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Inicio / Álbums / Etiqueta ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit 79
- ADAPT (335)
The Phoenix Gazette Thurs., April 9, 1987 Title: Disabled group ends four days of protests By Scott Craven The Phoenix Gazette Members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit ended four days of protest with a show of unity in front of a downtown Phoenix hotel while expressing concern for 29 colleagues still in jail. Members proceeded single file for several blocks chanting “access now” before assembling in front of the Hyatt Regency Wednesday night. ADAPT wants to see wheelchair lifts installed on all buses and is in Phoenix to protest during the convention of the American Public Transportation Association. The conventioneers are staying at the Hyatt. Organizers said the protests, which resulted in more than 60 arrests since Sunday, were successful in bringing the transportation problems of the disabled to the forefront. But with ADAPT members scheduled to leave today, many worried about the fate of the 29 who remained in jail Wednesday night. “We came here, accomplished what we set out to do and now we want to go home,” said Mike Landwehr, an ADAPT member from Chicago. “But not all of us are being allowed to do that.” Landwehr said that in the past protests, city officials had allowed those in jail to be released on their own recognizance once the demonstrations were over. He said he expected the same thing to happen today “although you can never be sure.” Country sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Joe Rossano said most of the 29 in jail were being held in lieu of $150 bonds after they were arrested Tuesday for investigation of trespassing. Police spokesman Sgt. Brad Thiss said seven of the 29 were being held on $1,300 bond for disobeying a court order and criminal trespassing. - ADAPT (1766)
Column title: PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE Photo: A downward shot of Wade Blank standing with his hands clasped. He has his signature long hair and tinted glasses and is wearing an anorak. Someone is partially visible behind Wade. Caption reads: Wade Blank dedicated almost 20 years of his life to fighting for civil rights for people with disabilities. The members of ADAPT - the disability rights organization Blank founded - will continue the battle in his memory. Title: A True Activist Wade Blank was raised in Canton, OH, where he learned to be a Cleveland Browns football fan. a condition that caused him great pain throughout his life. He earned the equivalent of a doctoral degree in theology from McCormick Seminary in Chicago, where he was ordained a Presbyterian minister. After seven years as a minister, he decided to take a year off for “human service" and became an orderly in a nursing home. His experiences there with young adults with disabilities led him to establish the second independent living center in the nation in 1975—the Atlantis Community. Wade Blank dedicated almost 20 years of his life to fighting for civil rights for people with disabilities. The members of ADAPT—the disability rights organization Blank founded will continue the battle in his memory. Blanks first years in his efforts to win civil rights for people who have disabilities were spent eliminating attitudinal and architectural barriers in Denver. Beginning with l2 young adults with disabilities who were placed in a nursing home for lack of any other options, Blank led them on an exodus into their own homes in the community, where he successfully persuaded the legislature to fund needed personal care assistance outside an institution for the first time. Since then, the Atlantis Community has liberated more than 900 people with severe disabilities from institutions and other sheltered settings and provides the services and support they require to maintain themselves in the community. Once the people of Atlantis entered the "free world," they found that society was completely unprepared to include them. So Blank and his friends set off to integrate Denver. The public buses they needed were inaccessible to wheelchairs. Blank led training sessions and actions that escalated from addressing the transit board to civil disobedience, blocking the buses people with disabilities couldn't ride. This seven-year campaign resulted in a 100% accessible bus system that offers affordable, self determined transportation to over 30,000 riders with disabilities in the area, and it developed an assertive group of people who vowed to fight for and win full and equal rights in their society. As the reputation of Denver as the most accessible city in the nation spread, activists from every state began to call for advice and help. ln1983, Blank founded ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) as a training project. The dramatic actions of ADAPT members have generated publicity that has raised awareness of disability rights throughout the nation, trained over 1,200 activists in the “fire” of civil disobedience, and provided the political muscle behind the Americans with Disabilities Act. When the right to access to public transit was won in 1990, ADAPT’s name was changed to American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. The new focus is on winning a federal mandate and funding for personal assistance services for every person with a disability in the nation who needs such help to live independently. Blank and his son Lincoln drowned on February 15, 1993, off the Baja Coast. The people of ADAPT will continue the struggle for this essential victory in their memories until all Americans with disabilities have the opportunity to choose to live independent lives. —By Molly Blank - ADAPT (336)
A sun logo The Arizona Republic copyright 1987 The Arizona Republic Tuesday, April 7, 1987, Phoenix Arizona 2 PHOTOs. Top photo by Sean Brady/Republic: In the foreground two plain clothes police men tip someone in a power wheelchair back on their back wheels. One is in the back holding the push handles and looking careful but determined. The other is leaning forward reaching for something around the footrests, perhaps the breaks. The person in the wheelchair has their hands in their lap by their side. To their left another plain clothes police man is tipping another power wheelchair user [George Roberts] onto his back wheels. George is wearing mirror sun glasses and grimacing, his feet crossed as his legs spam. To George's left another plain clothes officer is holding the handles of a woman [Loretta DuFriend] in a power chair and watching his comrades with amazed expression. Behind these two is a TV cameraman filming. On the sidewalk behind all this other ADAPT protesters sit; some are inside the area the police has taped off, others are just outside the tape. Lower photo by AP: Four ADAPT protesters [Lonnie Johnson, Rand Metcalfe, George Roberts and Stephanie Thomas] sit in a row, slightly smiling and holding out one arm with a fist and their thumb or finger extended. Lonnie has a sign that reads "A PART OF, NOT APART FROM" All wear their dark ADAPT T-shirts with the no steps logo. Handicapped get heave-ho Phoenix policemen AI Ramirez, A.J. Miller, Al Madrid and Ted McCreary (from left) forcibly remove handicapped protesters from the street in front of the downtown Hyatt Regency while other members of American Disabled tor Accessible Public Transit demonstrate their solidarity with the protesters. Five members of the group were arrested Monday in front of the Hyatt on disorderly-conduct charges. Story, B1. - ADAPT (716)
Chicago Tribune Tribune photo by Carl Wagne: A march of ADAPT through the streets of Chicago. In front, left to right: a man in a red Chicago ADAPT "ADAPT or Perish T-shirt with a picture of man evolving from monkey to ape to man to wheelchair user, a man with no legs (Jerry Eubanks) in a manual chair chanting and holding a poster that reads "Free Our People" and being pushed by a man (Mark Pasquesi), a woman (Paulette Patterson) holds a bullhorn in front of her face, a man in a fishing hat (Bob Kafka) and yellow ADAPT shirt with a sign that reads "Attendant Services NOW!!". Behind the first man is a nab with a head pointer being pushed by a man (Tim Wheat) in a purple ADAPT shirt. Behind Paulette is a man in a suit in a wheelchair and beside him another man (possibly Michael Champion) and behind them a woman (Cassie James) in a power chair, and beside her a woman in a red shirt. As the line goes back it becomes less clear to distinguish people. Title: Disabled protest funds allocation Members of a disabled rights group begin a march from the Bismark Hotel to the regional offices of the Department of Health and Human Services at 105 W. Adams St. Monday to attempt to talk with representatives. The demonstrators, from the group American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit [sic](ADAPT), were protesting to have more money allocated for home care, rather than nursing home care. ADAPT wants the govemment to institute a policy to fund community-based attendant service allowing disabled people to stay home. - ADAPT (183)
San Antonio Light, 4/25/85 [Headline] Disabled protesters claim win After three days of public protests, members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit said they believe they have accomplished their goal of drawing the public’s attention to the transportation problems they encounter. The organization called off planned demonstrations yesterday after receiving a pledge from Mayor Henry Cisneros that he would seek improvements in local transit services. More than 50 members of ADAPT, who were staying at The Convent of the Holy Spirit, were expected to leave San Antonio and return to their homes in other states. “We have raised the issue substantially," said ADAPT spokesman Wade Blank. “Our issue is a mobility problem for more than 10,000 people in San Antonio," he added. “They are a ‘hidden minority." Sunday, ADAPT members blocked the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the American Public Transit Association was holding a regional meeting. Monday, ADAPT members moved into the VIA Metropolitan Transit offices on Myrtle Street and remained for several hours until they met with association officials. And Tuesday, the organization's members blocked VIA buses at several downtown intersections. Two ADAPT members were given citations for obstructing traffic, but no arrests were made. No disabled San Antonians joined the protests during which ADAPT members demanded that VIA buses be equipped with wheelchair lifts. VIA operates a special van transportation service for the disabled. Blank, who charged there is a lack of leadership and organization within the San Antonio disabled community, said it would be up to the people here to take up the issue now. The ADAPT spokesman said San Antonio police officers who dealt with the three days of demonstrations were the “most friendly, and, level-headed police in any city” in which the group has demonstrated. - ADAPT (328)
The Phoenix Gazette Monday, April 6, 1987 Photo by James Garcia, The Phoenix Gazette: Woman stands with arm raised, chanting. Behind her people in wheelchairs form a picket line in front of a large building. Caption: JoAnn Brown of Colorado Springs leads a protest by wheelchair-bound activists at the Hyatt Regency Sunday. Title: Wheelchair activists block restaurants Compiled by The Gazette About 100 members of a militant group of wheelchair-bound activists blocked the roads and entrances to a restaurant Sunday night in an attempt to keep people from attending a steak fry put on by the American Public Transit Association. Phoenix police arrested 27 protesters. They were taken away in handicapped-accessible vans, cited for trespassing and released, police said. Police were continuing to monitor the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit groups today, with a command post at the Civic Plaza. Adams Street, next to the Hyatt, remained blocked and about 20 officers were stationed there. Chanting and carrying placards Sunday, members of ADAPT lined up across two roads, a stairway and the doors, including the handicapped entrance to the restaurant at The Pointe at South Mountain resort. The 450 people attending the APTA convention arrived in six Phoenix buses. Some were forced to scramble up a steep gravel incline and enter through the kitchen. Others walked up the back driveway. “We plan to be here all week and to inconvenience you as much as we can,” called out one protester, who was blocking the stairs. Earlier in the day, protesters had picketed at the Hyatt Regency, where the conventioneers are staying. The protesting group, known for demonstrations on behalf of the handicapped, wants all public transit to be accessible to the wheelchair-bound. “I think they have a just cause, but I think they are carrying it to an extreme,” said Bob Hocken, general manager of the Phoenix Transit System, who walked up the hill from the lower parking lot because the stairway was blocked. After speaking to the restaurant’s manager, the group agreed to let staff, supplies, and the restaurant’s shuttle buses pass. The restaurant sent a waitress out to serve ice water. Richard Worth, a spokesman for the Regional Public Transportation Authority in Phoenix, said all of the buses currently on order “will offer wheelchair accessibility.” Of the 54 bus routes in metropolitan Phoenix, eight offer wheelchair accessibility, Worth said, and 49 of the city’s 350 buses, or 14 percent, are wheelchair accessible. Handicapped ridership on Phoenix’s routes is estimated at 509,000 per year, or 3 percent of total ridership, he said. - 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 (305)
The Disability Rag, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1987 p. 10 part 2 of article that starts in ADAPT 306 is included her in ADAPT 305 but that text is included with ADAPT 306 for easier reading. This is the second article: Title: End of September will see ADAPT in S.F. Denver. Then Washington, D.C. Then Los Angeles. Then Detroit. For the past four years, members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit have held demonstrations during the American Public Transit Association’s annual convention, trying to get the lobbying and trade association for the public transit industry to change its mind about lifts on buses. APTA refuses to back mandatory requirements that public bus systems be accessible — instead, they promote a concept called “local option." Under “local option,” something ADAPT organizer Wade Blank has compared to “states’ rights” back in slavery days, communities should decide whether equipping a bus system's fleet with lifts is “better" for disabled people than a separate, “paratransit” system of mini-buses (often called "dial-a-ride.”) Since APTA has refused to change its position, ADAPT has continued to harass the group. Each year ADAPT’s ranks have grown. The first year ADAPT picketed APTA’s convention, in Denver, ADAPT was a local, Denver-based group of wheelchair riders. Today, there are ADAPT chapters in most major American cities. Local disability `groups` in the San Francisco Bay area are organizing for this year's convention and expect hundreds of disabled people from across the country for events beginning September 28. ADAPT’s San Francisco headquarters will be The San Franciscan Hotel, at 1231 Market Street (94103; 415-626-8000.) For more information on housing and actions for the week, contact either ADAPT in Denver at 303-393-0630, or San Francisco's September Alliance for Accessible Transit at 415-323-3736. - ADAPT (318)
Photo by Nancy Engelbretson, The Phoenix Gazette Title: 37 arrested in wheelchair protest Two men in suits stand on either side of a skinny old man (Frank McColm) in a manual wheelchair. One has his back to the camera, the other is bending down doing something with Frank's breaks; you can just see part of his badge on his belt. Frank looks alarmed; he is being tipped back on his back wheels. His hands are on his armrests. His pants legs are up almost to his knees and his legs are crossed. Behind them is a large almost empty parking lot. Caption reads: Frank McColm of Denver jams on his wheelchair hand brake as Phoenix police officers attempt to remove him from the Phoenix bus depot Tuesday during another protest by members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. Police arrested 37 people, most of them for trespassing after they refused to leave until they could board a bus. ADAPT wants all buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. Sixty-nine arrests have been made since the group arrived Sunday to protest meetings of the American Public Transit Association. That convention ends today. April 8th, 1987 - ADAPT (430)
[Headline] Wheelchair Protesters Unfazed by Metro stairs By PEGGY CURRAN of The Gazette It began when Ronnie Smith deliberately hurled his wheelchair down the stairs at the Longueuil Metro station. Horrified commuters stood by helplessly as the frail-looking Dallas, Tex., man tumbled in a heap at the foot of the stairs. Five Longueuil police officers rushed to pick Smith up and ease him back into his chair. "It wasn't bad," said Smith, 33. "I knew if I made it halfway down, I'd be OK. I knew I'd be shaken up a little bit." Minutes later, 10 more disabled activists had abandoned their wheelchairs, slithering or crawling down the steps to the subway level. Holding up bus tickets, they edged toward the wickets - only to be stopped by a police barricade. Another 30 disabled people remained in the rotunda upstairs, chanting "We will ride" and singing We shall overcome. Most of the protesters were Americans, members of ADAPT - American Disabled for Adapted Public Transit. For five years, the organization has taken radical action to press its demands for better public transit. Often it stages spectacular demonstrations and welcomes arrests. The group came to Montreal for four days to stage protests again at he annual convention of the American Public Transit Association. Since Sunday, some 48 protesters have been arrested during demonstrations at the Sheraton Centre, the chalet on Mount Royal and Place Ville Marie. There were no arrests during yesterday's demonstration. Longueuil police Sgt. Pierre Rheault said his officers would allow the disabled protesters to demonstrate, as long as they agreed to leave peacefully when they were done. And the 15 officers from the Longueuil and Metro police handled the situation with gentleness. Officers offered to carry many of the protesters upstairs at the end of the hour-long sit-in and news conference. And they were quick to intervene when a man, who claimed to be a trained paramedic, lunged at one of the protesters as he lay writhing on the ground. The man, who said he works as a night nurse at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, had been drinking in a tavern on the lower level of the Metro station when he heard activity in the corridor leading to the trains. He jumped on the disabled man's chest, ignoring pleas to leave the man alone. But police dragged him away, throwing him back into the brasserie and ordering him to stay there until the demonstration was over. Montrealer Francois Gagnon said disabled Quebecers may be afraid to speak out lest they lose the benefits they depend on, such as jobs, disability pensions or housing allowances. But Gagnon said he hopes this week's actions will encourage more handicapped people to step forward to fight for their right to better transit services, and wheelchair access to public washrooms, buildings and housing projects. Meanwhile, at the transit convention, Robert Zuzworsky, a New York Transit Authority driver, was awarded first prize of $1,000 U.S. in the International Bus Roadeo competition held here Tuesday. - ADAPT (322)
Logo of a sun. The Arizona Republic April 13, 1987, Phoenix, Arizona [This story continues in ADAPT 314 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO by David Petkiewicz/Republic: A large group of people are standing, heading into the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Among those standing some people in wheelchairs are visible, and a reporter is there with a camera. Caption reads: Wheelchair-bound protesters and their supporters gather at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix. The group converged on the American Public Transit Association's convention at the hotel last week. Title: Driven by anger, disabled man has fought long, hard for access. By CHUCK HAWLEY The Arizona Republic Mike Landwehr pushes his own wheelchair, but it's really anger that drives the wheels. "Every day, my anger is brought forward again when l have to push my wheelchair 10 blocks in my own hometown,“ said Landwehr, a Chicago man who has been arrested a dozen or more times since 1978 while demonstrating for access to public transportation for the disabled. “I'm running out of patience.” Landwehr spent much of last week in Phoenix as a spokesman for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. The Denver-based group has a reputation of “getting in the face" of public officials by creating ruckuses at meetings of the American Public Transit Association, a group Landwehr describes as "the enemy." Surrounding hotels, restaurants and buses where transportation officials meet, ADAPT members express demands in rhythmic chants: “What do we want? "Access! “When do we want it? "Now!" It is, the group says, a civil-rights demonstration. Howard Adams is not driven by anger, although he was paralyzed from the neck down in a swimming accident 20 years ago. Adams, a Phoenix councilman, said disability is something he lives with, but he doesn't thrive on it. "I‘m not an expert on it,“ Adams said, “it's not the most important thing in my life." He disagrees with the civil-disobedience tactics used by ADAPT. "I guess I pour my anger into other things," he said. Adams, who served in the Arizona Legislature before his election to the City Council, recently was appointed by President Reagan to the 22-member Architectural and Transportation Compliance Board. The board oversees enforcement of federal regulations governing access for the disabled. It can recommend withholding federal funds from any organization or local government that fails to meet federal requirements for access, Adams said. Although Adams does not use city buses regularly, he said, he has used them and believes Phoenix "is in pretty good shape" with respect to disabled people. The demonstrators, he says, have a beef with the American Public Transportation Association, not with Phoenix. "The goal has always been equal opportunity and to participate in all aspects of life as best as they can," Adams said. "I agree with their goals, but I don't agree with their tactics. "They were not here to point a finger at Phoenix. They were here to protest to a group that provides public transportation to people around the country." Public transportation in Phoenix is inadequate for all people, not just the disabled, Adams said. "If I wanted to go to the council chambers right now, (8:30 p.m.) I couldn't get there on the bus anyway," he said. "If I were in a city with a higher population density, such as Chicago or New York, it would be a different story. I would expect to be able to." Adams said there appear to be "some people who are professionally disabled just like there are people who will always be soldiers in World War II." "We all carry burdens with us, but we have to overcome them," he said. "You can't take away all of the problems everybody has; you just can't. "But, to the extent that society has created barriers, you have to remove them, and I think we are doing it here." Because he uses a lift-equipped van, Adams does not ride Phoenix buses often, but he said he is not unfamiliar with the difficulty of getting from one city to another. In Los Angeles recently, he said, he was told that he could board a plane in a folding wheelchair and that his battery-operated machine would have to be left behind for a later flight in a baggage compartment. "I have trouble with airlines," he said. "They don't care. They just want to get you out of there." When his motorized chair arrived in Phoenix on a later plane, he said, "there was $2,000 in damage to it." Landwehr, 43, was born with spinal bifida, a severe birth defect that now often is correctable. New surgical techniques came too late for him, however. He lost the use of his legs during surgery when he was 12 years old. Landwehr remembers that he once tried to deny his disability, shun his wheelchair and be like everyone else. "I would get myself seated in a restaurant and ask the waitress to take my chair away and fold it up in a corner," he said. "It was a way of being like everyone else. Deep down, disabled people strive to appear not disabled.” It was painful, he said, when his parents had to move from Chicago because he could not attend public high schools there with able-bodied teen-agers. The family moved 60 miles to the suburbs after rejecting the Chicago school system's offer to provide a special bus to pick him up and deliver him to a school for the handicapped, the only school he said school officials would allow him to attend. "Thank God they (his parents) knew I would only learn to live in an institution," he said. In the suburbs, Landwehr said, he struggled to lift himself into a school bus unequipped for handicapped people. Daily, he lifted himself up the school steps as other teen-agers watched. "I know what it is like to be stared at," he said. "It's painful." It also is painful, he said, that Chicago, the nation's third-most-populous city, after New York and Los Angeles, has no city buses with wheelchair lifts for the disabled. Landwehr said that the daily difficulty of overcoming obstacles just to gain access to places others take for granted has hardened his stance for total access. He is militant. Arrests and abuse do not appear to faze him. Embarrassing others and taking the risk of alienating the public also do not seem to faze him. "There is nobody more alienated than people living in little rooms in institutions," Landwehr said. "We want to expose the public to the full range of people who are disabled. "I think our presence here at least gives the public the opportunity to reflect upon their perceptions of disabilities and disabled people. "We hope that a byproduct of our presence will give us some leverage with local politicians." Landwehr, who studied journalism and psychology at the University of Illinois but didn't earn a degree, is unemployed. He once worked with the Disability Rights Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., until federal funding for the group was cut. "We fooled them, though," he said. "Twenty-two of us started collecting Social Security disability checks and just kept on working, doing what we had been doing until the money ran out." Public officials sometimes complain that the cost of total access for the disabled is too great and the need too small. Landwehr says he doesn't believe it. For example, Milwaukee once touted the purchase of lift-equipped buses but operated them randomly on unannounced routes. Photos above: head shots of Howard Adams in white shirt and tie, and Mike Landwher with flannel shirt and mustache. Caption reads: Howard Adams (left) and Mike Landwehr both are disabled, but Adams disagrees with the civil-disobedience tactics used by Landwehr's group. - ADAPT (433)
Transit activists wheel into action on South Shore By PEGGY CURRAN Of the Gazette In March, Bill Bolte took a sledge-hammer to Hollywood's star-studded Walk of Fame because it wasn't wheelchair-accessible. Bolte was arrested, although the vandalism charge was dropped, he says, "in the interests of justice." Six months later, Bolte says the city of Los Angeles has come up with $360,000 to cut access ramps along the 2.5-kilometre sidewalk. On Monday night, the wheelchair-bound American was arrested again - for the 14th time - when he chained himself to the doors of the underground parking garage at Place Ville Marie. Released from Bordeaux Jail yesterday but banned from demonstrating on the island of Montreal, he joined about 20 disabled people who took their crusade for better public transit across the bridge. There were no arrests during the brief, boisterous sit-in at the Brossard bus terminal. But Bolte said another arrest was a risk he was ready to take as a member of ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. [Subheading] `Not willing to go last' "Our only ability is to embarrass and expose the position of the able-bodied power structure, which is basically 'You go last,' " Bolte said. "Well, we aren't willing to go last any more." For about half an hour during afternoon rush hour, members of ADAPT and their supporters staged a rowdy demonstration at the terminal on Taschereau Blvd. Chanting "we will ride," about five disabled people parked their wheelchairs in front of a Montreal-bound bus. That forced the South Shore transit authority to empty the bus and have passengers board other buses idling on Taschereau Blvd. One of the disabled protesters, Marthe Bail of Quebec City, succeeded in boarding the bus by pulling herself out of her wheelchair and clinging to the handrails. Bail, one of only four Quebecers who took part in yesterday's protest, said disabled Quebecers have a fundamental right to public transit. And she said they shouldn't have to rely on the woefully inadequate service now provided. [Subheading] Sympathetic response In Montreal, for instance, she said disabled passengers must make reservations 48 hours in advance whenever they want to use the service. And the buses don't cross bridges, ruling out trips to Laval and the South Shore. Pierre Beaudoin, whose bus was blocked by the protesters, said he respects their demands. Beaudoin said he believes it would be possible to redesign regular buses to provide access to the disabled by installing lifts and setting aside space for wheelchairs. For the most part, commuters who witnessed the demonstration were also sympathetic. "They feel they have to do this to achieve their goals," said Andre Plante. "Who are we to complain? What's a delay of a few minutes? These people are handicapped for life." Brossard resident Francine Labrosse said she doesn't think ADAPT's demands are very realistic. I don't think the inside of the bus is wide enough for wheelchairs even if the lifts they want were installed," Labrosse said. "Of course, if the government decides it wants something anything is possible." But at least one South Shore resident was outraged by the demonstration. "How am I supposed to' get to work?" a livid Joseph Pacheco screamed at bus driver Beaudoin. "Am I supposed to take a taxi? That will cost me $11. Who is going to pay' for that?" - ADAPT (342)
San Francisco Examiner 9/28/87 Still waiting for the bus Photo by Examiner/Kurt Rogers: A row of policemen in dark uniforms facing away from the camera make most of the photo black. At their sides you can see night sticks and their hands on their hips. Between them you can see a very young (about 6 years old) Jennifer Keelan mouth open in a loud chant and behind her, barely visible is her mother Cindy. To the right Diane Coleman is framed by two other policemen, and between them mostly hidden by the officer's legs, is Bob Kafka. Caption reads: A contingent of disabled and elderly protesters roll up Post Street in S.F. after holding Union Square rally. Headline: Disabled protest transit group’s policies By Ken O'Toole of the Examiner staff Disabled people from across the nation took to the streets of San Francisco Sunday to demand better access to public transportation, rolling through downtown streets in a wheelchair caravan that stretched from Union Square to the downtown Hilton Hotel. Chanting, “We want access” and "We will ride," the crowd of several hundred disabled and their supporters rolled with police escorts to the hotel, where the annual meeting of the American Public Transit Association was taking place. The protesters were halted at the hotel's doors by a line of police, and after a brief rally moved on to City Hall, where they confronted transit association members going to a cocktail party. Police arrested 20 people, including 16 in wheelchairs, for blocking the sidewalk and failing to disperse. They were cited and released. One demonstrator. who was not wheelchair-bound, was booked for felony assault after he kicked a police officer in the chest. Police estimated that there were 500 demonstrators. The march, spirited but orderly, did not seriously disrupt traffic as scores of wheelchair-bound protesters voiced their displeasure with the associations policies and called for restoration of a national transit policy that would require wheelchair lifts on all public buses and trolleys. Both protesters and officials of the Municipal Railway noted the irony of the demonstration taking place in a city that has one of the best disabled-accessibility programs in the United States. California and Michigan are the only states that require all new buses to have wheelchair lifts. However, outside California, most disabled people are "segregated from public transit, and are often regulated to lengthy waiting lists for door-to-door van service" or no service at all, said a spokeswoman for the September Alliance for Accessible Transit. The group, in conjunction with American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, plans more demonstrations as the transit association meets here through Thursday. Transit association Executive Vice President Jack Gilstrap said, “it's not a disagreement over whether we serve the disabled; it's how its to be done. Our position, and we're consistent with federal law and the courts, is for each community to decide how the service (to the handicapped) should be supplied." He said that lifts can cost $10,000 to $15,000 and that individual communities should be able to decide whether the money might be better spent on other transit woes. "lt's a very emotional issue," Gilstrap said, "but (public-transit agencies) have short resources. You're doing a good job here in the Bay Area, but with an extraordinary level of taxes." Muni spokeswoman Annette Wire said a total of 280 buses In the system have lifts, and 16 Muni lines are totally accessible to the handicapped. At a Union Square rally before the march, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy called for full access to public transportation. Saying laws that guarantee rights to all people have been undermined, McCarthy said disabled people have a right to access to school and work through public transportation. "Transportation means independence," McCarthy said, “and independence means opportunity." The Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church called on the disabled to take America to a new task... You may be called to set what's wrong right." A wheelchair-bound San Franciscan named Gill rolled into the crowd of demonstrators at Union Square and said he liked what he saw. But he said, “San Francisco is moving in the right direction. I travel sometimes miles a day (in the electric wheelchair) and I usually don‘! have any problems. except with the occasional inexperienced bus driver." Joe Carley, of Dallas, Texas, said since he was restricted to a wheelchair several years ago, at age 38, I realized: ‘This can happen to at anybody. Transportation is the A-Number 1 concern for anyone who's disabled. Federal and state governments don't really see transportation as a right. We want to live, not just survive." Photo by Examiner/Kurt Rogers: A really large group of people, many in wheelchairs head down a street. Caption reads: Demonstrators protest American Public Transit Association's policies on disabled accessibility. - ADAPT (316)
The Phoenix Gazette, Wed. April 8, 1987 B-5 37 more arrested in protests by handicapped By Scott Craven The Phoenix Gazette Police arrested 37 members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, most of them for trespassing after they refused to leave the Phoenix bus depot until they were able to board a bus. That brings to 69 the number of arrests police have made since the group arrived in Phoenix Saturday to protest the policies of the American Public Transit Association. Most of those arrested Tuesday were booked into the Towers facility of the Maricopa County Jail, where they were expected to stay the night because they could not raise bail, according to police spokesman Sgt. Ken Johnson. He said the typical bond for trespassing is $206. Although some ADAPT members were arrested at the state Capitol and the downtown Hyatt Regency, site of the convention, most were taken into custody at the bus terminal at Washington Street and Central Avenue. The ADAPT members were attempting to board buses, none of which were equipped with lifts for the disabled. The group is protesting because it wants all buses nationwide to be equipped to handle wheelchair-bound people. ADAPT organizer Mike Auberger said it was a frustrating battle. “Here we are, tourists in the middle of Phoenix, and we can't get a bus to see the rest of the city,” he said at the terminal. “No one else has that problem. We should have the same rights as everybody else." Police arrested 27 ADAPT members Sunday after they blocked the driveway to Rustler's Rooste at the Pointe South Mountain. They were cited and released. - ADAPT (378)
The Handicapped Coloradan October issue/Vol. 11, No. 4 PHOTO: A waist up shot of Mike Auberger in a sweater in his wheelchair with his chest strap. His face has it's customary stern look. Caption reads: Mike Auberger. Title: APTA still says no to lifts Wheelchair activists cross into Canada Wheelchair militants chased their arch enemy over the border into Canada in October, but unfortunately for advocates of accessible transit systems, the American Public Transit Association (APTA) not only came back but found time in between dodging wheelchair barricades and attending panel discussions to veto mandatory lifts on buses. APTA's board of directors voted unanimously at their national convention in Montreal to reaffirm its policy of local option while continuing to study proposals made by its Elderly and Disabled Services Task Force. APTA has been fighting mandatory lifts since the Carter administrations' Department of Transportation (DOT) first ordered transit companies to install lifts in 1979. APTA lost in U.S. District Court in 1980 but won in 1981 when the U.S. Court of Appeals ruIed that the DOT regulations were not required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In 1983 wheelchair activists in Denver formed the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) and picketed APTA's national convention being held in Denver. ADAPT chapters rapidly sprang up in other cities, and APTA delegates soon grew used to having their annual conventions and regional meetings disrupted by hundreds of demonstrators in wheelchairs. This year's meeting in Montreal was no different. As usual, local police threw up barricades in front of the conventioneers' hotels, and as usual, wheelchair demonstrators hurled their chairs and bodies at police lines. And, as usual, they were arrested. "City police crush wheelchair protest," headlined the Montreal Daily News, next to a picture of police removing demonstrators from their chairs and passing them over the barricades. Protester Lori Taylor said the police had no right to take her husband's chair away from him. "They separated him from his legs," she said. "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." Police maintained that they had a right to remove Lester Taylor any way they could after he deliberately crashed his way through a metal barrier in front of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Taylor was taken into custody, along with 24 other demonstrators. Many of those arrested were from Colorado, including Mike Auberger, who chained his wheelchair to a handrail in the hotel lobby. Also among those "arrested" was a seven-year-old-girl from Scottsdale, Ariz. Jennifer Keelan, who has cerebral palsy, was taken into custody along with her mother Cynthia. Both mother and daughter were released later that day without charges being filed against them so that they would not be separated overnight. Cynthia Keelan said the police lifted Jennifer and her chair onto a police van using the kind of lift she and Jennifer would like to see put on every bus. She said she was very proud of her "very, very brave little girl," although a police spokesperson was quick to point out that it was the mother, not the daughter, who was actually being arrested. Most of those arrested were U.S. citizens, although a few Canadians did join the pickets. Maria Barila, a Montreal resident who was arrested, said potential Canadian demonstrators had been warned by one government agency that they could lose their welfare checks if they were arrested. Montreal police had received reports from the six U.S. cities in which ADAPT had previously picketed APTA conventions and had prepared accordingly, down to issuing officers kneepads in case wheelchair militants attempted to run their chairs into police. Perhaps in an effort to cut down on ... Continued on p.2 [Unfortunately we don't currently have the second part of this article. If you have it and can send a picture we would be very grateful. ] Second article: RTD firm in commitment to accessibility RTD has been named one of the nation's most accessible public transit systems by the American Disabled for Accessible public Transit (ADAPT), and it continues to show every sign of improving that system. On Nov. 1, RTD became one of the first transit systems in the country to offer accessible public transportation on intercity routes when 35 lift-equipped buses began rolling between Boulder and Denver. The Neoplan buses replace Yellow Cab service. Critics of lifts on intercity buses argued that they were too costly and took up to much space on already crowded buses, but when Neoplan submitted its bid to RTD, the cost was so low that the transit agency was able to buy additional buses. RTD says its new regional service shouldn't cause any delays, since its buses are already operating at a 95 per cent on-time rate. The lift-equipped buses operate between Boulder, Broomfield Park-n-Ride, Market Street Station, Stapleton Airport. and Longmont. Regular fares on the Regional AFB arc: Boulder to Broomfield, $1.25; Broomfield Park-n-Ride to Denver, $1.25; Boulder-Denver-Stapleton, $2.00. The fare for disabled individuals traveling during off-peak hours (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) is 104. Regular monthly passes are $68; disabled riders pay $44 with their RTD Handicapped I.D. card. Ten-ride coupons are also available for this service at a cost of $18. For additional information regarding the new accessible regional service or for trip planning needs, call 777-3343 until 10 p.m. RTD also announced a get-tough policy on non-function lifts on buses being operated by private contractors. Some buses on accessible routes are now operated by private companies, even though the drivers still wear RTD uniforms and the buses carry the RTD logo. Every time one of those buses gets stopped and its lift isn't working, RTD will automatically levy a $100 fine against the private transit provider. Inset sidebar: Accessible systems 10 BEST • New York City Transit Authority (bus only) • Washington (D.C.) Metro Area Transit Authority (Metrorail) • Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle • San Francisco Municipal Railway • Alameda-Contra Costa County Transit District (Oakland, Calif.) • Regional Transportation District (Denver, Colo.) • Transit District (Eugene, Ore.) • Santa Clara County Transit District (San Jose, Calif.) • Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation (Portland, Ore.) • Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (Suburban Detroit) HONORABLE MENTION • Niagara Frontier Transit (light rail system only) (Buffalo, NY) • Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transit District (San Rafael, Calif.) • Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority (Dayton, Ohio) • Sacramento Regional Transit District (Sacramento, Calif.) • Cambria County Transit Authority (Johnstown, PA) 10 WORST • Chicago Transit Authority • Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (Philadelphia) • Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (Boston) • Metropolitan Transit Commission (Minneapolis, Minn.) • Metro Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston, Tex.) • Detroit Department of Transportation • Port Authority of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA) • Mass Transit Administration of Maryland (Baltimore) • Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority • Bi-State Development Agency (St. Louis, MO) DISHONORABLE MENTION • Washington (D.C.) Metro Area Transit Authority (Metrobus) • VIA Metropolitan Transit (San Antonio, Tex.) • City & County of Honolulu • Regional Transit Authority (New Orleans) • Queen City Metro (Cincinnati, Ohio)