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Home / Albums / Keyword protest 84
- ADAPT (298)
Title: Arresting Theater By JIM FINKELSTEIN, Free Press Staff Writer An estimated 25 handicapped protesters were arrested Tuesday as they charged police guarding the McNamara Federal Building Tuesday in a third day of what one protester called "theater" over public transit's limited use of lift-equipped vehicles. Wave after wave of the estimated 100 protesters — many in wheelchairs and paralyzed, missing limbs, or suffering nerve disorders — were hauled away in lift-equipped vans while police photographers recorded the scene to ensure the protesters were properly arrested. Michael Auberger, a spokesman for the 100-member American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, vowed Tuesday that "we're going to escalate" the protest today and Thursday as the convention of the American Public Transit Association concludes at the Westin Hotel. “Everyone's willing to go" to jail. he added, hinting that the protest may move to the Westin today. Seventeen ADAPT members were arrested Monday as they tried to crawl aboard city buses to protest the lack of wheelchair equipment on 80 of 100 buses recently purchased by the city. THE DEMONSTRATORS want lift equipment on all new buses and trains purchased by U.S. public transit systems. The transit association won a court case to prevent more extensive federal regulations requiring lift equipment. Tuesday, the protesters began chanting slogans in front of the McNamara Federal Building just before 1 p.m. ADAPT spokespersons said the group wanted to present a position paper to Sen. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., whose offices are in the building. They refused a police offer to let two representatives meet with Riegle's aides, saying they wanted to send no fewer than nine. Police blocked the entrance and then began arresting protesters who blocked the entrance — both wheelchair users and non-handicapped ADAPT aides. Deputy Police Chief James Ingram said "a couple of hundred" police officers were given special training in arresting people who use wheelchairs. PHOTOS: Photo #1 Free Press Photo by GEORGE WALDMAN: A group of about 10 protesters chant out on the sidewalk in front of a large building. In front Bernard Baker and Stephanie Thomas, next row Kristen? (sitting alone), Fred (standing) & unknown, Renata Conrad (in manual) Marcos Quesada in wheelchairs. And Cathy Thomas and others in the background. Caption reads: Wheelchair-bound protesters chant outside the McNamara Federal Building in downtown Detroit. Photo #2: Free Press Photo by MANNY CRISOSTOMO Two uniformed police officers stand behind a man in a wheelchair (George Cooper) holding his push handles. The police are looking off into the distance and George holds a poster in his teeth that says "...With Liberty and Justice for All?" Caption reads: Detroit police officers carry George Cooper, of Irving, Tex., away from the scene. Photo #3: Free Press Photo by MANNY CRISOSTOMO A woman in a wheelchair (Paulette Patterson) holding the Holy Bible to her chest and with a pained and tearful cry, is being loaded onto a a lift equipped vehicle. Caption reads: An unidentified protester clutches her Bible as she's arrested. Photo #4 Free Press Photo by MANNY CRISOSTOMO A uniformed officer stands jauntily leaning on a barricade, on the other side of which are two ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs (Rick James and an unidentified woman.) Rick has a very intense expression on his face. Caption reads: Rick James, of Utah, left, watches Lt. Greg George, a federal policeman, at a barricade at the McNamara Federal Building. - ADAPT (294)
PHOTO by News photo / Gary Porter: Large group of ADAPT protesters behind barricades that sandwich them up against the wall of the front of the Westin Hotel. In the crowd you can see, among others, on far left Bernard Baker, facing backwards Frank McComb, next to Frank Lori and husband from Chicago, Caption reads: [Headline] Disabled protesters Members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) demonstrate in front of the Westin Hotel on Sunday. ADAPT members are demanding improved access tor the disabled on buses and other public transportation. They attempted to disrupt the meetings of the American Public Transit Association which convened in Detroit last weekend. Story / 3B. - ADAPT (284)
PHOTO: A young woman in a motorized chair sits with a very determined yet innocent look on her face. Behind her stand three police officers in dark uniforms and elaborate hats. Beside them and behind and to the side of the woman sits an older man with CP in a manual wheelchair. He may be in line behind the woman. Behind him and the officers is a room divider, and a fourth policeman peers out from behind the divider. Title: They got me thinking I don't spend a lot of time thinking about handicappers. Maybe I should, but I don't. I have, however, spent a considerable amount of time riding the bus up Woodward. And on those trips I have on occasion seen people in wheelchairs crawl up the steps of the bus either because the lift didn't work or there was no lift. I remember marveling at one young man with massive arms and a barrel chest who hurled his chair onto the bus like a shot-putter and then hoisted himself up the stairs and into a front seat. - ADAPT (277)
Unattributed quote "It seems to me that this group of yelling protesting handicappers is to the handicapper rights movement what the freedom riders were to more conservative members of the civil rights movement. They are righteous hellions whose goals are shared by other handicappers, even though their extreme tactics are sometimes rejected." PHOTO: A large round man in a manual wheelchair (Jerry Eubanks) is being escorted by three uniformed police officers. Jerry, a double amputee, holds his arms up from the wheels and two of the policemen are trying to hold onto his arms, while the third pushes him forward. Jerry looks slightly surprised and amused. - ADAPT (268)
Cincinnati Post May 1986 PHOTO by Lawrence A. Lambert/The Cincinnati Post: ADAPTers come off a bridge and march down a street. Most are in single file, a couple of people are off to the side. Most are wearing the light colored ADAPT shirts with the ADAPT "no steps" logo, others have on other ADAPT shirts. Their mouths are open, chanting. In the front (left to right) are Kathy Vincent, Terri Fowler, and a man doing a wheelie in his manual wheelchair. Behind him is a woman in a chair with someone pushing her. Jim Parker is just visible beside them and Tisha Auberger is on his right and Frank Lozano is on his left. The picture quality is not too great so the faces after that are hard to see. Caption reads: Handicapped protest: Some of the 85 visiting members of ADAPT, a national group protesting inaccessibility of city buses to the handicapped, wheel their way to the Westin Hotel Sunday to demonstrate at the start of a convention of the American Public Transit Association. There were no arrests Sunday, but some protesters have vowed to disrupt Queen City Metro service this week by chaining themselves to buses. Story on Page 18. - ADAPT (244)
The Cincinnati Enquirer Wednesday, May 21, 1, '86 p14—A Title: The handicapped Bus service that can meet special needs is the answer The handicapped demonstrators who are demanding greater access to transportation systems could find that, even if they succeed, they may not like what they get. About '75 members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) have been in Cincinnati for the regional meeting of the American Public Transit Association (APTA). Their purpose has been to protest what they see as a violation of their civil rights. They want to be able to use all modes of public transportation as others do. ADAPT is focusing on bus systems, asking that all buses — on a progressive basis -- be provided with lifts for the handicapped. That might be a valid answer, if the money were available, but the experience of states such as California and Michigan shows that the handicapped prefer a more personalized service, such as the Access shuttles that Metro provides. Both California and Michigan have state laws requiring fully accessible systems, but the use of regular buses is negligible. Most of the handicapped prefer the “Dial-a-Ride” services that supplement the regular system. That service seems the best way. With Cincinnati's hilly terrain for example, how would the handicapped reach the bus stops? How far would they have to go to reach a "regular" bus stop? How far must they travel when they get off? What happens in chilly, stormy or snowy weather? From the bus service's standpoint, how do buses keep schedules? How many areas on a bus would have to be cleared for handicapped equipment? What would be the costs? How would those costs be met? APTA officials say their policy is to recommend that local services do what is best, considering their terrain, climate, resources and needs -— always in consultation with the community served. Metro’s Access has had its troubles meeting the needs of the handicapped. Last year, the demand was so great that the handicapped had to wait for as long as a week before they could schedule a ride. Although the problem has been helped somewhat, Metro’s officials frankly agree that it is not ideal. Improvement is needed. The handicapped must have freedom of movement. The question is, what is best for them and what is possible? The problem won't be easily solved. More bus service is needed in many areas of Greater Cincinnati, and with the cut in federal funds, money will be hard to come by. But Cincinnati's coalition of the handicapped has found negotiation preferable to confrontation. Although the coalition is upset about the limitations of Access, it still sees co-operative decisions as the wisest course. And it is. Together with Metro, they must find a practical answer to their needs. - ADAPT (135)
The Denver Post 7/8/90 [This article continues in ADAPT 138, but the entire story has been included here for easier reading] Perspective Access for the disabled: Cost vs. benefit Photo by RTD staff: A smiling African American man in a manual wheelchair, wearing a beret and with a sports coat over his lap is being helped to board a city bus by the driver, who is behind him. In front of the lift a woman stands waiting to board. Caption reads: A LIFT: The President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities was given a demonstration of an RTD lift during its 1987 convention which was held in Denver. By Al Knight Denver Post Perspective Editor Now, while the Americans with Disabilities Act is awaiting President Bush’s signature, would be a good time to reflect on what has been learned by this city's experience in attempting to provide full wheelchair access to public transportation. Assuming the president signs the bill as he says he will, public transit systems all over America will have to begin purchasing new buses equipped with wheelchair lifts, as well instituting a variety of other steps designed to enlarge employment opportunities for the disabled, improve services in state and local government, enlarge public accommodations, and create a national telecommunication relay service to aid the blind and deaf. Critics of the bill have argued that the nation is embarking upon a program without the vaguest clue of what its ultimate cost will be. In many ways, the dispute is a duplication of what took place in Denver in the early 1980s as the Regional Transportation District developed its policy on how rapidly to expand wheelchair access. There were a number of protests in which disabled residents in wheelchairs disrupted RTD service and were arrested. The protests were particularly disturbing for all concerned — RTD, the drivers and the police. The sight of an abled-bodied police officer toting away a wheelchair-bound citizen is not the stuff for law enforcement scrapbooks, nor is it the kind of publicity designed to attract bus riders generally. In 1982, the RTD board, which then was an appointed body, voted against equipping 89 new buses with special lifts capable of handling wheelchair passengers. That vote set off the protests. An elected board took over in 1983 and one of its first acts was to reverse that vote and authorize the purchase of the lifts at a cost of well over $1 million. At the same time RTD struggled with the issue of whether to retrofit existing buses with lifts, and in 1985 resolved it with a resolution that it would buy lifts for all new buses, but not pursue a retrofitting program. There had been a history of mechanical problems with some of the lifts, and on more than one occasion a lift would fail, dumping the wheelchair passenger in the process. In 1982, then Gov. Dick Lamm refused to go along with a proposal by the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, which was demanding wheelchair access to “all U.S. public buses." Lamm suggested in a speech to the American Public Transit Association that such a policy might result in rides costing $600 each: “If America can't say no to a system that costs $600 per ride, we don't deserve to continue as a great nation.“ But as they say, that was then, this is now. Just last fall, RTD was awarded a special citation for having "the finest accessible bus service in the nation." The award came from the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Indeed. it is beyond dispute that RTD has in some respects led the nation. Its experience in developing its current fleet of buses was the prime example used by congressional supporters of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition, it is a fact that RTD was the first agency to order its over-the-road buses equipped with lifts. Until RTD's first order, these larger vehicles had been built without lifts. The RTD program hasn’t been accomplished without significant expense. It has cost about $8 million for the lift equipment and millions more for parts, maintenance and training. But the latest figures show per-ride costs are far below the $600 figure mentioned by Lamm. The lifts cost about $13,000 a copy. Because the life of a bus normally is calculated at 12 years, this works out to a little more than $1,000 a bus per year. To this must be added the maintenance cost, which has been dropping each year. As recently as 1985 the cost of maintaining an individual lift was $1,798. This year the average is just over $500. Even without the retrofitting program rejected by the board in 1985, RTD has managed to increase greatly its percentage of lift-equipped buses. In 1985, only 54 percent of buses were so equipped. This year 81 percent are. In recent years, disabled ridership has gone up sharply. In 1982 it was just over 9,000 wheelchair boardings, but last year it reached an estimated 45,000. According to RTD figures, the per-ride cost may have reached $80 in 1984, but with the increase in ridership and the drop in maintenance cost, the cost per ride now has dropped to about $19 a ride, according to the latest calculations. What is not known is how many of Denver’s disabled community actually are served by the lifts. In the mid-1980s, it was estimated that only a few hundred wheelchair-bound residents were regular bus riders. Even as RTD has fitted new buses with the lifts, demands for its HandyRide service have continued to increase. This door-to-door service is available to both the elderly and the handicapped. Some of its wheelchair passengers could be served by regular buses, but many others are unable to get to the bus stop and therefore require the HandyRide service. Precise calculations aren’t available, but it is estimated the cost per ride for using the van service is about $50. Lamm, contacted this week, said he basically hasn’t changed his position on the issue. He said the $600 figure he used in 1982 was based on the experience of the St. Louis bus company. “To govern is to choose," he said, "and I don't believe this nation should make every bus wheelchair-accessible. Should the handicapped be provided transportation? Of course, but it should be provided in the most cost-effective way possible.” Lamm mentioned the expensive elevator system that is a part of the Washington, D.C., subway system as an example of a method that isn't cost-effective. The Denver experience does indicate that the costs of accommodating the wheelchair-bound citizen may not be an endlessly upward spiral. But the key indicator that needs watching is the number of passengers using the service. The taxpayers, the RTD board and staff members clearly have done their part. The wheelchair service is now available on nearly every bus, yet ridership has flattened out. The estimate of 45,000 wheelchair passengers for 1989 is just a few hundred higher than the 1986 level. More persons must be encouraged to use the service. Now that maintenance costs are down, the only way to decrease the still-considerate per-ride cost is to increase the number of passengers using the lifts. The most compelling case the disabled community can make for greater access is to demonstrate an even higher usage of the existing facilities. Highlighted Text: Even without the retrofitting program rejected by the board in 1985, RTD has managed to increase greatly its percentage of lift-equipped buses. In 1985, only 54 percent of buses were so equipped. This year 81 percent are. Photo by The Denver Post/Duane Howell: A slight woman in a wheelchair is being escorted out by two uniformed and one plainclothes police. She is telling one of the officers something and they are all listening with slight smiles on their faces. Behind this group a man in a wheelchair is following, escorted by another police officer and behind them three other policemen stand guard. Caption reads: PROTEST: An unidentified demonstrator at the Regional Transportation District office was escorted out during a 1982 protest over the purchase of new buses. - ADAPT (129)
Rocky Mountain News RTD pleases disabled, reports wheelchair lifts on buses to be fixed By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer A Regional Transportation District committee voted unanimously Tuesday to fix the wheelchair lifts on 127 buses, ending a week of heated showdowns that led to the arrest of three disabled protesters. Amid cheers from the demonstrators who twice last week blockaded downtown buses, the transit directors reaffirmed RTD's policy that much of its regular service be handicapped-accessible. “lt was all emotional," RTD chairman William Rourke said of the events preceding the compromise. “Everyone kept reinforcing perceptions and speculation, rather than getting down to cases." The confrontations started last Thursday when three members of the militant handicapped-rights group ADAPT were arrested by Denver police for rolling their wheelchairs in front of buses along 17th Street and East Colfax Avenue. Mike Auberger, George Roberts and Renate Rabe face fines of $250 apiece or brief jail terms if convicted in Denver District Court next month for causing traffic hazards and disrupting a government agency. They were among 20 handicapped demonstrators protesting a Feb. 12 decision by RTD’s planning committee to delay fixing the balky electrical systems on 303 buses. RTD officials said the repairs would cost $753,059. With lifts on about half of its 750-bus fleet, RTD is one of the nations most accessible public transit systems. This winter, however, electrical and mechanical problems have made the lifts so unreliable that disabled passengers said they frequently suffered frostbite while waiting for an accessible bus. Handicapped protesters originally wanted all 303 broken lifts fixed. They relented Tuesday when RTD officials explained 176 of the buses with broken lifts would be retired next year. Fixing those lifts would be a waste, officials said. “If we had our druthers, we would like to see all of the lifts rewired," ADAPT spokesman Wade Blank said. “But those 127 (that will be fixed) are going to be around for 12 years, so we accepted in the interest of compromise.” Blank said the protests were sparked by rumors that some RTD officials wanted to scrap all of the wheelchair lifts and replace them with door-to-door vans. ADAPT members consider such “dial-a-ride” service“ to be unconstitutional because it would be separate from regular bus service. Rourke said two of the five bus manufacturers bidding to replace the 176 buses heading for retirement would include wheelchair lifts. RTD is required to accept the lowest bid. Rourke declined to comment on what RTD would do if the low bid does not include wheelchair lifts. - ADAPT (118)
The Denver Post, Metro section, Tuesday Jan. 5, 1982 2 PHOTOS, The Denver Post / John J Sunderland: First: Through bars that look a bit like the ropes in a boxing ring, a man in a wheelchair (Mark Johnson) sits, chin resting on his hand, and looks on thoughtfully as a police officer writes something on a piece of paper on a surface in front of them. The officer is leaning forward almost over Mark, and Mark looks calm and very thoughtful as he watches. Caption reads: Mark Johnson, 30, was one of two protesters cited Monday at Regional Transportation District offices. He later left and was not charged. Second photo: In a brick covered room, a person in a wheelchair has his back to the camera and facing a man who is blocking his way. The man standing faces the camera and points toward it. Caption reads: Bob West, Regional Transportation District director of security, tells demonstrator he won't be allowed to obstruct business. Bus Plan Protesters Chain Selves By GEORGE LANE, Denver Urban Affairs Writer Wheelchair-bound protesters chained themselves to stairway railings and blocked the main entrance to local transit offices for about 90 minutes Monday until police removed them from the building. Two persons were cited for trespassing as 13 disabled persons in wheelchairs and about an equal number of attendants and supporters participated in the protest at the offices of the Regional Transportation District. Spokesmen for the group vowed they will return today. The demonstration was organized primarily by members of the Atlantis Community for the disabled and Wade Blank, co-administrator of Atlantis, to protest a decision by the RTD board of directors not to put wheelchair lifts on 89 high-capacity, articulated buses slated to be added to the RTD bus fleet in 1983. RTD officials allowed the demonstrators access to the building at 1600 Blake St. about 11 a.m. and raised no objections as the protesters held a press conference. During the press conference RTD was accused of reneging on a promise and violating the civil rights of the disabled by not ordering the lifts on the new buses. Following the press conference, “out of order" signs on two elevators foiled the group's plan to stage a sit-in at the third floor offices of L.A. "Kim" Kimball, RTD's executive director and general manager. “Kimball is as accessible as his buses," remarked one of the demonstrators. A brief scuffle occurred about 11:20 a.m. when Blank and several attendants attempted to carry three wheelchair occupants up a spiral stairway to Kimball‘s office. Mike Hughes, an RTD security officer, blocked the trip up the steps. The three wheelchairs with their occupants eventually were chained and padlocked to the handrailing of the stairway. Two more wheelchairs later were chained and padlocked to the landing of another stairway. The front entrance to the building was then blocked by five or six motorized wheelchairs as about a dozen policemen waited across the street. Capt. Bill Brannan ordered the demonstrators to leave the building. He then said those refusing to leave the building would be cited and ordered to appear in court it he believed they understood what they were doing. When the policemen and paramedics entered to evacuate the building, only Stephan Saunders, 31, and Mark Johnson, 30, would give their names to police. Both men were given misdemeanor citations for obstructing a government operation and obstructing a public passageway. The charges against Johnson, however, weren't filed because he later decided to leave the building voluntarily. - ADAPT (61)
Dallas Morning News 2/4/86 PHOTO: A small woman [Cathy Thomas] in a motorized wheelchair sits on a sidewalk above a curb. Her legs are extended and she is wearing an ADAPT T-shirt under her jacket; her face is determined. On the side of the curb, which runs the width of the picture, is stenciled the words "this curb is illegal." Caption reads: Cathy Thomas, a member of the ADAPT organization, stops in from of a freshly painted curb in Irving that her group says is not accessible to people in wheelchairs. [Headlines] Group protests curb construction [Subheading] Advocates for disabled say work violates Irving ordinance By Mercedes Olivera IRVING — Members of a support group for the disabled staged a protest Wednesday against recent sidewalk construction and repairs along Rochelle Road that do not provide curb cuts for wheelchair bound citizens. Armed with a can of red spray paint, five people from American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, or ADAPT, sprayed four recently repaired curbs with a stencil-lettered sign reading, “This curb is illegal." In recent weeks, Rochelle Road has been resurfaced and had curbs torn out and replaced, city officials said. "This curb is a clear-cut violation of their own ordinance," Dan Thomas, president of the Handicapped Association of Texas, said as he pointed to a recently poured curb. He accompanied his sister, Cathy, who must use a wheelchair. Group members said they have monitored the city's compliance with its ordinance, adopted in—1981, requiring that curb cuts and barrier-free ramps be included in all street construction. Sandy Cash, assistant city manager for development services, said the issue revolves around “what constitutes ‘maintenance’ and ‘new construction’ " of city streets. He said the ordinance was meant for streets in new subdivisions, not for existing thoroughfares. But "anytime we come in and have to remove a (large portion of) sidewalk and curbing, as a general rule we install a curb cut," Cash said. The city staff is looking to the City Council for direction on this issue, he said. He said city staff members have been preparing information on the cost and number of curbs torn out and replaced last year. The information will be given to City Council members, but Cash said he did not know when the report would be completed. However, Thomas said ADAPT members have become frustrated by what he called the city's slow response to their requests. “We ‘have never before asked that old barrier structures be rebuilt," Thomas said. “But now we are asking that all curbs placed since 1981, which are not in compliance, be replaced." - ADAPT (49)
Rocky Mountain News Wednesday morning April 6, 1977 [Headline] Jeffco health chief says new tests show higher peril from Flats plant 4 PHOTOS FOR THE NEWS BY TIM SPANGLER: First photo (top left) is of a man in a dark jacket (James Chidlaw) standing and tipping over another man (Dennis Wilcox) in wheelchair; his right front and back wheels are off the ground and the standing man is holding the back of his chair. They are in a parking lot with a large white building behind them. In the background other people are standing or walking in the distance. A woman standing near them watching has her hands up. The man in the wheelchair (Wilcox) has a big beard, glasses and a hat with a brim. He is wearing a striped shirt, and the woman in front of him has bell bottoms on. His chair appears to be a motorized wheelchair. Second photo (top right), a man (Chidlaw?) in a dark shirt or jacket is on the ground and two other men are reaching downward in his direction, possibly pushing or holding him down. One of them appears to be wearing a work uniform while the other has on a hat with a feather, a turtleneck and bell bottoms. In the background other people seem to be approaching. Third photo (bottom left) shows the man with the feather in his hat and another person starting to lift the man (Wilcox) in the striped shirt up from the ground. His wheelchair is not visible. Another man (Wade Blank) appears to be talking to the man in the dark jacket (Chidlaw) who is now standing. Meanwhile the man in the work uniform has one hand on the jacketed man's back. The fourth photo (lower right) shows a small crowd of people. A man in a dark shirt (Chidlaw?) has his hand up one finger pointing while Wade and the man in the work uniform watch. Something is happening in front of them but it is hard to tell exactly what. Wilcox's arm in the striped shirt is visible from behind someone else, somewhere between ground and wheelchair heights. [Subheading] Demonstrator encounters rough going Parking lot manager James Chidlaw, upper left, pushes handicapped protestor Dennis Wilcox off his lot during demonstration at Denver's federal office complex Tuesday. Wilcox felt to street and fellow demonstrators...(not legible)...law to ground. At bottom, Wilcox is helped up while other protestors angrily....Chidlaw, who later was cited for assault. Incident preceded an all-night sit-in at the federal office building. Story another photo on page 6. - ADAPT (208)
The San Diego Union March 2, 1986, page A3 The West [section of newspaper] Drawing of Mr Louv's head: White, youngish, short dark hair parted on side and glasses. [Headline] Transportation news for handicapped ‘a nightmare’ By Richard Louv The WHEELCHAIRS are rolling. On Jan. 16, in Dallas, handicapped demonstrators decrying "taxation without transportation," chained themselves to public buses, forcing traffic detours for nearly six hours. In downtown Los Angeles, last Oct 7, more than 200 people in wheelchairs rolled down the middle of Wilshire Boulevard to protest the policies of the American Public Transit Association. In San Antonio last April, 60 handicapped people staged a four-hour protest at the city's public transit offices, causing 90 nervous bus company employees to lock themselves in their offices for an hour until the transit association agreed to meet the demonstrators. And on Feb. 13, Houston police arrested eight demonstrators in wheelchairs and carted them off to jail in lift-equipped police vans. Their sentencing is tomorrow. and a representative of the Denver-based American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit told me that if the protesters “spend weeks in jail, it will be like when Martin Luther King went to jail in Birmingham. People will realize we're not just out playing in the street" What's going on here? The disabled~rights movement isn't new, of course. It began in Berkeley in the late 60s, and ultimately resulted in a government shift from segregating handicapped people to "mainstreaming" them into the rest of society. According to Cyndi Jones, publisher of San Diego-based Mainstream, a national magazine for the “able-disabled," some of the first generation leaders "got co-opted by government jobs, and frustration for the rest of us has been growing." A raft of laws were passed during the 1970s, but the laws. says Jones. still haven't been fully implemented. “The Rehabilitation Act promised disabled people equal access to public transportation facilities and education and employment. In education. the news has been good, but transportation is a nightmare." IN 1981, CONTENDING THAT putting lifts on buses was an unrealistic expense, the American Public Transit Association sued the federal government and won. Most cities stopped deploying the mechanical lifts that enable people using wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to board buses. The favored transportation method, at least among municipal officials, became small, subsidized "dial-a-ride" vans. "That's like putting us back in segregated schools," says Jones. The disability groups have a number of other complaints, some of them affecting many more people — lack of housing, attended care, airplane facilities. But what it has come down to is the symbol of lifts. While some disabled people are satisfied with the dial-a-ride approach, Jones says "taking a van service can cost you $60 to get to work and back. You have to call and reserve a ride — sometimes days in advance, and these services can't always guarantee a specific arrival time or even take you home. As a result, a lot of us can't afford to work, or we just stay home." California still requires lifts on all new buses, but Jones contends that the transit companies can develop some creative delaying tactics. Roger Snoble, the San Diego Transit Corp.'s general manager, agrees with her. "Some cities," he says, "don't care whether the lifts work once they put them on. They just let them go, and then say the lifts don't work." Jones, by the way, gives relatively high marks to San Diego's bus system; not so to the trolley. which she calls “miserable for handicapped people." As she sees it, a new generation of leaders in the disabled~rights movement is just now coming of age. They have some powerful opponents —— with some powerful statistics. Jim Mills, chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, has pointed out that in Los Angeles the average cost per ride of the various dial-a-ride systems “is $6.22, while the costs associated with a one-way trip on a bus for a person in a wheelchair is $300." And in a recent interview, Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm told me, "I think it is a myopic use of capital to try to put a lift on every bus in America. It costs the St. Louis bus system $700 per ride to maintain lifts." But Roger Snoble says it costs San Diego far less — $166 per ride (as of a year ago, "the last time we checked, and we expect the cost to continue to decline because of dramatically improving technology." And when I mentioned Lamm's figures to Dennis Cannon, the chief federal watchdog for the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Transit Compliance Board, he said, “Lamm's figures are at least six or seven years old, and wrong. These same figures get used a lot by lift opponents, but they're based on one of the very first generations of lifts, which were poorly administered and poorly installed by St. Louis during one the worst winters in Missouri history." He points out that Seattle, with one of the best bus systems in the nation, has managed to get the per-ride costs down to $5 or $10, depending on the amount of ridership. And Denver has decreased its lift failures from 25 a day to five within the last year. WITH ADVANCES LIKE this, combined with the increasing demands from disabled groups, a number of cities have decided that the lifts make economic sense — maybe not in this decade, but soon. "What's about to hit is a wave of people who expect to have equal access, the children of the mainstreaming movement," says Jones. During the past decade, government and society encouraged disabled people to work independently, and now that generation will be at bus stops and trolley stations all over the country, waiting to go to work. With them will be aging baby boomers, a giant crop of potentially disabled seniors. "Only one~third of the disabled population is employed. but two-thirds of disabled people are not receiving any kind of benefits," says Andrea Farbman, a spokeswoman for the National Council on the Handicapped. “Still. we're spending huge amounts of money keeping people unemployed — $60 billion dollars a year, but only $2 billion going to rehabilitation and special education." One rough estimate, says Farbman, is that 200,000 handicapped people would enter the work force if the travel barriers were eliminated. adding as much as $1 billion in annual earnings to the economy. The tragedy is this: While politicians wrangle over the costs of bus lifts, nobody has studied how much money could be saved in government benefits, and how much could be gained through taxes and added national productivity if more handicapped Americans were employed. - ADAPT (201)
San Antonio Light Wednesday April 24, 1985 Front page Street Final [1?]04th year, No.93 The Largest and Best Newspaper in South Texas [Headline] Disabled Block Buses 50 protesters in wheelchairs clog downtown S.A. traffic. See Below. PHOTO by Roberta Barnes, San Antonio Light: On a city street a bare-chested man (Claude Holcolm) in a power chair sits in front of a GMC city bus blocking it. On Claude's left a man in a manual chair (Joe Carle?) rolls toward the back of the bus. On Claude's right a man on a scooter rolls down the other side of the bus. Inside the windshield of the bus is a sign that says "APTA." Caption reads: Stopping The Bus: Three Wheelchair-bound protesters block the path of a bus downtown as part of a protest over access for the disabled. - ADAPT (193)
The San Diego Union, Sunday, February 10, 1985, B-4 PHOTO by United Press International/Paul Richards: 11 people in wheelchairs sit facing away from the camera, beside a Trailways bus. The group includes Bob Conrad who is closest the bus door, and Beverly Furnice who is closest to the camera. They are looking at Wade Blank, who stands beside the bus and it looks like Mike Auberger is addressing the group. Caption reads: A dozen members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation block departure of this Trailways bus after a member was refused a ticket. [Headline] Wheelchair-bound stop Trailways bus By Ric Bucher, Staff Writer Claude Holcomb tried to take a 4:15 pm. Trailways bus from the depot on State and C streets to Los Angeles yesterday, but he was not allowed to buy a ticket. There were only two passengers aboard, but Holcomb is confined to a wheelchair. Trailways buses are not accessible to people in wheelchairs. “I have a friend in L.A.,” Holcomb spelled out on a homemade message board he uses to communicate. “I have to fly from L.A. to Hartford, Conn., tomorrow.” Holcomb lives in Hartford. Shortly before the bus was due to depart, Holcomb, 24, along with 11 other members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT), hemmed the bus in with their wheelchairs and refused to move. Police officers arrived at 4:35 p.m. and told the group that they were breaking the law by obstructing traffic and trespassing. The ADAPT members will appear at the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) meeting this morning. They have been granted 30 minutes to air their plea for both wheelchair-accessible transit buses on both local and interstate lines. Twenty of 29 San Diego Transit bus routes have wheelchair access, but no such equipment is in use on intercity or interstate public buses. Joe Carle, an ADAPT community organizer in Denver, parked his wheelchair in front of the bus and tilted back his black felt cowboy hat. “This may seem like it’s drastic,” he said, “but it’s the only way to open people’s eyes. ... What good is it if a person has to stay in a one-block area?” Similar demonstrations were held recently in Denver and Washington, D.C., in conjunction with scheduled APTA meetings. Carle said the attitude toward the disabled seems to be “we'll do everything we can to keep you alive, but we don’t want you around.” He said ADAPT was specifically focusing on Trailways and Greyhound Bus Lines because they are owned by companies who manufacture their own buses, yet refuse to construct them to accommodate wheelchairs. The bus driver and two passengers, Michael Calloway, 23, and Claude Williams, 26, got off the bus and waited inside the depot. “I think they (the disabled) have the right to board the bus,” Calloway said. Williams nodded his head in agreement. “It throws us off schedule, but I’d like to see something done about it (bus access for the disabled). I don’t think it’s right for them to (delay the bus) but I understand. Sometimes it takes a little push and shove to get things done." Able-bodied Wade Blank organized the group's meeting at the bus station. Blank is one of the six founders of ADAPT. Two years ago, he adopted Heather, a 14-year-old girl confined to a wheelchair, and married her mother. He described the attitude toward the disabled as “just another ‘ism’ — paternalism. It's just like racism and sexism.” After police told the group they were breaking the law, Mike Auberger, spokesman for the wheelchair group, asked to speak with the manager of the terminal, Fred Kroner, who was summoned from his home in Chula Vista. Kroner spoke with Auberger and his group at the door of the bus. He was asked to set up a meeting in Denver with Trailways’ national representatives. “For what?” Kroner asked “To talk about making these buses accessible," said Auberger. Fifteen minutes later, Kroner said he could reach no one, and gave Auberger the phone number of Roger Rydell, vice president in charge of public relations at Trailways’ Dallas headquarters. The group let the bus leave. “I won't be satisfied until these buses are accessible,” Auberger said, “but this is the first step in the process.” - ADAPT (184)
San Antonio Express News, 4/22/85 Photo by Express News: A woman stands (Doris Rae?) behind an older man in who is seated (Frank McColm). Both are yelling, their faces full of passion. caption reads: wheelchair protesters [Headline] Disabled blast transportation, Protest inaccessibility by Gary Martin, Express-News Staff Writer About 50 disabled rights activists from across the nation rolled through downtown San Antonio streets in wheelchairs Sunday, protesting inaccessible public transportation for the handicapped. The group of protesters, American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT), headed the march into the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is holding a five-day conference. Chanting “We will ride" and “Access now," the group presented a resolution to APTA officials, asking for support of federal regulations that would force local communities to install wheelchair lifts in all public transportation vehicles. Jean Stewart, spokeswoman for ADAPT, said the group wants 100 percent accessibility to all public transportation nationwide and accused APTA of segregating disabled riders by not supporting federal regulation of the industry. “To us there is no difference between riding a different bus and riding in the back of a bus if you’re black,” said Stewart, a resident of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. A San Antonio marcher, Rachel Rodriguez of 7180 Oaklawn Drive, said she was forced to ride VIAtrans vans in San Antonio because buses were not accessible for handicapped patrons. “You feel like your rights are violated,” she said. “lt‘s not a matter of riding in the back of the bus, it's a matter of not riding at all.” The group met wit APTA officials only after refusing to leave the Hyatt registration desk. Defending current policies of APTA, Vice President Jack Gilstrap said each community should have the opportunity to design its own system for its own particular needs. "There is no place for federal regulations,” he said. Gilstrap also accused the ADAPT group of trying to take away “this wonderful system" that has increased its service to disabled riders by l0 times over the past few years. Hecklers attacked Gilstrap and the VIA Metropolitan Transit System saying the convention site, San Antonio, had the worst accessible public transportation system in Texas. Although no VIA officials attended the rally, General Manager Wayne Cook said the local system contains 20 vans that carry 9,000 disabled riders each month. Cook said VIA purchased the vans instead of placing lifts in its buses after a committee representing the disabled requested the special access vans. At a cost of $1.2 million, Cook said the local system will spend four times more for disabled riders than the federal government requires. “We are very dedicated to serving the handicapped in San Antonio," he said.