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Hjem / Albumer / Merknader Joe Carle
+ ADAPT v. Burnley 2
ADAPT (441)
DISCLOSURE September-October 1989, Issue No. 112 the national newspaper of neighborhoods [Headline] Disabled Protest Across Country: “Accessible Transit Is a Civil Right" This story continues on 436 but is included here in its entirety for ease of reading. PHOTO by Tom Olin: A large group of people in wheelchairs, on crutches, many carrying posters, are massed in front of a MCI New Jersey bus. Joe Carle is in the middle of the group with his back to the camera and on the back of his wheelchair is a sign that reads "I can't even get on the back of the bus." Also visible (right to left) are Cassie James, Diane Coleman, Brian Shea, Mike Early from CORD, two other guys in wheelchairs, Kent Killam, Julie Nolan, a white haired blind person with a big sign, and a short woman, perhaps a child, looking to her left and holding on to the back of a wheelchair. The group is blocking the bus and the street, while others walk by on the sidewalk. Caption reads: Members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) and affiliated groups stages demonstratlon on disabled rights issues in front of buses at the federal court building, Philadelphia, May, 1989. by Mike Monti The message is clear: “We will ride,” say the members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT). From a series of demonstrations to a controversial court case, this relentless group keeps fighting for accessible transit around the country. Among its victories are a July, 1989 federal court ruling that transportation agencies no longer have a 3 percent cap in providing wheelchair lifts or paratransit. For the members of ADAPT, accessible transit is a basic civil right — and is always worth fighting for. We reported in Disclosure #l08 on ADAPT’s actions in Montreal at the annual convention of the American Public Transit Authority (APTA). APTA and other transit authorities continue to make it extremely difficult for people with disabilities to use public transit. Nevertheless, ADAPT has shown that it will confront APTA wherever it shows up. Last April, at the Western Regional Conference of APTA in Sparks, Nevada (just outside of Reno), over 125 ADAPT members staged actions at the conference, calling for public transportation that can be used by everyone — including people with disabilities. Members started off with a march from their hotel to the conference hotel. When they were about halfway there, ADAPT was met by a police blockade. Obviously, authorities already knew about ADAPT: here is a group that won’t stops until it forces permanent changes. In Sparks. the marchers were able to get around the police barriers. But when they got to APTA’s hotel, they were met by private security forces. The hotel security outnumbered the city’s police three-to-one -— and were able to chain the door shut before ADAPT entered. Forty-seven ADAPT members were arrested, and seven were sent to jail. “The Sparks police had obviously decided that we weren't going to march in the streets,” said Stephanie Thomas, an ADAPT member who lives in Austin, Texas. “But we were able to go around the car barricades. it was like water going around the rocks." The following afternoon, ADAPT staged another demonstration with many crawling across the street and around police barricades, blocking traffic until they reached the front door of the hotel. It was locked from the inside. This time, 25 were arrested. The charge: blocking a fire door which was locked. Many of the ADAPT members who were arrested went on a hunger strike. Meanwhile, ADAPT members on the outside held a press conference calling attention to the problems jail staff were having providing for several of the disabled people’s needs. A final protest was held the next day. One day later, the Sparks judge who sent the hunger strikers to prison made a deal with the protesters: he let out two protesters for the price of a $100 fine. The judge had imposed a much stiffer sentence a couple of days earlier, but changed his mind in the face of a group of arrested ADAPT members who made it clear that they would rather starve and stay in jail than pay a huge fine. Meanwhile, disability groups on the east and west coasts were raising money to help support ADAPT. On the fourth day of the hunger strike, the judge relented and the fine was reduced. By the end of the day, all arrested ADAPT members had been released — and many in the group headed to Denver, for more demonstrations. In Denver — which is the home of ADAPT — the group protested at the annual conference of the Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA). This time, demonstrations focused on the federal government's request for a re-hearing of the ADAPT vs. Burnley case. In February, ADAPT won a major victory from the Department of Transportation (DOT) - only to have it undercut by the government. The first of ADAPT’s arguments stated that the rule saying transportation agencies should not have to spend more than 3 percent of their budget on wheelchair lifts or paratransit was unconstitutional. Second, ADAPT held that the option allowing agencies to decide whether or not to provide new buses with wheelchair lifts was unconstitutional. DOT kept flip-flopping on the issue: first it said yes, and then it backed off, asking for a rehearing to vacate the decisions. In Denver, ADAPT confronted Michael Norton, U.S. Attorney for the Tenth District in Denver. “Why is the government working against disabled rights?” asked ADAPT. Norton eventually read a 20-page statement from Attorney General Thornburgh stressing “the need for concern, compassion, and commitment” — but also saying that the law never mandated integration. “It was a really offensive statement, ” said Stephanie Thomas. “On one hand, he was affirming the government's commitment, and on the other he’s fighting tooth and nail to stop rights for the disabled.” When the case was reheard in Philadelphia on May 15, ADAPT was ready. With help from the local chapter of Disabled in Action and the Cape Organization for Rights of the Disabled (CORD), protesters gathered at the federal court building. Four ADAPT members met with the U.S. Attorney, who listened to their concerns. Two days later, a protest was staged at Independence Hall. Dressed in revolutionary garb complete with wigs, three-cornered hats and fife and drum, the “Disability Rights Patriots” marched around the Liberty Bell. Court Decision On July 24, ADAPT won a significant victory as the original ruling striking down the 3 percent cap on wheelchair and paratransit lifts was upheld. On the local option issue, judges decided that the stipulation was legal. Now, it's back in the hands of DOT, for "clarification." Meanwhile, ADAPT will be working with lawyers to plan its next strategy in the legal arena, even though the courts have dodged the issue of equal rights for the disabled. Nevertheless, ADAPT is still ready for action. “We are not going to sit around and wait for the government to put a piece of legislation through,” said Wade Blank. What's next for ADAPT? The next APTA Conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, September 23-28, 1989. “The court’s decision on local option will make our demonstrations in Atlanta bigger,” says Mike Auberger, a co-director of ADAPT. Sparks Nevada, Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta. . .ADAPT marches on for rights for people with disabilities. “Someday,” says Wade Blank, “ It will be just as appalling to see buildings without ramps as it was seeing signs that said ‘Whites Only.’ ” end of article Pictures of 2 graphic symbols: One is the ADAPT no-steps logo with American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit around the outside and a circle with a set of steps rising to the right and a bar across the circle and steps with the word ADAPT on it. The other is a power fist, with wheelchair warriors written below the arm. Caption reads: These symbols are part of ADAPT’s continuing fight. Says Wade Blank of ADAPT “Someday it will be just as appalling to see buildings without ramps as it was seeing signs that said ‘Whites Only.’”
ADAPT (583)
Fort Worth Star Telegram / Sunday March 26, 1989 [Headline] Disabled evicted by guards [Subheading] Fort Worth protest at courthouse ends BY Whitt Canning, Fort Worth Star Telegram Bob, Joe, Frank, Tim and Frazier spent a quiet evening Friday on the ninth floor of the Federal Building nodding off occasionally between friendly chats with the guards. Having arrived earlier in the day to take part in a protest by a group of disabled people against the Urban Mass Transit Administration, they hadn't really planned on staying the night. Things just sort of worked out that way. Their strange vigil ended abruptly about 1:15 p.m. yesterday when they were evicted by Federal Protection Service officers, who explained that it was being done for their own good. “They physically picked us up and carried us out," said Bob Kafka, admiring a skinned place on his right forearm that was bleeding slighty. “At least," said Joe Carle, “it was reassuring being in the hands of the kinder, gentler Bush administration." Kafka, 43, Carle, 50, Frank Lozano, 38, and Tim Baker, 26, are members of a group called American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation that staged a nationwide protest Friday in an effort to dissuade the administration from appealing a recent decision in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals (ADAPT vs. Burnley). The decision requires wheelchair lifts on buses purchased with federal money. The Fort Worth protest involved 20 to 30 people, but Kafka, Carle, Lozano and Baker managed to reach the ninth-floor office of the administration's regional manager, Wilbur Hare. There, they requested he telephone White House chief of staff John Sununu and voice his support for the court decision. Joining the small group in its audience with Hare was Frazier, an amiable pooch who serves the visually impaired Lozano as a guide dog. Hare refused the request, and went home at 4:45 p.m., leaving the intrepid little band stuck on the ninth floor, vowing to stay through Easter weekend. “We were in the outer office, and he (Hare) came out once about 3:30 and told us he was leaving at his normal time," Carle said. "Then at 4:45, he came out, shook our hands, wished us happy Easter, and left. "We wished him happy Easter too." So the group was left occupying the building, along with several guards. At 6 p.m., Casey Bowen, director of building operations with the General Services Administration, told them they would not be forcibly removed, but he would not allow food to be brought in. As an added precaution, Kafka said, all the phones were removed. “I don't mean just in Hare‘s office," Kafka said. "lt looked to me like they removed every phone on the ninth floor. They didn‘t just disconnect them. They TOOK the phones off.“ The group settled in for the night. "Mostly, we tried to sleep as best we could, sitting in our chairs (Kafka, Carle and Baker use wheelchairs)" Kafka said. "I got the couch, since l'm the oldest," Carle said. “Frank slept on the floor because he doesn't have a wheelchair.“ "There are some vending machines up there," Kafka said, "and we ate some candy bars and drank some cokes that was about it. "The guards were very nice to us -- until today, when they evicted us." [Subheading] PROTEST About 6:30 a.m. yesterday, Kafka said, they asked the guards if they could send out for food and were refused. About 11 a.m. the group's attorney, Paul Alexander, arrived with the same request and also was refused. Then about l p.m., the group made another request — that Hare appear at a 6 p.m. news conference and agree to make the call to Washington tomorrow. ln return, they would end their occupation of the building. "That's when they evicted us," Kafka said. “They said they were acting on Bowen's orders and it was for our own good because we hadn't had anything to eat. “They picked me up out of my chair, because l wasn't going to leave, and carried me. That's how I got skinned up." “They had a little trouble getting Frank into a wheelchair," Carle said. “But Frazier went quietly when ordered to leave." Baker, who is severely disabled, did not fare so well, group members said. “When they were pushing him out in his chair, they didn't know how to operate it, and they tore up the motor and the clutch,“ Kafka said. “They did about $1,000 worth of damage to it." Guards at the building refused to comment. Hare did not show up at the news conference. And the I3 activists held up the starting time of 6 p.m. to wait for additional supporters who did not arrive. “We came here to fight for transportation, but we couldn't get the troops over to fight for them," Carle said, adding that none of the disabled could ride the bus downtown so only those who could afford a car could come. Kafka said that the group will examine legal recourse for injuries and damages incurred while being evicted. However, the group's lawyer, Paul Alexander, had advised the four that they might not have legal grounds because they were on federal property, Carle said. As to whether the demonstrators felt they had accomplished anything by the protest, Carle said, “We hope that somewhere along the line this wakes up the able-bodied community" and shows members of the disabled community that “they don't have to knuckle under." He said the group's impromptu occupation of Hare's office had probably amazed them as much as anyone else. “When we got here (with the other protesters), I was telling Bob that Mr. Hare was a pretty nice guy and would probably make the phone call fairly quickly," Carle said. “We were trying to figure out what we were going to do with the rest of the afternoon.“ Carle said other protests are planned soon, including one against Greyhound Corp. on Monday in Dallas. Greyhound, he said, has indicated it does not wish to adapt its buses to the handicapped. “I think this was an abomination," Kafka said. “As a Vietnam veteran, l am embarrassed for my country. But it's just another example of how the govrnment views the disabled. They don't want us to be people — they want us to sit down and shut up, or be put away in institutions. “I think a lot of people have a fear of the disabled." “They're trying to put us back where we've been for ... eternity," Carle said. "Instead of doing this, they should help us with job training so we can carry our own weight. “It's the only way we will ever become . . . people." The occupying force at least had a clear view of its immediate objective once it was back out on the street: friends who arrived to help were immediately dispatched to find food (“double burgers, chicken, and big milkshakes"). When the food gathering force hurried off, Carle offered one last observation on the situation. "Frazier," he confided. “is extremely upset about all this. “He says they treated him like a dog." Staff writer Betsy C.M. Tong contributed to this report PHOTO (by Ricky Moon, Fort Worth Star-Telegram): From left to right Frank Lozano kneels on the pavement, his hand on his dog Frazier's neck. Frazier, a white lab, sits calmly in harness, looking serenely off into the distance. Beside him is Joe Carle in a denim vest, ADAPT shirt, gimmie cap and dark glasses, he sits in his wheelchair and smiles. Next to him, Tim Baker, face partially obscured by his chin operated wheelchair control stick, looks over at Bob Kafka. Kafka, next to him is in his manual wheelchair and is talking to Tim. Behind them is the stark facade of the federal building. Caption reads: Frank Lozano, his dog Frazier, Joe Carle, Tim Baker and Bob Kafka, from left, sit outside the Federal Courthouse after their eviction.