THE DENVER POST / NATION

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

[Image]
[Image caption] Associated Press / J. Scott Applewhite. Nadina LaSpina of New York, foreground, and Barbara Toomer of Salt Lake City were among the 400 who protested Tuesday.

[Headline] Disabled protesters meet with Bush aide

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON About 400 people with disabilities gathered peacefully outside the White House Tuesday to protest what they called President Bush's failure to push an agenda to protect people like themselves.

A White House official joined the group outside the gates on Pennsylvania Avenue and said he would arrange to meet later in the day with 15 representatives of the group ADAPT to talk about the president's plans.

"We want to work together," said John Bridgeland, one of Bush's chief domestic policy advisers. "We can have a healthy and good conversation about the issues that are of concern to them."

The demonstrators — many in wheelchairs — lined up against the White House gate passing out leaflets describing their concerns and waving placards that said "Civil rights not special rights," "Our homes not nursing homes" and "Disabled rights now."

They said the president broke his promise to sign by Feb. 1 an executive order to implement the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision.

That decision last year held that states may have to place people with mental disabilities in homelike settings if they can fare just as well there as in state hospitals.

"We want to know what (Bush) is going to say," said Michael Auberger, of Denver, an ADAPT co-founder and organizer of Tuesday's demonstration. "There's nothing that we've seen so far other than he supports the Olms-tead decision. What does that mean? It could be funds, it could be lip service."

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