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.

Created on

Friday 12 July 2013

Posted on

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Tags

accessible transit, ADAPT, Atlanta, President George HW Bush, protest, Richard B Russell Federal Building

Albums

• Atlanta, Fall 1989

Visits

1885

Rating score

no rate

Rate this photo