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A 16 Year-Olds Most Exciting Experience In Montreal

My name is Tisha Cunningham; most know me as Tisha Auberger, or Babs and Mike’s oldest daughter. I have been protesting for disability rights since I was 9. (Yea, I’m the first ADAPT kid). And I would like to share my most exciting experience in ADAPT. So here goes.

You know, I was only 16 years old, so I don’t remember everything; I am only telling what will NEVER leave my memory.

It was early in the morning and Uncle Wade and Molly were calling us to get in the van, we were going to Montreal, Canada. We got to the airport, got on the plane, and thank god I got to sit with my Uncle Mel, he was the coolest. A few hours later we land and as usual there was Mom ready to pick us up.

Now, the driving, let me tell ya, I would never drive there, I will have to say at many points, my Mom was a hero with driving. Strangely I was pretty happy that I was not old enough to drive yet, or at least I thought I wasn’t. We were leaving one of our hits, folks were being arrested and Mom tells me to go with Molly… I get everyone loaded in Uncle Wade’s van (as usual he is off to jail with my Dad). Molly has never driven a van, and I am asked to drive. NO!! There is no way I am driving, not in this country. So I helped guide Molly in driving a van. She did a good job, but I am glad it was her and not me.

Now the most memorable hit, to me, was at night, at the hotel were APTA was staying, and that night they were having a party or something going on. I will never ever forget that night.

I was so tired of doing homework, and my Dad comes in. Mom and him tell me that we are going to sneak to our location in just a few hours, I need to get ready, and make sure I grab my coat. They then tell me that it is going to be really cool; we are waiting for dark, taking the alleyways and sneaking up on APTA at their hotel. At some point on the way, we are going to split up. Mom is going in through a side door that Uncle Wade got to stay unlocked, and Dad and I are going in through the front doors. We are going to shut this hotel down from inside and out. At that point, I am soo hyped.

The time comes. We are so quiet, I never thought ADAPT could be this quiet. 1 block, 2 blocks, we are almost there. Dad turns and looks at me “Tisha, when we get there, I want you to stay behind me, and keep up”. My heart is beating so hard, I think it is going to pop out. I see the hotel. A couple of folks have gotten in. The bellmen with luggage carts are now blocking the doors. They think that is going to stop us. Dad screams “Tisha grab my chair… Come on… Push, Push”.

I’m pushing my Dad’s chair as hard as I can…. My heart is racing so hard, I can’t see anything or hear anything… Get my Dad in!! That is all I can think about now…. BOOOOM… I DID IT, I DID IT, we are in. “Did you see that Dad, they looked like bowling pins”. Wow, I got him in. Not long after, the police start to arrest. Hey there goes Uncle Bob. Bye Aunt Stephanie. See ya Dad, love ya. Uncle Frank gives me Frasier. Wait, not Mom.

“Take Frasier, stay with the group, go straight to our room and don’t leave, everything will be ok honey, I love you.”

“I love you too Mom”. Ok, so I thought, “I can do this, I am 16 years old, I don’t need anyone to baby-sit me”.

After about an hour, off we went. As we walked I made sure Frasier did his duties, and went straight to my room. I remember thinking, hey, this is kind of cool, here by myself. A couple of hours of watching TV, talking on the phone with my boyfriend and playing with Frasier

I was ready for bed, so I thought. The phone rings, I thought it was my Mom letting me know she will be back soon. Nope, it was some lady telling me that my Mom and Dad are going to be in jail for a while and there is a chance that Canada’s Social Service is going to take me. I hung up. Now at this point I was most definitely freaking out. And at that point, yes, I was crying to a dog. Let’s put the cherry on top of this Sunday, I hear noise at the door, can this night get any worse?

Hey, it was my Mom, and thank god. I had never been soo happy to see her. At that point everything was all good again. What a beautiful smile on her face, and that hug, yes 16 years old, and Mom’s hug felt sooo good, warm and sooo safe at that moment. I told Mom everything that happened. She felt bad that I had to go through that, but assured me that I was fine and NO ONE was taking me away.

Lot’s of other stuff happened as I am sure you figured, more actions, more arrest, you know a typical ADAPT action, but I just wanted to share with you the most exciting memory of mine. And that is my story of my most exciting experience as a 16-year-old protester in Montreal, Canada.

Sparks Nevada – Next to Reno, Sparks was the site of the Western Regional APTA convention. In those days we mostly traveled by vans and the Texas vans would meet up with the Denver vans and we’d collect a few more as we went along. Sometimes we had as many as 14 or 18 vans in a row. A few folks couldn’t stand it and would go on ahead, but most of it was like a long wagon train. Every stop (gas, bathroom, whatever), Wade would let whoever wanted to, get out of their vans. It took forever! It was like the clown car at the circus. We Texans had the opposite theory and just passed urinals around.

Going to Sparks, we stopped in Salt Lake City. Rosemary Rendon had set up a meeting, but we could never find the location despite hours of searching.

Once in Reno we stayed at a casino at the edge of downtown. A beautiful mountain was our backdrop. Mike, whose foot had been badly injured in the LA County jail several years earlier but had never really healed, had it propped up sticking straight out in front of him but he was ready for bear, as were we all. We were here to confront those who stood directly in opposition to our goal of access to mainline buses, and integration into society.

First we marched from our hotel to the APTA convention casino. The police tried to intimidate us by arresting the folks at the front of the march from the start but it didn’t work.

Ed Roberts had come, he drove in a van behind the march.

We tried to enter or block their hotel but the police were blocking us. They would pull us away, but we would simply wait till they left and then return to the building. Jerry Eubanks and Tim Baker, Julie Farrar, Barb Toomer, ET, Lillibeth Navarro, Diane Coleman, Tom Olin and many more were there. It was like an act of sacrificing ourselves for the freedom and liberty of those who would come behind. We would just try again and again.

Arthur Campbell, as usual, wound up on the ground among the legs of the police. Everyone was chanting at full volume. Eventually some police bigwig showed up with a bullhorn and an interpreter in tow (that was first for us, interpreting the arrest announcements). The usual announcements were made: “if you do not disburse… you will be arrested…”

We were taken away in – accessible school buses. We always found it ironic, they could make these school buses accessible, but not mainline buses? Get real!

We were arraigned that night. The police tried all kinds of psychological tactics to break our spirits, even accusing us of faking our disabilities. We were broken into groups to go into court. I was in the second group; waiting just outside the courtroom while the first group was arraigned.

Suddenly the courtroom erupted in what sounded literally like a zoo brawl. With baboon whoops, clattering, clacking monkey sounds, howling, braying water buffalos, and indescribable howls. Everyone in our group looked at one another mystified.

It turned out later that the Judge had given ET (an African American with a very street demeanor) a much harsher sentence than the few others who had gone before him. In an effort to make sure he would not be alone, a desperate strategy of disrespect was adopted and folks like Mike Auberger and Bob Kafka were using terms like “your Honor, and I use the term loosely…” It worked as we all wound up sentenced to between 27 to 29 days in jail!

We responded with a hunger strike but we didn’t know what we were doing.

Divided up, we were put in with the general population in cell pods, where the cells on two floors, ringed a 2 story central area where everyone ate, hung out, and watched TV or whatever. We didn’t have money and smokers were jonesing for cigarettes.

They talked about taking away our wheelchairs, but luckily never did. Anita was not given her seizure meds until she had several seizures. We tried to advocate for her with limited success. We were forced to take showers and forced to be assisted by the trustees, which wound up having something of an assault quality to it. We hung in there by sticking together; it was quite beautiful though trying.

We heard Diane Coleman (not in our group) had gotten sick from not eating and was sent to the hospital. Barb Toomer urged folks (very sensibly) to drink fruit juice and plenty of water. Soon others began to feel sick too. Anita’s seizures weren’t helped by the fast either. We had a meeting with our lawyer and I suddenly threw up all over him – most embarrassing. They took me back to my cell and I threw up all over it as well – to the disgust of the trustees who then had to clean that up.

The powers that be were beginning to freak with our illness. I was ejected from the jail “to go to the hospital” but really I was just dumped outside the jail. Luckily Babs had learned about this and came to meet me.

Tim Baker, a quad with quite significant CP, had been taken directly to the hospital where they were trying to cure his spasticity with a device that closely resembled a floor wax buffer. He found it humorous, fortunately, and we were able to spring him too since their cure was not working.

By the end of perhaps the 2nd day the jail was fed up to the gills with us and sprang everyone. We learned there that there are 3 separate bureaucracies involved: the cops, the courts and the jailers – and the 3 don’t get along all that well.

There was one more day of the conference and we didn’t want to let that day go to waste, so we headed back to the APTA convention. The police had erected cement barricades around the Casino (John Asquaga’s the Nugget) so there was not enough room for wheelchairs to fit through. We realized if we got out of our chairs and crawled we could get in. It was a big deal controversy in our group because of course everyone could not crawl. But since it seemed the only way, we did it. It freaked the police out to no end.

ADAPT COMES TO PHILLY

Philly meets ADAPT on May 1, of 1989 and I was there! ADAPT came to Philadelphia to support attorney Tim Cook in the very important case regarding our right to ride public transportation ADAPT vs Burnley. This case was being reheard by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. ADAPT wanted to remind everyone involved with this case that it was a civil rights case for disabled people to truly be free they had to be able to get from a to b.

Not everyone from ADAPT could make that Action since there was very little notice, but even with the short notice there was quite a good turn out. There was representation from California, Colorado, Washington, DC, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Disabled In Action gave a lot of support to this Action as did Cord who brought a lot of people from Massachusetts.

Friday the ADAPT protesters gathered at the Federal Court building, after only four protesters got inside the building the security officers blocked all the entrances. Thus, the negotiations began. ADAPT was told that Attorney General Thornburg was on a plane and could not be reached. Finally after sometime passed and they knew we meant business they came back and told us that they found Mr Thornburg and that he would be willing to speak directly to us. In that meeting people felt that he was visually moved with how important this was to the disabled community. Carol Marfisi was among the ADAPT people who participated in that meeting.

Saturday other Philly members joined ADAPT in attempting to board buses that did not have a lift. ADAPT members crawled on buses, others chanted, held signs and blocked buses after about one hour the police came by and asked us what would it take to get us off the street. By this time we had blocked three lanes of traffic. We agreed to leave if that could get us some media and they went off and tried to get the news to come out and see what we were doing.

Sunday the sun shined as we got ready for our March and Vigil. Many of us dressed in revolutionary garb, wigs, the three-corner hat, and long dresses. Lori Eastwood, Babs Johnson and Diane Coleman had made a flag just like old glory but the stars formed the international access sign.

We marched from Independence Hall as its bells rang at 4:00 pm on the eve of our historic case. We marched through cobbled streets chanting: “Access is a civil right,” and “We will ride.” We march for justice; we knew we could not lose. We formed a circle around the Liberty Bell. We listened to the history and when the building closed we shared are own stories about the struggle for transportation and Mark Johnson read the Declaration of Independent for Disabled People. We started to chant again and we planned to do our vigil at the liberty bell; but we where forcefully removed by the police.

This did not stop ADAPT. We instead slept in front of the Federal Building, and in the wee hours of early morn, we could be found grilling some hotdogs and watching ourselves on TV. It got very chilly but as we listened to the story we realized that we wanted to be on every ADAPT Action from now on. ADAPT folks where cool and nothing would stop them from getting the word out about are rights. I knew “we would ride” with ADAPT on the case. All night long the media folks kept coming and our stories were all over the news.

That night Cassie, John and I slept out with ADAPT. We vowed to support ADAPT in all their future actions.

Tim Cook did a great Job in court and many more advocates from Philly joined to hear the case in the morning. This was an important case. The cap on spending was removed so it was possible to make public transportation accessible, an important step in getting access in public transportation.

Back then our dream was to get on the bus and now we do ride! Tim Cook was ADAPT first Lawyer, we all miss Tim. He worked here in Philadelphia and Steve Gold was a mentor. Often they worked on transportation cases together. We as disabled people look back at Tim Cook’s life and realize that much of his early adult life was spend working on our right to ride public transportation and he also worked on access cases. He had a National law practice committed to disability cases in Washington DC.

I started to get involved in the disability rights movement (DRM) back in January of 1989.

Before joining the DRM, I was involved in the Labor movement. I spent three years as a full time volunteer with Cesar Chavez and his United Farm Workers Movement (UFW). Being with the UFW opened my eyes to the many social injustices that poor people face. I was able to witness the oppression, classism and racism that people suffer just because they are poor and have different skin colors. I spent 14 years working at a General Motors stamping plant in Chicago and was very active with the United Auto Workers. Within the autoworkers I witness racism and discrimination against women and other minorities. It was a painful struggle to have to fight not only General Motors (a giant U. S. Corporation) but also the UAW union that was supposed to be there to protect me instead of persecuting me.

Jim Charlton, a quad friend of mine that I met during my labor movement days, recruited me into the DRM. Soon after I joined the DRM in Chicago I met Rene David Luna, Mike Ervin, Larry Biondi, Ana Stonum, Paulette Patterson and Chicago ADAPT. I immediately fell in love with Chicago ADAPT. This was an ACTION group like no other! Before going to Atlanta in 1989 for my first national action, I was involved in several local actions with Chicago ADAPT; we took over several federal and local transportation offices including Greyhound, the most popular over the road bus line.

I was very excited when we first got to Atlanta; it blew my mind when I first saw hundreds of disabled folks gather at one common place to fight for one common cause: The choice and freedom to ride the bus.

I don’t remember where all of us met before the action, but what I clearly remember is people yelling and chanting when their cities or states were mentioned during roll call. I thought the roof was going to tear off its walls when ALL of us chanted in unison after the roll call. My heart beat so rapidly that I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. And with all our strength and loudest voice Rene and I led everyone in chanting: “El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido!” I remember a young woman joining our chant with all her passion and mighty voice, she was Anita Cameron.

I remember meeting some local leaders that I continue to respect and admire very much, Eleanor Smith, Mark Johnson, Bernard Baker, Pat Puckett…I also met Wade Blank for the first time. We spent the whole day educating ourselves on the issue, which was “Accessible transportation for all! Pass the ADA now!

Our action at the Federal Building has been one of my most memorable events. I remember it was a cloudy and rainy day, security had blocked all doors but a few of us managed to get in and we immediately spread our selves out and about the building, we went around trying to open doors from the inside so that others would get inside the building, in less than an hour later more then 200 of us were inside the federal building chanting and blocking the doors with chains and chairs, trapping federal workers inside. Security tried in vain to keep the doors open by placing little wooden doorstoppers to keep the doors open. However that was a joke (we brought them home as souvenirs). When the doorstopper didn’t work, they tried to stop chair users by nailing 2x4s on front of doors that was another joke. I remember Bernard from Atlanta flying over the 2x4s in his chair.

When the wood stoppers and the 2×4 didn’t work, I remember security folks placing huge concrete planters to block us from going to other floors and hallways but our scooter and motorized chair users easily cleared them out of our way.

I remember one very angry civilian telling Rene Luna that he should be gassed, and another civilian told a policeman that he wanted to make a citizen’s arrest, and wanted Mike Ervin arrested.

Security immediately shut down elevators and shut off any access to all the upper floors trapping some of our people on different floors. Thanks to security cameras we were able to spot some of our people and got them out from other floors. The last person we found was Rene Luna, he was hiding from security on the 7th floor unaware that the feds had surrendered the building to us.

After hours of the take over, we heard that the White House (Bush Senior) had sent word not to arrest us and to let us stay the night. Federal police brought green army blankets to more then 200 of us that chose to stay the night.

Early the next day we heard the blades and the motor of a helicopter that landed near “our” building. Some suits came out to negotiate with our leaders.

Word got back to us from our leaders that the president was committed to support passage of the ADA. On July 26, 1990, now a historical date President, old man Bush signed The Americans with Disabilities Act and Title II of the ADA covers accessible transportation.

It was October 1, 1990 and the first National Action on our new issue: FREE OUR PEOPLE. No longer would activists with disabilities hold back the anger felt about our brothers and sisters being locked up in institutions, used as cash cows and forgotten. We were determined to change all that and I was there in Atlanta Georgia where we let the federal government know that there was a battle going on to redirect 1/4th of the Medicaid funding to assist people to live in there own homes. And us ADAPT Activists were the foot soldiers.

The Target was Dr. Louis Sullivan, Secretary of HHS, we were forced to take extreme measures since he ignored our phone calls and letters. Two Hundred activists, many in wheelchairs, headed to Morehouse College historically known to support civil rights of all people. Also it was where Dr. Louis Sullivan had founded a medical school when he was the College President.

ADAPT wanted President Leroy Keith to support ADAPT’s redirection demand. We explained that we need Attendants’ in the community not incarceration in Nursing homes. Oddly enough, he didn’t seem to take us seriously and all he offered was a referral to meet with the regional Director of Medicaid. This did nothing to support our position. So with 60 ADAPT members inside and about 140 surrounding the outside of the administration building, we decided not to leave. The ADAPT members on the outside sent food, battery chargers and other stuff that was needed to the people inside the building and we remained strong for 42 hours. The college staff left while we were there and were quite shocked to find us there in the morning. Now the problem really was how we get out of here!

What we decided was to try and get the students to support our position and many of us took off to the cafeteria where we could freely talk to the students. Meanwhile the ADAPT people on the outside had left early Tuesday morning to hit the Georgia Health Care Association (GHCA), which was the local nursing home lobby; pretty much making the same demands and not getting very far. In fact, they were locked out of the building, but took control by surrounding it and shouting: “Just like a nursing home, you can’t get out.” At Morehouse College some of us were working hard to convince the students to support us so we could come together again with all our folks.

Finally, after a lot of us working to convince those students that we didn’t want to destroy their college or damage its reputation. That we just want to be free to live in the community, just like most of them already did and that this could only happen if we got attendant care services into the community. A decent number of Students decided to support our position and we joined a press conference together. And off we went to join the other action.

Well, The GHCA Director Mr. Watsen refused to discuss are demands, he tried to escape with the police. As the police accompanied him to his van he found we already had it surrounded. He was forced to take a ride home with the police and ADAPT decided to withdraw.

Luckily Dr. Louis Sullivan was on a talk show. Some of our members called in with our position on what needed to happen so disabled people could get attendant services. Sullivan made it quite clear he supported states rights. I guess it was okay for us to continue as cash cows.

The last day we marched in Unity down Martin Luther King Drive to the B Russell Federal building. People Honked in support of ADAPT. Once again we found locked doors so we blocked off entrances. We were warned to get off or face arrest. It took three hours to arrest 60 of us. They brought in MARTA buses and filled them with us. The Judge did arraignments right on the bus and dropped us off at the hotel. I partied all night with my new friends.

It is amazing when you look back because we have already won a quarter of the Medicaid funding. Now all we have to do to get more then we dreamed of in the beginning: to get the Community Choice Act passed. Many people are already free because of our push. The people United cannot be defeated.

Will you be there when we win this one?

FREE OUR PEOPLE.

During the late ’80s and early ’90s, I was working on a grant project that involved posting information on an electronic bulletin board (the old BBS you may remember, pre-internet). My area on the BBS, you’ll be surprised to hear, involved information about self-directed attendant services.

Robin Stevens from Atlantis called me one day in the Winter of 1990 and said she had been reading some of my postings on the BBS and that ADAPT was focusing on this issue and that I should come to their next gathering in Baltimore. I swear she didn’t say “action”, “protest”, or “demonstration” or anything like that. Anyway, Robin and I talked for a bit and she said that the folks of ADAPT were like-minded with me and that I would like meeting everyone at the event or gathering. I agreed to come in the spring.

So in the spring, Atlantis vans came down I-70 on the way to Baltimore. We put up a banner in the hotel where they were staying and generally welcomed ADAPT with Budweiser and fellowship in Lawrence, KS. I was familiar with ADAPT and the transit actions, but I still didn’t connect that with what I would shortly be attending.

I got to Baltimore in my jeans and sport coat; I still thought it would be some sort of training or workshop. As soon as I arrived at the motel, I knew things would be different.

The motel where we were staying was set up where the doors opened out directly into the parking lot. People had their doors opened, music was boom-boxing; I think there might have been a keg…. This is where I also first met Lucy Guin.

When supper time rolled around I was in Babs and Mike’s room visiting, when I asked what would be the deal with eats, everyone through down money on the bed and we figured out communal food. It felt so warm and sharing and welcoming to a new, shy guy who didn’t know anyone.

The morning of the first day rolls out and we lined up to march…very cool, this was no conference. We get to Social Security headquarters and Wade talks with us a bit and then hands me a radio. I ask, “what do I do with this?”.

He answers, “push the button and talk when something happens.”

I was assigned to stay by the front entrance of the building. You’ve probably seen a picture of the “jail” we built there. The police marched up in parade dress uniforms, snapped on their blue gloves and came up and with their tough cop glare threatened to arrest us!

I really freaked, got on the radio: “Wade, Wade, the police are here with these weird blue gloves and they are going to arrest us.”

He said, “Great, hang in there”.

Since I was brand new, the old timers that were there kept things cool and really shared their solidarity! The police gave me two more warnings, told me we were under arrest and then preceded to turn around and march away down the hill.

During this action, they brought in bulldozers to build a road (ADAPT WAY) out of the parking lots we blocked; we “sat-in” in the middle of a major road blocking off the interstate highway and so on…Incredible!

When I got home from the action, I told my friends that this had been the greatest and coolest experience of my life and that “we have got to do this here at home”. Kansas ADAPT was born and I never looked back.

My early years with ADAPT, probably my third arrest, was in Orlando. Since AHCA (American Health Care Association) was our target and they were staying in the beautiful new Peabody hotel, that’s where ADAPT landed. I remember getting into a little push and shoving incident with one of the hotel security guards who was making sure that none of us were getting anywhere near the front door of the hotel. The pushing and shoving was definitely not a principal of “passive resistance” and I felt guilty about it even though I actually enjoyed the confrontation.

I remember a judge who appeared on a video monitor who sentenced us to five days in jail. He was obviously pissed off and knew enough about ADAPT to know that keeping us in jail might mean fewer of us to bother the Peabody’s AHCA guests. The same judge later reduced our sentence to three days, which everyone believed was influenced by the number and significant disabilities of the arrestees.

Their justice system was not equipped to handle five days with us as their guests.

I believe that there was over 100 of us arrested that day and I remember that they took us to a very large cell after we were arraigned and sentenced to five days in jail. I remember thinking at the time that this was going to be quite an experience for me since my previous arrests had rarely been longer than a few hours. I don’t remember how many cellmates that I had, probably six or eight other women. I think that all of us were wheelchair users.

Little bunk-beds with thin little mattresses lined the walls. We looked at those beds and realized that there was significant risk that we might actually leave this cell with a pressure sore. We told our officers (COs) that we would not and could not sleep on those little thin mattresses. I don’t think that they believed us at first. We figured that they must have consulted the medical staff because before bedtime that evening, a sea of egg-crate mattresses flooded the hallway as we watched from our cell.

Something that had bothered me before during other actions became even more apparent during those three days: The tendency that we have to demonize officers that are obligated to arrest us, and in this case, to provide our personal assistance. Some of my cellmates gave the officers a pretty bad time of it. I remember feeling that it was unfair to the officers who were there to do their job and most of them told us that they had not been adequately trained, and others said that they had no training for the job that they were expected to take on such tasks as: bowel and bladder care, transferring from bed to wheelchair and back again, turning and positioning us in our chairs and in those lousy little beds. I remember talking to some of my cellmates about their interaction and behavior with the officers. Some of them agreed with me; others didn’t.

One thing is for certain, it was a very stressful and harsh experience for all of us and yet it is one that I would not trade.

After awhile we were able to talk with the officers and explain about why we were protesting the American Health Care Association’s convention. We had some good conversations and gave them a crash course in ADAPT and Disability Rights. Many of them got it and promised to support our work. I know that we all learned a lot about ourselves from that experience and I am certain that the officers learned and experienced life-changing insights into our world.

Ah, Chicago! I remember that action well. Chicago is my hometown, and it was the first time in four years that I had been back since moving to Colorado.

On Sunday, a Mother’s Day action was planned, but ADAPT learned that Louis Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services, was in town. We certainly weren’t going to snub the gift that the ADAPT gods had placed before us! Sullivan was in Chicago to give the commencement address to two graduating classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle – which happens to be my alma mater! I was excited to be one of the 30 or so ADAPTers who made it into the UIC Pavilion. We went in undercover, which for us, meant not showing our ADAPT T-shirts. The rest of us were outside leafleting the folks who were going in for the ceremonies.

Once inside, we unfurled our huge banner that read “State Schools/Nursing Homes: Hell No We Won’t Go”. That banner hung across the stage for a while – maybe twenty-minutes or more that I can remember. Of course, the majority of us got kicked out immediately, but a few – Bob Kafka, myself, and a couple of others managed to stay inside. When Sullivan began speaking, we began chanting and disrupting his speech. I remember Bob Kafka and me scooting on our butts down the steps to try to get onto the stage, but we were picked up and booted out.

Later, when it came time for Sullivan to leave, it got tense because we were getting around the barricades that the police had set up. Every time the cops thought they had security set up, there were ADAPTers popping up around and behind their barricades. I thought Spitfire was a goner when she dove under one of those barricades and between an officer’s legs; that cop was SO mad! Eventually, Sullivan had no choice but to dash through a courtyard to his limousine. It had to have been the longest dash of his life!

The next day, we visited the regional office of HHS. Our procession was over two blocks long; it was amazing to see! Once we got there, we were met with the ubiquitous, infamous police barricades. The office part of the building was shut down, but the mall part was open. Since we couldn’t get into the office area of the building, we didn’t allow anyone else to get in either! Finally, about 20 ADAPTers got into the office area of the building and demanded a meeting with the Regional Director of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, it was getting tense outside at the barricades, and we took a couple of street intersections.

At last, the Regional Director met with ADAPT right in the street, and heard from many of us why attendant services is so important, and why we didn’t want to be in nursing homes. After much go-around, she agreed to call Louis Sullivan to set up a meeting, but of course, he refused, as he doesn’t meet with “militants and radicals.” We then took over the entire area for the rest of the day, declaring it a nursing home; no one could come or go without ADAPT’s permission.

Tuesday, we headed over to the American Medical Association’s national headquarters. We marched down State Street, chanting loud and proud. I noticed people in the small apartments along the way leaning off their balconies, chanting with us. ADAPT hit the AMA because they wouldn’t do anything concrete to support ending the institutional bias in long-term care. When we got there, the building was closed (hmmm, I wonder why?), so ADAPT surrounded the building and declared it a nursing home.

As I was helping a new guy to block the intersection, an officer came over to stop us. The young man was spastic, and accidentally kicked the cop, who decided that since I could walk (at that time, I wasn’t using a wheelchair) and talk, that I would be arrested, instead. There were four of us busted: Rona Schnall, Arthur Campbell, Mike Auberger, and me. We were taken to jail, where we spent most of the day.

Wednesday, ADAPT went over to the State of Illinois Building. Illinois folks were facing a crisis in community-based services, which, due to budget issues, were being cut and capped. One of our demands was to meet with Gov. Edgar to urge him to expand, rather than cut services. We held a press conference outside, where local folks told their stories. We then went inside to get to the Governors office, but Security hindered us, so we took over the first floor elevators, escalators, and entrances, effectively shutting down the building. Eventually, about 20 ADAPTers made it up to the Governor’s office, some climbing 16 flights of stairs! Though Gov. Edgar was out of town, he definitely learned about what happened, and felt the power of ADAPT!

ADAPT had come to San Francisco, CA following the American Health Care Association (AHCA) on their convention schedule. They were staying at The Marriott Hotel in Downtown San Francisco. We had marched there the evening of our arrival to give them a warm reception and demanded that they meet with ADAPT and support our cause. We wanted to speak at their convention, telling them that Nursing Homes had to go. We were also chasing after Louis Sullivan, then Secretary of Health and Human Services under the administration of George HW Bush, to redirect money from nursing homes to Community Attendant Services.

They weren’t the only targets that year. 1992 was an election year. Bill Clinton and George HW Bush were running for President of the United States. With the election a mere two weeks or so away, we were trying to get both candidates to commit to working towards redirecting funds to Attendant Services. Both the Democratic and Republican headquarters were targets that week.

I was in the group outside of Republican Headquarters, which of course would not let us in. We surrounded the place, chanting and blocking the entrance to the building. People from a nearby bakery, which baked San Francisco’s signature Sour Dough Bread, not only showed their support by cheering for us but also brought us loaves of warm bread for lunch!

Not too far away, another group of ADAPTers were inside the Democratic Headquarters being served non-committal double speak and cake. Meanwhile, while fêting the ADAPTers inside, one member of the Democratic Party had scrawled HELP US-CALL THE POLICE on a sign and hung it in the window. After getting nowhere with the lip service from the Democrats, ADAPT Chanted, “Cut the cake-cut the crap! Now it’s time to face ADAPT!” I can no longer recall if we really got anything of substance that day from either party.

The following day had us paying a visit to Health and Human Services headquarters trying to get the ever-elusive Secretary Sullivan to speak with us and commit to meeting with us over the issue of redirection. It was a long siege outside of the building. The answer always seemed to be “No” and people were arrested. The police were very rough.

The last day of the Fall Action took place outside of the Marriott where AHCA was staying. We had blocked entrances and made a gauntlet for some of the conventioneers. It became evident that they would not meet with us that day and had asked the police to remove us from their sight. The San Francisco police, who had a reputation for being rough, lived up to their reputation, overturning wheelchairs and dragging folks.

I had decided that day to be arrested. I was sitting in the middle of the street and a particularly nasty officer grabbed me, dragged me up and arrested me. We were taken to a pier alongside the Bay, not far from a toppled highway overpass that had fallen during an earthquake. It looked surreal. I had the honor of being arrested with J. Quinn Brisben, the Socialist Candidate for President that year.

Now, this was the day that Erik and I had decided that we would marry each other at the end of the Action. Somehow, the word had spread to the police that Erik was getting married and one officer had asked him if he was going to be out of jail in time for the wedding.

“I hope to,” he said with a smile. Since I was in this makeshift jail with him, I joked we could have a chaplain come in and marry us. Luckily, we were out of jail in plenty of time.

A few months before the Action, we had asked Wade Blank if he would perform our wedding for us in San Francisco. We had decided on San Francisco since it was the Gay version of Mecca to all Les/Gay People. He had said, “Yes” and we were excited to be married among our community of activists.

Barbara Toomer had seen me earlier and had given me a lovely corsage of yellow roses and white baby’s breath for the wedding. She had to fly home to Utah and I was very touched.

Deciding I was not thrilled with what I brought to wear for the wedding, my best friend Su Ream from Philly and I had concocted a quick plan and fashioned a Wedding Dress (a Grecian Toga Style) out of a bed sheet, complete with veil and an ADAPT headband. Fussing and making sure that the single safety pin that we had was going to hold the dress together, we got ready and waited at the top of the Mezzanine in the Ballroom of the Ramada.

As Disability and Feminist Singer Songwriter Elaine Kolb played a song she had written for the occasion, based on the pun of gender confusion and Queer love, I descended to the shocked and gentle laughter of our people. Wade married Erik and I and along with the assistance of Cassie James, who did an old Irish Handfasting Ceremony, we were wed!

It was such a wonderful wedding to celebrate our love with our friends! Thanks to ADAPT, we had three wedding cakes and enjoyed the night, receiving congratulations from our Community!

Sadly, this was the last wedding Wade would ever perform and the last time Erik and I would see him. Still, our love endures even after 16 years of marriage, this upcoming October 21st.

The May 1993 Wheels of Freedom Action is notable for the memorial program for ADAPT co-founder Wade Blank and his young son Lincoln, who had drowned the previous February; the meeting with Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton; and the ongoing actions and arrests for “our homes, not nursing homes.”

Memorial Program for Wade Blank

ADAPT gathered in front of the capitol to remember Wade. Before being tapped by a nursing home administrator to recruit residents for a new youth wing, Wade had been a minister, a War on Poverty organizer, and a student of the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. At the nursing home he soon realized the young people were living under extreme oppression, and his efforts to reform the system from within were fruitless. He began moving the young people back out into the community, so the nursing home fired him. But his commitment to disability rights became lifelong, and he founded the Atlantis Community and then ADAPT.

Among those speaking in his memory were Bob Kafka, Colorado Representative Pat Schroeder (who years before had brought coffee to the first ADAPT demonstrators blocking buses in Denver), Justin Dart, Laura Hershey, Evan Kemp, Stephanie Thomas and Mike Auberger. Messengers spoke from the offices of Congressmen Major Owen, Tom Harkin and President Clinton. Elaine Kolb and Johnnie Crescendo sang. The program ended with a march to the White House where ADAPT reached through the fence to plant crosses with the names of people who had died in nursing homes. For every formal tribute to Wade and his family, there were many personal ones throughout the week. I remember Carolyn laughing and crying at the same time while telling me a sweet, funny memory from her personal friendship with Lincoln.

Meeting with Secretary Donna Shalala

ADAPT leadership met with Shalala and secured promises to advance attendant services in the new national health plan being crafted by President Clinton, with much involvement from Hillary. Shalala then appeared before all of ADAPT, promising to rebalance power away from nursing homes toward support at home. She spoke of the President’s intention to unveil a health care plan for all Americans that would be available wherever and whether they worked and would not be denied for pre-existing conditions.

“Powerful interests don’t want us to do that,” she stated. Shalala also took many questions from the floor. I remember my pride in my usually quiet friend, Nancy Moulton (now deceased), as she spoke up publicly to sharply criticize the administration’s failure to confront Oregon’s system of rationing health care. Listening to many personal stories, Shalala pledged support and asked ADAPT’s help in lobbying our Congress people to support the national health plan (From the perspective of 2008, we know that Congress, the mega-industries, and their lobbyists completely defeated the health plan).

Actions and New Coverage

ADAPT demonstrated at the White House, at the nursing home lobby headquarters, and filled the halls of the Capitol, where many were arrested. The media coverage was excellent, including TV reports that correctly stated ADAPT’s intent to rebalance the federal funds so that 25% of the Medicaid money would go to home assistance instead of institutions. Beyond local stations, CNN and World News tonight covered the actions. Marca Bristo, Mike Auberger, Karen Tamley, Justin Dart, Laura Hershey, Mark Beckworth, and John Gladstone were among those giving eloquent statements to the media.

But far from the media lights, at another action, in another year, I remember John Gladstone in jail, at 4 a.m. in front of a judge. All of us arrested, questioned one by one by the judge, routinely answered, “yes” when asked if we would now stay away from the hotel where we had been arrested. All except John, who told the judge, “No. I cannot make that promise. I once lived in a nursing home, and I will go anywhere, any, time to keep other people out.”