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Начало / Альбомы / Тег Mark Johnson 27
- ADAPT (997)
The Atlanta Constitution, Local News Wednesday, Nov. 6 1996 c5 Disabled block DeKalb demand in-home care by Michael Weiss, Staff Writer Fresh off a pair of protests that led to promises from President Clinton and U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, about 100 members of a disabled advocacy group spent part of Election Day sitting in the street," blocking evening traffic at a busy DeKalb County intersection. Members of Americans with Disabilities for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), in town for a five-day conference on disabilities and human rights, first arrived at the corner of Memorial Drive and Covington Highway about 3:30 p.m., DeKalb police said. They were still in the street when the polls closed at 7 p.m., police said. The sit-in was ADAPT’s third protest in three days. On Monday, police broke up a 500-person sit-in at Clinton's Georgia campaign headquarters downtown, arresting 86 demonstrators and charging them with trespassing. They were released later Monday. Demonstrators were calling for the president to support programs that would provide in-home care for people with disabilities instead of forcing them into nursing homes. After he was notified by telephone of the protest, Clinton promised that, if re-elected, he would meet with representatives of ADAPT next year to discuss the issue, said ADAPT spokesman Mark Johnson. “Maybe he’s finally going to make good on his 4-year-old promise," said Johnson, of Atlanta. “We sure hope this isn't more political rhetoric.” On Sunday, ADAPT members paraded into Centennial Olympic Park to demand better funding for in-home care. Thirty of the protesters met that day with Gingrich (R-Ga.), who pledged to introduce legislation that would guarantee home-and-community-based services. - ADAPT (719)
Sun Times, May 11, 1992 Photo by Brian Jackson: A line of police hold a long metal barricade in front of them. On the other side a row of wheelchair demonstrators with ADAPT are lined up toes to the barricade. A man in a wheelchair (Mark Johnson) is in the forground looking sideways to the camera, beside him to his left is a small woman in a chair (Cassie James). Three people down another protester (Brian from Houston) faces the camera and is wearing numerous buttons. Another police officer stands behind Mark, with his hands on his hips. Caption: Able to protest Police keep demonstrators in wheelchairs from advancing Sunday alter a protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan's commencement address at the University of illinois at Chicago. The disabled activists were protesting "warehousing" people with disabilities in nursing homes and other institutions. Russell Goode, a Louisville, Ky., member of American Disabled tor Attendant Programs Today, said, “What we really want is Sullivan to reallocate 25 percent oi the money they give lor nursing homes to us and Medicaid or attendant programs.“ The money would enable disabled people to hire attendants, he said. - ADAPT (710)
Chicago Sun Times, 3/13/92 TWO PHOTOS by Sun-Times photographer Al Podgorski: First photo is of a person (Eilene Spitfire Sable) in a helmet and white sweatshirt making a peace sign as she faces off with a uniformed Chicago police officer, over a police barricade. Spitfire faces away from the camera and teh officer's face is somewhat obscured by her hand and the visor on his hat. On Spitfire's back are the words "NEVER SURRENDER." Second picture is of two trim uniformed Chicago police officedrs holding on to the wheelchair and arm of a large man in a manual chair (Jerry Eubanks,) Jerry, who has no legs, is leaning to one side and has his head hanging over. His button down shirt has come mostly open and hs is grimmacing. Behind this trio, a crowd of ADAPT protesters (including Lujuina Votaw) are sitting together, guarded by more uniformed officers. Caption reads: Disabled rights activists keep police busy Tuesday at the American Medical Associatlon building. LEFT: Eileen Sabel of Phlladelphia takes a peaceful approach. RIGHT: A protester is removed after blocking a van that contained an arrested demonstrator. Disabled take home-care protest to AMA's doorstep By Larry Weintraub, Staff Writer ln a third day of protests in support of home care instead of nursing home admissions, disabled rights activists Tuesday disrupted traffic and activities at the American Medical Association headquarters at Grand and State. Four demonstrators were arrested and one was injured. Two police officers were hurt and streets around the AMA building were blocked—first by protesters in wheelchairs and later by police. The demonstrators arrived at about 11:30 a.m. and surrounded the building at 515 N. State, said police Area 6 Chief of Patrol John Walsh. About six hours later, police officers escorted a caravan of wheelchairs south on State toward the Bismarck Hotel, where the group, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), has been staying. In the interim, the activists pounded on windows, shouted slogans, blocked entrances and generally tried to shut down the building. When the AMA began sending workers home at 3:30 p.m., about 20 demonstrators dropped out of their wheelchairs and crawled to confrontational positions. One man, Michael Auberger, 38, of Denver, was charged with battering a police officer. Officials said he rammed his mechanized wheelchair into East Chicago District Patrol Officer Robert Weston, injuring Weston's leg. The injured protester, a 38-year-old man who asked that his name be withheld, was treated for bruises at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and released. The other disabled persons arrested, a man and two women, were charged with disorderly conduct. ADAPT members, about 300 from 40 cities in 25 states, are holding a national convention here. They have been protesting the amount of federal and state funds spent on housing disabled people in nursing homes, rather than on attendants whose assistance would permit them to live at home, according to one spokesman, Mark Johnson of Atlanta. Johnson said his group targeted the AMA Tuesday “because nobody can go into a nursing home without a physician's referral, so they can play a pivotal role in reforming the system." Johnson said the lack of money for in-home care forces disabled people who could get along on their own with minimal assistance “to go on public aid and to live where they don't want to live." In-home care is far cheaper than nursing home residence, he said, and 80 percent of disabled people who live in nursing homes would rather live at home. Joanne Schwartzberg, director of the AMA‘s department of geriatric health, said the association agrees that “home care is the first choice for long-term care" and the AMA has a long history of support for it. However, the organization can only suggest guidelines to its members, she said. “Most disabled persons obviously don't belong in nursing homes." said Schwartzberg, “and we offered at a meeting last Thursday to work with them toward mutual goals—increasing the amount of home care and possibly drawing model home-care legislation for states that have no such provisions." The group demonstrated Sunday at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan was speaking, and Monday at 105 W. Adams. where the department has offices. ADAPT plans to move its protest to the State of Illinois Center today. Meanwhile Tuesday, two women who use wheelchairs filed a class-action federal lawsuit charging that "oppressive" security measures Monday at the State of Illinois Center denied them equal access to facilities there. An emergency hearing on the matter is scheduled for today before U.S. District Judge Milton I. Shadur. Contributing: Jim Casey, Rosalind Russi - ADAPT (323)
Mark Johnson sits against the wall between two elevators. He is in a manual wheelchair and is looking intently down the hall past the camera. On either side of him stands a uniformed police officer. - ADAPT (333)
Photo Tom Olin: A large group of ADAPT protesters line three sides of a open square. A man in a cowboy hat, denim vest and manual wheelchair (Joe Carle) rolls across the middle of the open area. In the foreground a man in a motorized wheelchair (Mark Johnson) talks with someone just out of the picture. In the group around the edges are (left to right): Loretta Dufriend, Gil Casarez, Tom Pugh, Bernard Baker, Renata Conrad, Alfredo Aguirre?, and Greg Buchannan, among others. - ADAPT (684)
The Orlando Sentinel, Thursday October 10, 1991 the best newspaper in Florida PHOTO by Phelan M Ebenhack/Sentinel: Three people (left to right: Frank Lozano, Bunnie Andrews? and Sue Davis) are standing in front of a wall. On the wall a cross with "Nursing Homes Kill" written on it is partially visable, as is the ADAPT flag (an American Flag with the stars arranged to form the wheelchair/access logo). The three are lifting up an old fashioned folding E & J manual wheelchair to hang it on the cross. Frank, who is blind and wears a headband and T-shirt with ADAPT on them, has his hand raised. Caption reads: Frank Lozano and Bunnie Andrews, both of Colorado Springs, and Sue Davis of Louisville, Ky., chain a wheelchair to a cross marked ‘Nursing Homes Kill.‘ Title: Disabled saw their message on many faces by Sharon McBreen of the Sentinel Staff Protesters say they made their message clear this week after 250 activists in wheelchairs converged on Orlando. “It’s almost as though they never felt it before we've gotten in their faces,” Diane Coleman said. “You can feel the impact of that. You can see it in their eyes." The members of ADAPT — Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today — carried a message to the American Health Care Association, which attracted 3,500 delegates to a convention this week at the Peabody Hotel. ADAPT membels want an alternative to nursing home care. And they want to live at home. During the convention, which ends today, ADAPT members tried to block the Peabody’s doors with their bodies and wheelchairs. Police arrested 75 protesters on trespassing charges. The group wants a fourth of the $23 billion Medicaid spends on nursing homes and other institutions transferred to at-home care. “We need to reach the `rank`-and-file members of AHCA and the American public," Coleman of Tennessee said at a Wednesday news conference. At least one convention delegate said he wanted to hear more, she said. Nursing home association representatives have asked ADAPT members to meet with them. But what the activists really want is a national policy giving the disabled a choice, said Mark Johnson of Atlanta. Johnson said the nursing home industry doesn't want to allow the disabled to live at home, because it would lose out on the Medicaid money they receive. Wednesday night's news conference had to be moved from the front of the Orange County Convention and Civic Center to a room in the Clarion Plaza Hotel because police threatened to arrest them, one of the organizers said. Orange County sheriff's spokesman Doug Sarubbi denied that. He said an agreement reached with the judge who released the protesters from jail prohibited them from trespassing on Peabody Hotel property. Sarubbi said the Sheriff's Office was tabulating the time and money — estimated at least $100,000 —- it spent on the protest. - ADAPT (745)
Fourth Wave Magazine (Washington University) [This article continues in ADAPT 729, 721 and 739, but it is included here in it's entirety for easier reading.] Wheelchair Warriors Story and Photographs by Jan Neely Editor's note: Last May, Fourth Wave editorial intern Jan Neely and I flew to Chicago for our first ADAPT demonstration. ADAPT (or American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, as it is more formally known), first took to the streets 12 years ago in Denver, Colorado, to fight for wheelchairaccessible public transportation. Today, with the passage of the ADA securing transportation access, ADAPT has taken on the nursing home industry, institutions and the United States government in an attempt to provide community based personal attendant care and housing to all persons with disabilities in all 50 states. Here’s what happened: ..... Editor Photo: A city sidewalk jamed with wheelchairs and a couple of cameramen standing beside them between parked cars. Larry Biondi is on front right side of the photo. People are basically lined up waiting to move out. Article begins: DAY ONE: ADAPT arrives in Chicago. Its my first demonstration and my first job as a photojournalist. "Click, click" goes my camera. Everybody else may look cool. but I'm shakin' in my shoes. Try to picture 300 people (most in wheelchairs) on the same mission. No pro-nursing home advocate is safe here! I feel as if I've just entered THE ADAPT ZONE! Actually, the first day was mellow and taken up with pre-action planning. ADAPT doesn't have any membership rules or requirements. You just have to believe that people with disabilities have the right to live without putting up with abuse of any kind. I'm real excited because this is the first group I've ever been involved with that has people with all kinds of disabilities, not just developmental disabilities. DAY 2 Here's ADAPT (photo 1) blocking the doors of the auditorium in hope of catching Dr. Sullivan when he leaves. The Chicago police and the Secret Service put up barricades and pushed back the activists. Victoria Medgyesi, editor of Fourth Wave and my traveling buddy, used her press pass to get into where Dr. Sullivan was to ask him some questions. He refused to talk to her about Medicaid, ADAPT or nursing home abuse. PHOTO 1: A line of Chicago police officers face off against a line of ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs who come up to about the middle of the officer's chests. In the forground there is a barricade, but further back they are just right up against each other. PHOTO 2: Three men in wheelchairs (__________, ___________ and JT Templeton sit in an open area in front of a barricade. Behind the barricade is a crowd of people. JT holds a poster that reads "Sullivan where are you?" Article continues... DAY 2 cont. Usually ADAPT doesn’t go around the country crashing graduations, but this one was different (photo 2) Here we are at the University of Chicago where Dr. Louis Sullivan, Secretary of Human and Health Services, is speaking to students who are going to be medical professionals. For the past two years, ADAPT has been trying to talk to Dr. Sullivan about redirecting 25 percent of the Medicaid budget for personal attendant care into a home-based program. But he has refused to talk to ADAPT or to change the rules. As the graduation crowd went in, ADAPT passed out flyers. As l told one person, “What if you become disabled someday? What if your family couldn't take care of you?" As for the police, at this time they just stood back and watched. One of the reasons ADAPT has public demonstrations is to make the public aware of what's important to people with disabilities. Actions like this keep us going to meetings back home even though what we say is usually ignored. DAY 3 The next day we went to one of ADAPT's all time favorite places to "act up": the state office of Health and Human Services. It was only a few blocks away from our downtown hotel. so all 300 of us got in a single line and went for a little walk. Did I say little? Wait a minute. a line of 300 people in wheelchairs plus their supporters? Little? I will admit it was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. ADAPT does not stop when it goes on one of its “little walks." It does not stop for lights, trucks, cars, cops, or anything else. It also goes right down the middle of the street. But that's not to say ADAPT isn't nice, oh no! All along the way ADAPT gave the people of Chicago (who lined up on the curbs to watch as we wheeled and walked by) little gifts of knowledge: flyers with the real scoop on nursing homes. PHOTO 3: Amid a long line of ADAPT folks marching in their wheelchairs, a man (Mark Johnson) in a wheelchair talks with a man (Bill Henning) and a woman who are walking beside him. PHOTO 4: A city street lined by tall buildings, is filled by ADAPT protesters apparently crowded from one side to the other. Several people standing closest to the camera but facing away (Jimmi Schrode is on the far left) raise their hands, thumbs up. Article continues... DAY 3 cont. It was a thrill to watch ADAPT in action. When the whole group got to the Federal building, it was a big mess. We blocked off streets and almost shut the building down. As ADAPT told the police, the media and all the people who gathered; “We declare this building a Federal nursing home... only this time, no one goes in or out without our permission! " The reason many activists do this is because they once lived in nursing homes and other institutions and know how bad those places are. Boy, can I relate. I have mild cerebral palsy and I’m lucky to have always lived at home. But will I always be lucky? I feel that as long as there are institutions, they will be a threat to the kind of life my friends and I want to live. This laid-back looking guy is Mike Auberger. He is one of the original ADAPT activists. ADAPT may look like a bunch of disorganized hippies who lost the map to Woodstock 20 years ago, but the opposite is true. In Mike's backpack is one of ADAPT's three cellular phones and the base walkie-talkie! Bill Scarborough, an activist from Texas, keeps the computer nerds in the know by sending the word out from his laptop computer to computer bulletin boards across the country. ADAPT also has a media person who goes to whatever city ADAPT is demonstrating in several days ahead to let people know whats going to happen. PHOTO 5: A very intense looking man (Mike Auberger) in a power chair is sitting sideways to the camera. Behind him is some kind of vehicle and the ADAPT crowd filling the street. Tisha Auberger (Cunningham) is squatting on the bottom right of the picture. After nine long hours of blocking the building's doors, representatives from HHS finally agreed to meet in the street with ADAPT. It turned into a regular media pow-wow. Activists told the administrators and the media what was needed by people with disabilities. Photo 6: A gaggle of reporters and photographers tightly encircle the Regional HHS Director and several ADAPT protesters (Teresa Monroe, center, and Bob Kafka, right side). Article continues... We talked and they listened, but I have a feeling the concern I saw on those experts' faces was just the same old B.S. All of ADAPT's demonstrations are non-violent, but they are important battles in a war fought by people who are fighting to lead decent lives. The possibility of being arrested did make me nervous. It made me feel a little better when ADAPT told the new people that, if you got arrested, the group would never leave you alone. They said ADAPT would tell the cops your needs, get you a good lawyer, and stay on the outside of the jail chanting so you would know ADAPT was with you. Photo 7: Portrait shot of a man (Gene Rogers) with long brown hair and glasses, sitting in his wheelchair. He is wearing a T-shirt with a larger than life sized photo of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's face and the words "VIOLENCE IS IMMORAL" and a lengthy quote below that is too small to read in the photo. Article continues... DAY 4 As l was getting dressed I thought to myself “Today ADAPT is taking on the AMA." Oh God. what have l gotten myself into? l mean the AMA! The Big Brother of the medical world; the people who are not only in charge of admissions to nursing homes, but who are also in charge of giving prescriptions to people like me. I thought: What if my doctor saw me and did not like what I was doing with ADAPT? Would he stop giving me my blood pressure pills that I can't afford to buy? What would happen then? What about the others? Aren't they in the same boat? I got a lot more out of my trip to Chicago than just a story and a few good pictures. I met some people who are important to the disability rights movement. I felt accepted and I came home with the feeling that together we can really change things. People with disabilities need to keep talking. We need to demonstrate. We need to tell the so-called "experts" the real truth and try not to be too afraid while were doing it. Insert text box: Incitement, Stephanie Thomas Editor. What's happening on the front lines? Read INCITEMENT, the official newsmagazine of ADAPT, and learn the who, what, when, where and why behind today's headline news. Free! To order contact: ADAPT/INCITEMENT 1339 Lamar SQ DR Suite B, Austin, TX 78704 (512)442-0252 Second text insert at end of article: Jan Neely is a photography student at Olympic Community College and an editorial intern at Fourth Wave. She is active in People First of Washington. the end - ADAPT (539)
Spineline (a publication of Shepherd Spinal Center) Photo: A large group of marchers head up the hill on a wide sidewalk winding around a huge tree. At the front of the march people hold large posters, and the ADAPT flag flies proudly over the front of the group a few rows back from the front. People are walking as many as eight across in some places, while in others they are in pairs. Many people are walking, while some are in wheelchairs. The line continues off the back end of the picture. THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE ROLL In March, 20 Georgians took part in a national non-violent campaign in Washington to encourage the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Among them was Mark Johnson, Shepherd's advocacy specialist, and Ellen Broach of SSC's therapeutic recreation department. Thirty-one states were represented in the week-long campaign, during which participants met with the leadership of the House of Representatives, where the act is still pending approval by two committees. In addition to a march down Pennsylvania Avenue (see photo above) and a rally in the Capitol rotunda, participants made personal visits to their representatives to urge support for the act. “It was an extremely successful week," said Mark Johnson. “We touched the hearts and minds of people who are important in the passage of this law, and helped them to understand both the logic and the need for the changes." Not only did the group gain the attention of important lawmakers, the media was not far behind. A story on CNN Headline News highlighted the march, while the entire editorial page of USA TODAY featured articles in support of ADA, with one guest columnist opposing the bill. ADA has received wide support from Democrats and Republicans, and it is expected to be passed by the full house in May. Watch upcoming issues of Spinal Column for a full update on this landmark civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. - ADAPT (445)
DISCLOSURE the national newspaper of neighborhoods Issue No. 112 September-October, 1989 [Headline] American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit On the Road. . . To Equal Access Cover PHOTO: Most of the picture is filled with a long double line of ADAPT folks, with no steps logo T-Shirts, in wheelchairs marching along a street empty of cars. The group is lead by Julie Farrar and Lillibeth Navarro. Both have a sign across their legs; Julie's reads "Together - Not Apart" and Lillibeth's says "Access Equals Gentler and Kinder". Behind them is Larry Ruiz, then Arthur Campbell, then Mark Johnson and behind them is Anita Florum pushing someone in a manual chair. Reverend Willie Smith can be seen further back on the line. [The article that goes with this cover photo is in ADAPT 441 & ADAPT 436, the text of the article is on 441.] - ADAPT (33)
[This is a continuation of the brochure that starts on ADAPT 32. The full text of the brochure is included there for easier reading.] PHOTO by Tom Olin (top left corner): 4 people in wheelchairs (left to right, Joe Carle, Diane Coleman, Bob Kafka and Mark Johnson) lead a march. Everyone is dressed in revolutionary war garb -- wigs, three cornered hats, jackets with braid on them. Over their heads is a large flag, the ADAPT flag. PHOTO (bottom right): An older man (Mel Conrardy) in a white jacket and pants, sits in a wheelchair on a lift at the front door of a bus. To his right on the side of the bus door it says RTD Welcome Aboard. Mel looks relaxed and is smiling. - 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 (107)
August 1982 Early Surveys Show a Positive Response to RTD Accessibility EARLY INDICATIONS are proving that accessible bus routes will attract many disabled riders. According to unofficial count along the major Denver routes there is a 78 percent increase in the number of riders who previously has been forced to shun public transit. “The response is encouraging,” said Wade Blank, director of the Atlantis Community and a longtime proponent for RTD modification. “But it will take a bit more time for the word to spread to some 16,000 Denver residents who use wheelchairs.” At the HAIL, Inc. office, co-proponents in the long squabble to convince RTD officials of the practical aspects of accessible routes, incoming mail and phone calls are revealing gratification and relief from many sectors of the handicapped community. In one of the letters, Molly Henderson writes: “As the mother of a disabled daughter who uses a wheelchair, I would like to thank the members of the disabled community who fought so hard and won the right to ride the bus whenever and wherever my daughter wishes.” Mark Johnson, Independent Living Coordinator, HAIL, Inc., for several disabled residents at the Halcyon House, reflects, “It’s obvious this RTD decision was need and appropriate. Many other similar decisions can also have a significant impact on the quality of life for persons with disabilities.” A disabled bus rider states, “The service is absolutely wonderful. It is more convenient a less time consuming to have busses with lifts. It helps me do my job more efficiently. And, so far, the attitude of drivers and the public is excellent.” Theresa Preda, HAIL’s executive director, says, “We still have a long way to go. I think it is an achievement the disabled community can rightly be proud of. Now, hopefully, this advancement may help indicate to others that there are still many areas that are still inaccessible, needing revision to meet the RTD initiative.” - ADAPT (146)
The Handicapped Coloradan, November 1983, Volume 6, No. 4, Boulder Colorado A Cartoon and Picture Top, Cartoon [signature might be Faniul?]: A bus is seen from the rear and labeled "ACCESSIBLE BUSLINES" and "Dept. of Transportation." Behind it, tied to the rear bumper is a little kids wagon labeled "Special Transit." In that wagon sits a person with under-the-arm crutches, holding on for his life, and his feet in the air as the wagon bounces along behind the bus. Inside the bus, someone who looks a heck of a lot like President Reagan is saying "Wow! Look at that. He's separate but EQUAL!" Bottom, photo by Gary Handschumacher: Shot from below looking up into a dark room, a line of people with disabilities facing forward with two microphones on stands in front of them. Mark Johnson, far left, looks on with the mike right in front of him. Beside him is Renate Conrad. Bob Conrad sits next to her and speaks into another mike. Two other people in wheelchairs are on his other side, the farthest one appears to be Mike Auberger. Caption reads: Mark JOHNSON and Trudy Knutson listen as Bob Conrad tells delegates at the national convention of the American Public Transit Association that the handicapped will be satisfied with nothing less than 100 percent accessibility to public transportation. - ADAPT (118)
The Denver Post, Metro section, Tuesday Jan. 5, 1982 2 PHOTOS, The Denver Post / John J Sunderland: First: Through bars that look a bit like the ropes in a boxing ring, a man in a wheelchair (Mark Johnson) sits, chin resting on his hand, and looks on thoughtfully as a police officer writes something on a piece of paper on a surface in front of them. The officer is leaning forward almost over Mark, and Mark looks calm and very thoughtful as he watches. Caption reads: Mark Johnson, 30, was one of two protesters cited Monday at Regional Transportation District offices. He later left and was not charged. Second photo: In a brick covered room, a person in a wheelchair has his back to the camera and facing a man who is blocking his way. The man standing faces the camera and points toward it. Caption reads: Bob West, Regional Transportation District director of security, tells demonstrator he won't be allowed to obstruct business. Bus Plan Protesters Chain Selves By GEORGE LANE, Denver Urban Affairs Writer Wheelchair-bound protesters chained themselves to stairway railings and blocked the main entrance to local transit offices for about 90 minutes Monday until police removed them from the building. Two persons were cited for trespassing as 13 disabled persons in wheelchairs and about an equal number of attendants and supporters participated in the protest at the offices of the Regional Transportation District. Spokesmen for the group vowed they will return today. The demonstration was organized primarily by members of the Atlantis Community for the disabled and Wade Blank, co-administrator of Atlantis, to protest a decision by the RTD board of directors not to put wheelchair lifts on 89 high-capacity, articulated buses slated to be added to the RTD bus fleet in 1983. RTD officials allowed the demonstrators access to the building at 1600 Blake St. about 11 a.m. and raised no objections as the protesters held a press conference. During the press conference RTD was accused of reneging on a promise and violating the civil rights of the disabled by not ordering the lifts on the new buses. Following the press conference, “out of order" signs on two elevators foiled the group's plan to stage a sit-in at the third floor offices of L.A. "Kim" Kimball, RTD's executive director and general manager. “Kimball is as accessible as his buses," remarked one of the demonstrators. A brief scuffle occurred about 11:20 a.m. when Blank and several attendants attempted to carry three wheelchair occupants up a spiral stairway to Kimball‘s office. Mike Hughes, an RTD security officer, blocked the trip up the steps. The three wheelchairs with their occupants eventually were chained and padlocked to the handrailing of the stairway. Two more wheelchairs later were chained and padlocked to the landing of another stairway. The front entrance to the building was then blocked by five or six motorized wheelchairs as about a dozen policemen waited across the street. Capt. Bill Brannan ordered the demonstrators to leave the building. He then said those refusing to leave the building would be cited and ordered to appear in court it he believed they understood what they were doing. When the policemen and paramedics entered to evacuate the building, only Stephan Saunders, 31, and Mark Johnson, 30, would give their names to police. Both men were given misdemeanor citations for obstructing a government operation and obstructing a public passageway. The charges against Johnson, however, weren't filed because he later decided to leave the building voluntarily. - ADAPT (169)
Rocky Mountain News 10/26/83 Two PHOTOS (by Rocky Mountain News staff photographer David Cornwell). PHOTO 1: Close up of a man (Mark Johnson) and a woman (Renata Conrad aka Rabe) looking down at a paper, as if conferring. She is holding a microphone in her hand. Beside them sits another man. Caption reads: Mark Johnson and Renate Rabe speak at meeting with transit officials. PHOTO 2: Down a long institutional looking hallway a group of people in wheelchairs and people walking head away from the camera. caption reads: After the meeting, some in wheelchairs exit via hotel's freight elevator. [Headline] Freight elevator raises ill will at meeting By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer The dispute over access by the handicapped to public transportation crystallized Wednesday when wheelchair-bound speakers at a transit convention resisted suggestions that they use the freight elevator at the Denver Hilton to reach the upstairs meeting. “They (transit officials) told us to ride up the elevator that will later take down the garbage and trash from your lunch," Trudy Knutson of Denver told hundreds of bus and rail operators at a meeting of the American Public Transit Association. "This was ordered by ... your leadership," she told the transit operators. APTA officials said they suggest using the freight elevator because it is about 20 feet from the banquet hall where the convention was being held. They said lobby elevators were farther away and were packed with many of the convention‘s 3.500 delegates. "They were free to use whichever (elevator) they wanted." said Jack Gilstrap, APTA executive vice president. “The freight elevator is much larger. You can fit only a couple of wheelchairs in a (lobby) elevator at a time." About 50 handicapped persons from ll states and Washington, D.C., attended the convention‘s morning session as Knutson and others called on APTA to pass a resolution endorsing complete handicapped access on all public transit and other demands. Many of the disabled in the audience used the freight elevator to leave the hotel following the presentation of their demands. Gilstrap said it showed that APTA's suggestion was a practical one. However, Knutson and others said the freight elevator issue was indicative of the way many rail and bus systems treat their disabled riders as a nuisance or an afterthought. She said access to public transit is a civil right, a position many transit operators reject. "A society that puts a man on the moon can surely put a person who is in a wheelchair on a bus," Knutson said. The handicapped protesters received a boost from Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who met with the disabled outside the hotel after he spoke to the convention. "We have to design public transit to take care of everyone from (ages) 10 to 100," Young said. According to an agreement signed by APTA, handicapped groups and Mayor Federico Pena‘s office, handicapped activists were allowed limited picketing rights outside the Hilton during the convention and a 20-minute presentation during the general session Wednesday. Handicapped speakers asked for federally mandated 100 percent accessibility and a notice by APTA to bus manufacturers that its members will buy only accessible vehicles. Gilstrap said the group's demands would be referred to study groups and a resolution considered late. APTA has resisted 100 percent accessibility requirement because wheelchair lifts, elevators and other equipment are expensive and the number of handicapped riders is comparatively low. "It's tough to put money into services that aren't used" Gilstrap said. “It's a manager's dilemma. It‘s used so lightly that it‘s almost ridiculous." For example, Gilstrap said the Regional Transportation District is one of the leaders in handicapped transportation with 50 percent of its buses accessible during peak hours and 100 percent accessible off-peak. Yet, in 1982, he said, each of those buses averaged only 25 handicapped trips per year. Gilstrap said special van service where handicapped riders call in advance and get picked up at home is a better, albeit expensive, idea. "At least the money spent is spent on carrying people,“ he said. Denver also offers demand service. The trips-per year average is 1,490, making it far more popular than regular bus service. Handicapped groups believe van service is unconstitutional because it is separate but equal service.