't have any membership rules or requirements. You just have to believe that people with disabilities have the right to live without putting up with abuse of any kind. I'm real excited because this is the first group I've ever been involved with that has people with all kinds of disabilities, not just developmental disabilities. DAY 2 Here's ADAPT (photo 1) blocking the doors of the auditorium in hope of catching Dr. Sullivan when he leaves. The Chicago police and the Secret Service put up barricades and pushed back the activists. Victoria Medgyesi, editor of Fourth Wave and my traveling buddy, used her press pass to get into where Dr. Sullivan was to ask him some questions. He refused to talk to her about Medicaid, ADAPT or nursing home abuse. PHOTO 1: A line of Chicago police officers face off against a line of ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs who come up to about the middle of the officer's chests. In the forground there is a barricade, but further back they are just right up against each other. PHOTO 2: Three men in wheelchairs (__________, ___________ and JT Templeton sit in an open area in front of a barricade. Behind the barricade is a crowd of people. JT holds a poster that reads "Sullivan where are you?" Article continues... DAY 2 cont. Usually ADAPT doesn’t go around the country crashing graduations, but this one was different (photo 2) Here we are at the University of Chicago where Dr. Louis Sullivan, Secretary of Human and Health Services, is speaking to students who are going to be medical professionals. For the past two years, ADAPT has been trying to talk to Dr. Sullivan about redirecting 25 percent of the Medicaid budget for personal attendant care into a home-based program. But he has refused to talk to ADAPT or to change the rules. As the graduation crowd went in, ADAPT passed out flyers. As l told one person, “What if you become disabled someday? What if your family couldn't take care of you?" As for the police, at this time they just stood back and watched. One of the reasons ADAPT has public demonstrations is to make the public aware of what's important to people with disabilities. Actions like this keep us going to meetings back home even though what we say is usually ignored. DAY 3 The next day we went to one of ADAPT's all time favorite places to "act up": the state office of Health and Human Services. It was only a few blocks away from our downtown hotel. so all 300 of us got in a single line and went for a little walk. Did I say little? Wait a minute. a line of 300 people in wheelchairs plus their supporters? Little? I will admit it was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. ADAPT does not stop when it goes on one of its “little walks." It does not stop for lights, trucks, cars, cops, or anything else. It also goes right down the middle of the street. But that's not to say ADAPT isn't nice, oh no! All along the way ADAPT gave the people of Chicago (who lined up on the curbs to watch as we wheeled and walked by) little gifts of knowledge: flyers with the real scoop on nursing homes. PHOTO 3: Amid a long line of ADAPT folks marching in their wheelchairs, a man (Mark Johnson) in a wheelchair talks with a man (Bill Henning) and a woman who are walking beside him. PHOTO 4: A city street lined by tall buildings, is filled by ADAPT protesters apparently crowded from one side to the other. Several people standing closest to the camera but facing away (Jimmi Schrode is on the far left) raise their hands, thumbs up. Article continues... DAY 3 cont. It was a thrill to watch ADAPT in action. When the whole group got to the Federal building, it was a big mess. We blocked off streets and almost shut the building down. As ADAPT told the police, the media and all the people who gathered; “We declare this building a Federal nursing home... only this time, no one goes in or out without our permission! " The reason many activists do this is because they once lived in nursing homes and other institutions and know how bad those places are. Boy, can I relate. I have mild cerebral palsy and I’m lucky to have always lived at home. But will I always be lucky? I feel that as long as there are institutions, they will be a threat to the kind of life my friends and I want to live. This laid-back looking guy is Mike Auberger. He is one of the original ADAPT activists. ADAPT may look like a bunch of disorganized hippies who lost the map to Woodstock 20 years ago, but the opposite is true. In Mike's backpack is one of ADAPT's three cellular phones and the base walkie-talkie! Bill Scarborough, an activist from Texas, keeps the computer nerds in the know by sending the word out from his laptop computer to computer bulletin boards across the country. ADAPT also has a media person who goes to whatever city ADAPT is demonstrating in several days ahead to let people know whats going to happen. PHOTO 5: A very intense looking man (Mike Auberger) in a power chair is sitting sideways to the camera. Behind him is some kind of vehicle and the ADAPT crowd filling the street. Tisha Auberger (Cunningham) is squatting on the bottom right of the picture. After nine long hours of blocking the building's doors, representatives from HHS finally agreed to meet in the street with ADAPT. It turned into a regular media pow-wow. Activists told the administrators and the media what was needed by people with disabilities. Photo 6: A gaggle of reporters and photographers tightly encircle the Regional HHS Director and several ADAPT protesters (Teresa Monroe, center, and Bob Kafka, right side). Article continues... We talked and they listened, but I have a feeling the concern I saw on those experts' faces was just the same old B.S. All of ADAPT's demonstrations are non-violent, but they are important battles in a war fought by people who are fighting to lead decent lives. The possibility of being arrested did make me nervous. It made me feel a little better when ADAPT told the new people that, if you got arrested, the group would never leave you alone. They said ADAPT would tell the cops your needs, get you a good lawyer, and stay on the outside of the jail chanting so you would know ADAPT was with you. Photo 7: Portrait shot of a man (Gene Rogers) with long brown hair and glasses, sitting in his wheelchair. He is wearing a T-shirt with a larger than life sized photo of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's face and the words "VIOLENCE IS IMMORAL" and a lengthy quote below that is too small to read in the photo. Article continues... DAY 4 As l was getting dressed I thought to myself “Today ADAPT is taking on the AMA." Oh God. what have l gotten myself into? l mean the AMA! The Big Brother of the medical world; the people who are not only in charge of admissions to nursing homes, but who are also in charge of giving prescriptions to people like me. I thought: What if my doctor saw me and did not like what I was doing with ADAPT? Would he stop giving me my blood pressure pills that I can't afford to buy? What would happen then? What about the others? Aren't they in the same boat? I got a lot more out of my trip to Chicago than just a story and a few good pictures. I met some people who are important to the disability rights movement. I felt accepted and I came home with the feeling that together we can really change things. People with disabilities need to keep talking. We need to demonstrate. We need to tell the so-called "experts" the real truth and try not to be too afraid while were doing it. Insert text box: Incitement, Stephanie Thomas Editor. What's happening on the front lines? Read INCITEMENT, the official newsmagazine of ADAPT, and learn the who, what, when, where and why behind today's headline news. Free! To order contact: ADAPT/INCITEMENT 1339 Lamar SQ DR Suite B, Austin, TX 78704 (512)442-0252 Second text insert at end of article: Jan Neely is a photography student at Olympic Community College and an editorial intern at Fourth Wave. She is active in People First of Washington. the end - ADAPT (274)
PHOTO by Tom Olin: In a hallway next to an elevator bank, three people in wheelchairs sit in a quarter circle. Their mouths are open, chanting. Bob Kafka, left, and Stephanie Thomas, center, wear ADAPT T-shirts with the no steps logo. Loretta Dufriend, on right, has on a jacket and skirt. All have different, intense expressions on their faces and all are looking to their left toward the camera. In the dark behind them you can make out a couple of other protesters in the hall too. - ADAPT (386)
Montreal Daily News Title: A wheelchair Army Goes to War! [This article continues in ADAPT 385 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] Photo 1 by ALLAN R LEISHMAN/Montreal Daily News: In a crowd of uniformed police officers and others, two policemen stand on either side of a protester sitting on the wet ground. The protester sits, back to the camera, wearing a cap and his face and head are obscured by a white trash bag under his jacket. These two police officers are looking back beside the camera. The police barricade is just visible in front of the protester. Caption: Roundup: Police are kept busy by demonstrators last night. Photo 2 on the left and below the other photo by ALLAN R LEISHMAN/Daily News: A person in a manual wheelchair is tipped completely back by attendant and protester Jan Ingram the front wheels of the chair are hooked over a very low heavy metal barrier. Behind that barrier are standard police barricades and uniformed officers are standing behind them. One policeman is in between the standard barricades and the low barrier and he is looking at other officers and pointing at the person in the wheelchair. Caption: Protesting: One of the wheelchair demonstrators near the barricaded Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Title: 25 arrested in downtown demonstration by Ron Charles Montreal Daily News MUC police arrested 25 wheelchair-bound demonstrators last night after they forced their way into the lobby of the Sheraton Centre in downtown Montreal. The demonstrators were protesting the American Public Transit Association's (APTA) reluctance to endorse wheelchair lifts on new buses. They crashed their wheelchairs through a luggage-cart barrier hotel employees had built in an attempt to ward off the protesters. [Subheading] Came along When APTA, a Washington-based transit authority organization, brought its annual conference to Montreal this week, the protesters came along as part of the ticket. The demonstrators, from a group called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT), have been protesting at APTA conferences for eight years. Only a few members of a local disabled rights group took part in the demonstrations — the rest were from the U.S. Police said all those arrested — who are expected to be charged with assault — were American citizens, many of them Vietnam veterans. About 50 MUC police officers showed up to clear the Sheraton's marble-covered lobby after the protesters, singing "we want to ride," blocked elevators and escalators. Police wheeled the demonstrators one by one to a waiting wheel-chair bus being used as a paddy wagon. Police snipped chains linking protesters Mike Auberger and Bob Kafka's wheelchairs to a handrail in the lobby. Although the APTA conference is taking place at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, some of the 3,000 attendees are staying at the Sheraton. Earlier in the day, police turned the Queen Elizabeth into a fortress with metal street barriers as about 75 demonstrators wheeled toward the APTA conference headquarters. They blocked traffic in both directions on Dorchester for more than two hours as police tried to pen the group in with the barriers. Police took two protesters who had crashed the barriers out of their chairs in order to lift them and their chairs over the barriers. [Subheading] Took chair "The police took his chair away, separated him from his legs," said Lori Taylor as she watched from the side-walk when police lifted her husband, Lester, over the barrier. "He can't walk, he's just sitting on the wet ground and all he wants to do is ride a bus like you and me." Bill Bolte, who started ADAPT's Los Angeles chapter, said police overreacted to the demonstration. "This really confuses me because I know that after the Canadians (hockey team) won the Stanley Cup, all types of terrible activity went on," said Bolte. "People overturned cars while everyone, including the police, just looked the other way and went and had a cup of coffee." Several demonstrators who broke through the police perimeter smashed their chairs into barriers in front of the hotel entrance, but hotel security and police stood their ground. Police arrested some 25 wheelchair demonstrators after they forced their way into the lobby of the Sheraton Centre. They were protesting the American public transit association’s reluctance to endorse wheelchair lifts on new buses. It was showdown time yesterday, as wheelchair-bound protesters took on city cops outside the Sheraton hotel on Dorchester Boulevard Some demonstrators where roughly carried and wheeled away as the melee grew ugly. The protesters were making their case for better accessibility to buses at the American Public Transit Association convention. - ADAPT (376)
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. - ADAPT (241)
The Cincinnati Post, Wednesday, June 11, 1986 11A Opinion Small photo of the head of a white man with short hair and black rimmed eye glasses. James L. Adams Crosscurrents Title: Pretenders to the Civil Rights movement The attempts of minorities of all stripes to identify with the black experience in America to gain even legitimate goals strike me as being a deception and a fraud. It also trivializes the dehumanization the blacks suffered at the hands of the white majority for 350 years. Only one group was brought to this country in chains, treated like animals, sold on the block like livestock, forced to live in shanties and valued only for the labor they could produce. And even after being freed from the shackles of slavery, blacks were denied their civil rights for another 100 years. No other group in this country has had to suffer those indignities. Yet minorities as diverse as militant feminists, homosexuals and the handicapped hoist the banner of oppression and try to do a black face routine as farcical as the old showboat acts on the Mississippi of the last century. The wheelchair protests staged by the Denver-based American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) here last month are only the latest examples of groups with gripes trying to piggyback on the black civil rights struggle. Let us all agree that more needs to be done to make sure the disabled among us can get where they want to go. And there obviously are cities doing more than Cincinnati to make public transportation accessible. Denver is one. But that is begging the question. Cincinnati is not Denver. Queen City Metro is strapped for funds. It cannot provide all the service it would like for the handicapped—or even the able-bodied. But the issue is money, not civil rights. Determined to get arrested, the wheelchair protesters blocked the Westin hotel entrances, grabbed onto the wheel well of buses to keep them from moving, and one wacko with a death wish even rolled into the path of a bus going 40 mph. Bob Kafka, one of the 14 arrested—and given special treatment at the Hamilton County Justice Center—wrote a letter to The Post that began: “I am writing this letter from the Hamilton County Jail, in which I am spending Memorial Day, for the crime of trying to ride public transportation." Kafka's emotional appeal falls flat. (He obviously was trying to imitate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail" stirred the conscience of a nation.) Kafka's crime was not that of trying to ride public transportation. He was charged with disorderly conduct for crawling aboard a bus, dragging his wheelchair, dropping 50 cents in the fare box and then demanding to ride - knowing full well the bus could not move with him on it. But Kafka, in his letter, attempts to equate the problems of the handicapped with those of blacks who were forced to ride in the back of the bus: “Those in power have decided to oppress us and make sure disabled people do not ‘step out of line’ and assert their rights," Kafka wrote. “Queen City Metro decided they were going to keep disabled people in their place.” By couching his complaint in vintage 1960s language, Kafka confuses the issue. The disabled should be heard. But they should give rational reasons for their demands for equal access to public transportation and not try posing as an oppressed minority that dares not “step out of line." I didn't see any cattle prods or police dogs used to quell the demonstrations. After the protesters had left town, Council Member David Mann had pangs of conscience that caused him to make some of the silliest statements in the annals of Mann. “It seems to me that every human being in Cincinnati — visitors, handicapped or otherwise — had the absolute right to enter the Fountain Square South complex on equal terms," Mann wrote, as if he had been living in a cave during the four-day wheelchair protests. “If you and I were free to move unfettered into the public areas of the Westin, then those who happen to move by wheelchair should have been treated precisely the same." I know philosophers have struggled for centuries to define reality. After reading Mann’s views on what took place in front of the Westin, I can understand why. His perceptions are unreal. Those who happened to “move by wheelchair” were not treated precisely the same as others because they were intentionally trying to block the entrances and disrupt bus service. That's called breaking the law. It seems to me that even a council member from Clifton, who happens to be a lawyer, should be able to make that distinction. The restrictions were not based on class discrimination. Rather, they were triggered by those misguided handicapped persons who believe they can gain greater access to public places by denying that right to others. The wheelchair protesters would have scored more points with the public by shunning crazy antics and making their appeal in a sane manner. I think it revealing that the Greater Cincinnati Coalition of People With Disabilities refused to participate in the public demonstrations. The coalition leaders believe they can accomplish more by talking with local city and bus officials than by trying to disrupt traffic. They certainly will gain more public sympathy. James L Adams is associate editor of The Post. PHOTO by the Associated Press: Two men in wheelchairs, one with dark curly hair and a beard in a manual wheelchair (Bob Kafka), and the other with long braids, a headband and a dark beard (Mike Auberger), block a narrow hallway. Both are wearing light colored shirts with the ADAPT no steps logo in black. Behind them at least seven men -- two appear to be police officers -- stand, looking somewhat exasperated. caption reads: Bob Kafka. left, and Mike Auberger chained themselves together to block the entrance to Queen City Metro offices. - ADAPT (691)
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.