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Beranda / Album / Tags ADAPT
+ accessible transit 27
ADAPT (561)
Thur., March 15, 1990 Rocky Mountain News GREATER DENVER & THE WEST * 19 Denver disabled keep pressure on at U.S. Capitol By John Brinkley News Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — A Denver-based group of disabled people continued its pressure on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, converging on the office of a congressman whom the demonstrators said was opposed to their agenda. The congressman, Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., was not in. An aide refused to tell them where he was and said he would not be back in his office yesterday or today. Some of the disabled people vowed to camp out there until he returned. Michael Auberger, a 35-year-old quadriplegic from Denver, who co-founded American Disabled for Accessible Transportation, said Shuster had introduced legislation to exempt cities with fewer than 200,000 residents from having to equip mass transit buses with wheelchair lifts. If the exemption were enacted, “you're really screwed if you live in a city of 199,999,” Auberger said. Shuster also sponsored legislation to exempt cities that have “inclement weather," such as Denver, he said. “The transportation system in Denver could say, ‘we're not going to provide any m'ore lift-equipped transportation. We don't have to,’ ” Auberger said. “That's a major issue, because not everybody lives in the Sun Belt." Shuster’s administrative assistant, Ann Eppard, said she could neither confirm nor deny that Shuster had sponsored such legislation, and said the aide who would know was not in, either. The “visit” to Shuster’s office continued a week of often-militant protest by hundreds of ADAPT members, most of them in wheelchairs, from across the country. Their main purpose has been to push for quick passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which would extend a broad range of civil rights protections to disabled people. The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill, 40-3, on Tuesday as 104 of the disabled people were being arrested and jailed for unlawful entry and demonstrating in the capitol. The Senate passed its version of the bill last year. The arrestees, including Auberger, were released later with orders to appear in Court today. Auberger said his group was also concerned about the Bush administration's position that disabled people should not be entitled to punitive damages when filing discrimination suits against businesses that fail to accommodate them. Legislation is pending that would afford them that right, and Attorney General Dick Thornburgh has told Congress that the administration opposes it. “I think it's unfortunate that this administration doesn't want to see disabled rights equal with other minority rights,” Auberger said. Without the threat of punitive damages, “there's no incentive for a business to end discrimination.”
ADAPT (502)
THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE ARTICLE IN ADAPT 492. See ADAPT 492 for the complete story.
ADAPT (559)
Rocky Mtn. News Local Briefs [Headline] Wheelchair-lift issue in court’s lap, lawyer says U.S. Attorney Michael Norton yesterday told a group of disabled activists that the federal government’s appeal of a court ruling on bus wheelchair lifts was out of his hands. Norton appeared before 40 wheelchair-bound members of ADAPT, American Disabled for Access to Public Transit, who had camped several hours outside his 12th floor offices in Denver’s federal building. ADAPT members are angry about an appeal by the U.S. Justice Department on behalf of the Department of Transportation. The appeal seeks to overturn a federal court ruling requiring all local transit buses to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. Thirty protesters were arrested Monday for blocking the doors of the Radisson Hotel, where their target, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, was holding a conference.
ADAPT (493)
PHOTO only Photo by Tom Olin Four police officers lift Mike Auberger, a quadriplegic, from the baggage compartment of an over-the-road-coach. One officer bends over Mike, the officers's walkie-talkie, handcuffs, and gun on his belt. Another wears a motorcycle helmet. Mike's long braids hang down and his arms, bent over at the elbows, extend out to the sides.
ADAPT (518)
The Atlanta Journal AND CONSTITUTION Tues., September 26, 1989 [Headline] Bush Lets Disabled Resume Federal Building Sit-In Protesters Want Feds to Require Wheelchair Lifts By Pat Burson and Alma E. Hill, Staff Writers Transit officials urged to ensure rides to suburban jobs. Page A12. After occupying the plaza floor of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building for eight hours Monday, more than 100 disabled activists were evicted at the close of the business day, only to be allowed back inside after President Bush personally intervened. The protesters, who formed a human blockade near the main entrances to the the 26-story tower about 10 a.m. Monday, vowed to remain until federal regulators require wheelchair lifts on all buses purchased with federal dollars. “We're here until the order gets signed," said Michael W. Auberger of Denver, one of the co-founders and organizers for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). Mr. Auberger and other demonstrators from throughout the country lined their wheelchairs two and three deep near the doorways to the federal building, located at the corner of Spring Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, trying to stop anyone from leaving or entering. Mr. Auberger, who has been disabled since he suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles, a tactic used to prevent security from simply lifting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon, Mr. Auberger, 35, said, “They'll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." DISABLED Continued on A12 [Second part not currently available] PHOTOS (by Greg Foster/Special): Photo 1: A group of ADAPT folks -- including Bob Roberts, Arthur Campbell, Bobby Thompson, and others -- sit and stand in a circle outside the entrance to the Russell Building cafeteria. A man in a yellow jacket holds a large movie camera on his shoulder and a policeman looks on. Mr Campbell talks with another police officer and on the back of his wheelchair Campbell has his trade-mark sign "If I can't do it - it ain't worth doing." In the background, through glass doors, is another room full of people, and some murals on the walls. Photo 2: A woman protester in a wheelchair gets a blanket from a woman who is passing them out. Behind them a couple of other people are visible, as is the dark night street, through the glass walls and doors of the Russell Building lobby.
ADAPT (495)
Thurs., September 28, 1989 Atlanta Journal Photo of Claude Holcomb, a thin man sitting/standing in a motorized wheelchair with a finger raised looking off to the side. On his left thigh is a small wooden letterboard [he uses to communicate]. He sits in front of a Greyhound bus and has an ADAPT flag (a flag that looks like an American Flag except the stars are arranged in the shape of the wheelchair symbol) on a pole tied to his wheelchair. The flag wraps around the bus covering part of the Greyhound dog logo and the name so that only the word hound shows. It appears to be in a bus bay at the terminal. Photo by Andy Sharp/staff caption reads: Claude Holcomb of Hartford, Conn., joins the Greyhound protest with an American flag in tow.
ADAPT (347)
San Francisco Chronicle 9/26/87 Title: 4,000 Transit Officials To Add to S.F.'s Traffic By Harre W. Demoro The executives of North America's 400 transit systems are gathering in San Francisco, worried that their industry is declining and bracing for handicapped people to disrupt their meetings. The handicapped are demanding that all transit vehicles, including San Francisco's historic 37 cable cars, be accessible to wheelchairs, a demand that transit officials say is too costly. The centerpiece of the transit gathering will be a huge trade show, which opens Monday and is expected to draw 15,000 people to Moscone Center. Its 450 exhibits of the latest bus and rail car technology from 15 countries include a gleaming new BART car that is two years behind schedule and has yet to carry a paying passenger. About 4,000 delegates have signed up for three days of technical and professional meetings at the Hilton Hotel, said Jack R. Gilstrap, executive vice president of the American Public Transit Association. Times have changed since Washington-based APTA met here 11 years ago. Then, the Bay Area was a transit showcase and federal officials were promising billions of dollars for a nationwide bus and subway renaissance. Although the San Francisco Municipal Railway has prospered since 1976, the Bay Area's other big transit systems have not done well. After 15 years, the much-heralded $1.8 billion BART system still is plagued by technical and financial problems and has been deserted by 10 percent of its riders in the last two years. BART's general manager, Keith Bernard, has taken a medical leave to escape the pressures running the controversial agency. AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit, two bus systems that were showcases 11 years ago, also have lost riders and are grappling with draconian financial problems. Moreover, the federal government is threatening to cut transit assistance and Reagan administration leaders now point to costly systems like BART as examples of how not to solve traffic congestion problems. Gilstrap, formerly general manager of the huge Los Angeles bus system, said yesterday in San Francisco that he is optimistic that - the next federal administration, no matter what its party affiliation, will be pro-transit. "The nation's crumbling infrastructure must be addressed after the election," he said. The militant handicapped people will demonstrate at Union Square at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, and also picket meetings, banquets and cocktail parties, said Bill Bolte of ADAPT, American Disabled for Accessible Handicapped [sic]. "We are not going to allow these people to have a good meal," said Bolte, who was arrested earlier this year at a demonstration at a transit meeting in Phoenix. Gilstrap said APTA supports federal edicts calling for some vehicles and stations to be accessible`to wheelchairs and for alternative forms of transportation, such as special vans for handicapped people he said.
ADAPT (494)
PHOTO only by Tom Olin Paulette Patterson in a manual wheelchair, Anita Cameron and another woman protester sit on the floor mouths open, all chanting in unison. Anita and the other woman wear ADAPT headbands and have their fists raised in the power sign. Behind them George Roberts and Claude Holcomb are in their wheelchairs up against a a glass door that reads "DO NOT ENTER (with and ADAPT sticker over the center)" and "OUT." George is also chanting, Claude looks off to the side.
ADAPT (501)
Photo Only (By Tom Olin): (Right to left) Mark McTimus, Barbara Toomer, Mike Auberger, Stephanie Thomas, Frank Lozano and Frazier block the front of a Greyhound bus. Mark is on a tiny yellow scooter holding a yellow sign that says "Lifts Not Lies." Barb is in a manual chair and short sleeved shirt holding a camera; her red sign - taped across her legs -- reads "Go Greyhound And You'll Leave Us Behind! Mike has one long braid and a beard and mustache, his hands are on his hips and like all the others he is chanting; his left leg is elevated in front of him on a padded footrest with no shoe, only a sock (this is to protect an injury he got in the LA County Jail). Stephanie is facing slightly away from the camera with several buttons and stickers on her sports wheelchair and overalls. She is wearing blue-rimmed mirror sunglasses and her sign, also taped over her legs, reads "ALL Aboard." To her left Frank stands wearing his backpack and an ADAPT headband. He and Frazier, his white lab dog guide who sits in front of him, have the same noble expression on their faces. Frank's sign which he holds in one hand, reads "We Will Ride."
ADAPT (498)
The Atlanta Constitution For 121 Years the South's Standard Newspaper TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1989 SPORTS FINAL Photo: A tall man holding a toddler in one arm stepping over and between two motorized wheelchairs blocking the passage. One woman [Christine Coughlin] in a red jacket and headband faces the camera, while the other wheelchair user, in a blue jacket and hood, faces away. Photo by DIANNE LAAKSO/Staff Caption: A man steps over protesters in wheelchairs blocking the doors of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building on Monday. Bush Order Lets Disabled Resume Courthouse Sit-In Protesters Demanding Access To U.S.-Funded Transit Systems By Pat Burson and Alma E. Hill, Staff Writers After occupying the plaza floor of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building for eight hours Monday, more than 100 disabled activists were evicted at the close of the business day. only to be allowed back inside alter President Bush personally intervened. Boxed quote on the side: "The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest" -- Gary Cason, GSA Main story: The protesters, who formed a human blockade near the main entrances to the 26-story tower about 10 a.m. Monday, vowed to remain until federal regulators require wheelchair lifts on all buses purchased with federal dollars. “We're here until the order gets signed," said Michael W Auberger of Denver, one of the co-founders and organizers for American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). Mr. Auberger and other demonstrators from throughout the country lined their wheelchairs two and three deep near the doorways to the federal building, located at the corner of Spring Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, trying to stop anyone from leaving or entering. Mr. Auberger, who has been disabled since he suffered a spinal cord injury 17 years ago, and others blocked revolving doors by attaching chains and iron bicycle locks around their necks and locking them to door handles. a tactic used to prevent security from simply lilting protesters out of their wheelchairs to clear the doorways. At one point Monday afternoon, Mr. Auberger, 35. said, “They‘ll have to carry everybody out or arrest them." At 6 p.m., Atlanta police and officers from the General Services Administration, who provide security for the building, ordered the protesters to leave and began carrying them outside. The guards used large bolt cutters to sever the chains holding some demonstrators to the doors. At about 8 p.m., as guards were removing the last of the demonstrators, Gary C. Cason, regional administrator of the General Services Administration, told police and maintenance workers to allow the protesters back into the building. “The decision is to let them stay in the building because of the president's deep commitment to the handicapped and their right to protest," Mr. Cason said. Mr. Cason said Mr. Bush also said he was concerned about the protesters sitting outside in the chilly overnight temperatures and rainy mist. Maintenance crews appeared a half-hour later with blankets. and cots were promised. Mr. Cason said the protesters would be restricted to the lobby floor and would have access to the restrooms. Protest organizers credit White House counsel C. Boyden Gray for Mr. Bush's action. Mr. Auberger said they contacted Mr. Gray, who took their case to Mr. Bush. The president then called the head of the GSA, Richard G. Austin, in Washington, telling him to allow the demonstrators back inside. Mr. Auberger said the group planned to stay in the building overnight and would block the entrances again at noon if the Transportation Department does not order changes in transit-access rules. “At noon the administration has to decide whether or not they are going to arrest us, or we're closing the building do\vn again," he said shortly before 11 p.m., as the protesters ate Chinese food they had ordered and made themselves comfortable in the hallway on the Spring Street side of the building. The protest forced most visitors to the building Monday to use a basement entrance adjacent to an underground parking lot. The demonstration was the second in as many days held by ADAPT, a nationwide organization. The event was held in Atlanta to coincide with the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), meeting this week in Atlanta, and to attract the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who spoke to APTA Monday morning. APTA opposes legislation pending in Congress — that ADAPT supports — called the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposal would remove barriers in public transportation by requiring public transit authorities to have wheelchair lifts on any new buses purchased 30 days after the measure was enacted. APTA officials say they oppose that portion of the measure because it would cut into limited federal funds. While Mr. Skinner has said he supports the bill, ADAPT wants him to issue an executive order so the stipulation can take effect immediately prior to congressional action. Protesters demanded to talk with Mr. Skinner while he was in Atlanta, but Mr. Skinner departed for St. Croix without meeting with them. Robert Marx. a spokesman for Mr. Skinner, said the secretary does not have the authority to issue such an order, only the president. [This is a combination the story on ADAPT 498 and 497]
ADAPT (489)
Daily News, Wednesday, September 27, 1989 Handicapped protesters gain support Photo: A man kneels in the middle of a group of three people in wheelchairs, as they talk. Behind him another man stands looking down. One of the three people in wheelchairs, Mike Auberger, with his braids, is seen from the side; another facing the camera has on a hat covering is eyes; and the third has his or her head down reading a paper in their lap. photo by: JOHN BAZEMORE /Daily News Caption: Steven Diaz, chief counsel for the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, meets Tuesday in Atlanta with protesters to discuss their concerns. The Associated Press ATLANTA — Handicapped protesters who occupied a federal building for two days won a pledge of support from the Bush administration Tuesday, but failed to get their main demand — a federal order requiring wheelchair lifts on all new public buses bought with federal funds. The Department of Transportation “cannot issue a summary order commanding immediate access including wheelchair access for all transit,” said Steven Diaz, chief counsel for the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, who met with the protest leaders. “We would if we could." But Diaz said DOT officials and the protesters had agreed on three points: * Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner will be urged to meet promptly with disabled activists to ensure a “principle of accessibility” until Congress passes the Americans with Disabilities Act. * The protesters will be allowed to continue a “symbolic presence" at the Richard B. Russell building in downtown Atlanta. * Officials will relay to Skinner the protesters’ concern that new rules for handicapped accessibility to air travel are not being drafted quickly enough. "This agreement by no means resolves the problem of access; it just brings us a step closer," said Mark Johnson, 38, of Alpharetta, one of the protest leaders who met with Diaz and other DOT officials. He said he didn't know whether the protesters would leave the building, where they blocked elevators and entrance doors earlier Tuesday. “We may stay here through Thursday, or we may just leave a sticker on the wall. There could be a constant vigil at the building, or we could all leave," he said. The protest by members of ADAPT, or American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation, began Monday when Skinner was in Atlanta to address the convention of the American Public Transportation Association. At least two dozen protesters chained themselves to doors or blocked exits with their wheelchairs Monday. Authorities attempted to eject several protesters from the building Monday evening, but President Bush intervened and let them spend the night inside rather than send them out into the rain.
ADAPT (488)
This and ADAPT 509 are continuations of the story on ADAPT 496. The full text of the whole story is on ADAPT 496.
ADAPT (511)
Gwinnett Daily News [Headline] Bush allows overnight protest [Subheading] Wheelchair-bound demonstrators demand equal access by Pat Murdock, Daily News Atlanta bureau Atlanta — A group of wheelchair-bound protesters were allowed to spend the night in the federal courthouse after President Bush came out in support of their demonstration over the government's failure to help the handicapped gain better access to buses and airports. Building security had been attempting to evict the estimated 150 demonstrators when a personal call from the president altered those plans around 8 p.m., said Gary Cason, a spokesman for the General Services Administration. “These people have an inherent right to demonstrate and a right to demonstrate in this building," he said. "They're free to stay here all night or as long as they wish." The demonstrators had staged a daylong protest at the downtown high-rise building and were being evicted by security when the president called. Members of the General Services Administration security force began evicting the protesters one-by-one when they refused to leave the Richard B. Russell federal building at the close of business. There were no reports of any arrests of the demonstrators, who staged a similar protest Sunday on the opening day of the American Public Transit Association Atlanta conference. During their eight-hour protest, the demonstrators blocked the street level entrances and exits to the building. Some wedged themselves in revolving doors while others shackled themselves to door handles. Members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) said they staged the protest to coincide with the appearance of Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner at the convention. They demanded that Skinner sign an executive order requiring that buses, purchased with federal funds, be equipped with wheelchair lifts to aid the handicapped. Such equipment is not mandatory now. Skinner did not speak to the protesters. The protesters also called for the implementation of a 1986 federal law requiring equal access for the handicapped in airports. "We feel that disabled people are still on the plantation," Wade Blank, a co-founder of ADAPT, said. “They've never been freed." While visitors to the Russell building had to use fire stairs and alternate entrances, the protest only caused minor inconveniences, GSA spokesman Fleming James said. “We‘re concerned with the safety of the people in the building and the building itself." he said. “We had no problem with their right to protest." After the president's call, General Service Administration officials left the lights on in the lobby of the building for the protesters. Prior to the president's telephone call, officials felt less comfortable with moving dozens of wheelchair-bound protesters, some of whom locked hands and clenched the wheels of one another’s chairs. Some protesters dropped to the floor when security officers approached. One protester, who already had been evicted from the building, threw himself in front of a double door in an attempt to thwart the removal of others. “The police are caught in the middle and they try to be as humane as possible." ADAPT co-founder Mike Auberger said. Photo (special photo): Mike Auberger and Bob Kafka sit in a revolving door with kryptonite locks around their necks attached to kryptonite locks attached to the revolving door handles. Mike faces the camera wearing his war braids, a coat, and an ADAPT bandanna headband; his arms are crossed in his lap. Bob, to his left, wears a fishing-type hat with an ADAPT bandanna and a thick sweater. Bob looks off to the left. Caption: Wheelchair-bound demonstrators chained themselves to the door of the Richard B. Russell federal building in downtown Atlanta Monday.
ADAPT (497)
This is a continuation of the story on ADAPT 498. The full text appears on 498.
ADAPT (621)
PHOTO (by DIANNE LAAKSO/Staff): A tall African American man dressed in a casual clothes and carrying a baby in his left arm is extending his right leg forward to step over two people in wheelchairs who are attempting to block a glass doorway which is open. The man and the child have calm expressions and are looking down. The man holds the arm of one of the people in wheelchairs who is facing away from the camera. This person has a bumper-sticker on their battery box that reads "End USA Apartheid" and this person has both arms bent at the elbows and raised and is dressed in a warm jacket over a hoodie. To this person's left is a woman (Christine Coughlin) sitting with her wheelchair facing the first wheelchair so her feet touch the other chair's wheel. Both protesters look somewhat tense and rigid. On the back wall of the lobby is a abstract mural. Caption reads: Members of ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation block the doors of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building this morning as they protest lack of accessibility on public transportation. The protesters want Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner to sign an executive order requiring any bus purchased with federal money to have wheelchair lifts. [Headline] Handicapped Protesters Block Russell Building In Demonstration Over Transportation Access From Page Al [we do not have the first part of this article. Also, the bottom of this page is torn so parts of the 6th paragraph and last 2 paragraphs are missing.] agrees to their demands. Sen. Sam Nunn‘s office, which is located in the federal building, was asked to relay a message to Mr. Skinner, who was at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel, that his presence was wanted. In the meantime, protesters, using bullhorns and their strongest voices, shouted “What do we want? We want Skinner!" This morning a protest followed a demonstration Sunday in front of the Hilton Hotel as the convention started, Stephanie Thomas, a spokeswoman for the group ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), said the protesters were angry over the transit group's continued opposition to federal legislation that would prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. The protest was timed to coincide with the opening of the convention of APTA, a trade group representing a majority of public transit systems in North America. The bill, known as the Amer[icans] with Disabilities Act, would [make it] illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations, would assure those with speech or hearing impairments of special equipment allowing them to communicate with anyone and would remove barriers in transportation. It is the latter part that upsets the members of APTA. “We assume it will become law, and if it does we'll implement it," said Albert Engelken, APTA‘s deputy executive director. “But that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it." Mr. Engelken said he does not want to sound cold-hearted, but with shrinking federal transportation funds it sometimes does not make sense to use those funds to install seldom-used wheelchair lifts on buses. “We're not harsh people, but our job is to offer the most people the most mobility for the best possible price," Mr. Engelken said. Ms. Thomas said her group does not expect the transit systems to refit all their buses immediately. nor make all the train stations immediately available to the disabled, ' “We realize it's a longtime goal, and we're willing to wait. We know the costs involved," Ms. Thomas said as other members crowded around. "All we're asking for is a commitment that they‘re willing to do these things, and they won't give us that." The Sunday protest, which closed part of Courtland Street, lasted about four hours and was watched by nearly as many police officers as there were pro[testers.] Police Maj. W.W. Holley [... ar]rests were made. ADAPT member [...] to hold Sunday [...] Holley said n[...] issued. The gr[...] protests in oth[er...] years. TEXT BOX INSERTED IN MIDDLE OF ARTICLE reads: The Americans With Disabilities Act would make it illegal to discriminate against disabled people in employment and places of public accommodations and remove barriers in transportation.