Chicago Tribune, Wednesday
Chicagoland

PHOTO by Tribune's Val Mazzenga: People in wheelchairs are lined up in the street along a curb, facing into a building with white square columns. People in business attire are on the sidewalk. Beth McDaniel, Sherri and Tim Craven are among those on the line. Behind them in a scooter and tiger strip cap is Walter Hart.
Caption reads: Protesters from American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today gather Tuesday outside the American Medical Association headquarters, 535 N. Dearborn St. Several arrests were made.

Title: Wheelchair users’ suit seeks access
By Rob Karwath

Two wheelchair users sued the state Tuesday, alleging that tight security measures at the State of Illinois Center have restricted disabled people’s access to the government office.

The U.S. District Court suit, which seeks to be certified as a class action, was filed a day after the state rolled out an unprecedented show of force in anticipation of a raucous protest by a disabled-rights group demanding more govemment funds for home-care programs.

The protesters, from American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) blocked access Monday at 105 W. Adams St., which houses some federal agencies.

On Tuesday, building managers ordered the evacuation of more than 1,000 workers at the American Medical Association headquarters, 535 N. Dearbom St., because of a daylong ADAPT demonstration.

AMA spokesman Arnold Collins said workers in the building were told to go home, starting at 3:15 pm. The building was evacuated floor by floor, and some workers were escorted out of side doors to avoid the congregation of demonstrators in front of the building.

“The building was evacuated so that there wouldn’t be a crunch,” Collins said. “And also because there are people out there who are
trying to stop other people from leaving."

ADAPT demonstrators had formed a circle around the building’s front door in an attempt to block it.

ADAPT spokesman Tari Susan Hartman declined to say where the group would protest Wednesday. But state officials were girding for a
demonstration at the 16-floor state building, 100 W. Randolph St.

The lawsuit, filed by an ADAPT member and another wheelchair user who is not a group member, contends the tight security from the state Department of Central Management Services allows walking people access to the building but deprives wheelchair users of
unrestricted movement. The suit seeks immediate easing of security measures.

The suit’s two named plaintiffs contend they experienced difficulty getting around the building Monday, the first day that all workers and patrons had to ride an escalator to the second floor if they
wanted to catch an elevator upstairs.

One of the plaintiffs, ADAPT member Paulette Patterson, said she had to specially request an elevator ride to the building's basement concourse of restaurants when she wanted to meet her daughter there for breakfast Monday.

Patterson also said that when she wanted to return to the first floor, she had to shout to a Central Management Services police officer on the first floor to come down and get her.

"They have set up a situation where, if you are not in a wheelchair, you generally have to ask permission to go anywhere in the building," said lawyer Matthew Cohen, who filed the suit.

A hearing on the suit is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

State officials declined to comment on the suit, but they have said they are trying to be sensitive to the needs of all people using the building.

State officials contend the extra security, which includes stationing police officers in all elevators and positioning of dozens of barricades outside, will be needed if ADAPT tries to block access to the building.

But in two days of dealing with the extra security, many of the building’s 3,000 workers have accused the state of overreacting. Many also have expressed concern that all wheelchair-using workers and patrons will have to prove to police that they are not protesters before getting upstairs.

On Monday, a wheelchair-using worker from the state Department of Rehabilitation Services reportedly had to show three pieces of identification before building police would let her upstairs.

Also on Tuesday, Gov. Jim Edgar’s Department of Human Rights sent a memo to Edgar's office reminding the administration that it has a responsibility to keep the building open for all who want to use it.

Created on

Friday 12 July 2013

Posted on

Thursday 29 November 2018

Tags

ADAPT - American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, AMA - American Medical Association, barring all wheelchair users, Beth McDaniel, blocking entrances, lawsuit, Matthew Cohen, Paulette Patterson, security overreacting, State of Illinois Center, Tim Craven, Walter Hart

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