Red Rock Journal, Community College of Denver, vol.1, number 2, April 12, 1977

HEW Occupied
Disabled Demand Rights
by Jim Walker

Will the forgotten minority finally be heard? Last Tuesday about one hundred and fifty disabled people gathered in front of the Federal building to demand their rights by protesting the delay of the signing of a bill by Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Califano. Between bursts of chanting and sign waving, several disabled participants lodged verbal protest against the delay.

Ingo Antonisch, the executive director of the Mayor's Commission on the Disabled along with Don Galloway, the executive director of the Governor's Advisory on the Handicapped were also there to voice their discontent. Lyle Peterson, master of ceremonies, lead the group in the chanting of "We Want our Rights," while converging onto a downtown street. Clad with wheelchairs and crutches and a stretcher they continued to hold up traffic for about fifteen minutes until Denver police came to break it up.

During the detainment of downtown motorists, one parking lot manager, James Chidlaw, started to detour traffic through his lot. In doing this, he came in conflict with a demonstrator named Dennis Wilcox. Chidlaw allegedly assaulted Dennis, throwing him out of his wheelchair. The manager was later cited in county court for two charges of assault.

The crowd then proceeded to block the halls of the HEW regional offices on the 10th floor of the Federal Building, where Wade Blank, director of the Atlantis Community, and the participants of the rally demanded that a call be placed to Washington and the conversation be put on the portable intercom system. Califano supposedly was unable to talk at that time and passed the buck on to one of his assistants, who in turn told the angry group that the secretary intended to sign the bill after he had read it carefully. Ingo Antonisch then got on the phone and said, "We hear the message but we want to see the action."

Nearly four years has gone by since Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act was made into law in 1973 under the Nixon administration. The handicapped have fought secretary after secretary under Nixon and Ford and are tired of being shoved around.

“It takes $25,000 minimum price to rehabilitate a person from a spinal cord injury, yet we are thrown out into society and left there to hang and dry with our guts in the wind," said one angry protestor.

The law when it takes effect, will grant the same rights as racial minorities and women as it does for the disabled. There is another rally scheduled for the 29th of April at the State Capitol. Perhaps there will be more than one person in attendance from Red Rocks Campus.

PHOTO by Stephen Jalovec: A sign that reads HUMAN RIGHTS FOR DISABLED fills most of the picture, and below the sign are several people in wheelchairs.
Caption reads: Handicapped persons staged an overnight protest demonstration in the offices of Health, Education and Welfare at the Federal Center downtown last week. Another demonstration is scheduled for April 29.

Created on

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Posted on

Saturday 20 February 2016

Tags

504 sit-ins, Atlantis Community, CO Governor's Advisory Committee on the Handicapped, demographics, Dennis Wilcox, Denver, Don Galloway, HEW - Health Education and Welfare Dept., Ingo Antonitsch, Lyle Peterson, Mayor's Commission on the Disabled, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - section 504, Secretary Califano, union, Wade Blank

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