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Úvodní stránka / Alba / Chicago, Spring 1992 51
Datum zveřejnění
ADAPT (698)
Photo by Tom Olin: A policeman stands in the middle of the street legs braced in a wide stance and arms stretched out. He is holding a man with a cane (Gary Bosworth) with one hand and with the other hand and foot trying to hold back a man (Bob Kafka) in a manual wheelchair who is bent forward pushing. Other police officers are standing in the street, a supervisor is watching, as is a TV cameraman. Other protesters are partially visible at the edges of the scene. Chicago police have a black and white checkered band around their hats that is very distinctive.
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A group of ADAPT protesters stand and chant in front of an almost life sized portrait of IL Governor Edgar with flags on eithere side of it. All are Chicago ADAPT members. From left to right they are a woman (Julie___) in a Chicago ADAPT "ADAPT or Perish" tshirt, a woman standing, a man in a wheelchair (Rene Luna) holding a poster that reads "nursing home industry owns Edgar." All three have power fists raised in the air. On Rene's right side is a man (Fred Stark) in an ADAPT tshirt with the no steps logo but Free Our People written across the bottom; it was our transition shirt when we were transitioning from American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit to American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today.
ADAPT (700)
Chicago Tribune, Wednesday May 13, 1992 Chicagoland Three Tribune photos by Charles Osgood and Michael Fryer: 1) Two policew officers hold a double leg amputee (Jerry Eubanks) by his arms as he leans forward in this chair. Jerry has a grimace on his face. Behind them are a swarm of other Chicago police. 2) A woman (Eileen Spitfire Sabel) in a helmet and shirt that reads "I don't get mad I get arrested." She sits cross-legged a top the front hood of a car, her arms outstreched, chanting or yelling. 3) Three policemen look down as an ADAPT protester (Bernard Baker) crawls between them under a police barricade. Caption reads: Protest at the AMA Members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today and others stage a demonstration Tuesday at the American Medical Association, 535 N Dearborn St. Eileen Sabel (top right) wanted to get arrested but failed. Story page 3.
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Title: Protesters hit Illinois center in wheelchairs By Neil Steinberg, Staff Writer Disabled protesters from around the country used their wheelchairs to block access to the State of Illinois Center on Wednesday, the fourth day in their call for state funds to be directed toward home care instead of nursing homes. “The people united will never be defeated," chanted about 200 protesters, blocking elevators, escalators and stairways at the building. “No more cuts.” There was no violence and no arrests, though protesters did scuffle briefly with police outside the governor's office, where they demanded a meeting with Gov. Edgar, who is in Springfield. Government business slowed to a near halt as state workers crowded the rings of balconies at the center, watching the chanting wheelchair activists on the main floor. Although employees could move among the upper floors by using the unblocked exterior staircases, it was often difficult to reach the ground floor. Two employees from the lieutenant governor's office found themselves trapped in a fire stairway when their attempt to take a garage elevator out of the building failed. “They captured the car elevator,” a maintenance man told the two young workers. Swearing, they tried another route. “This is starting to inconvenience me," one said. Tourists and school `groups` visiting the building got a surprise introduction to special-interest advocacy. An architecture club from Reading, Pa., here to appreciate the 16-story curving edifice designed by Helmut Jahn, stopped to reprimand protesters for keeping them off the elevators. State workers, some of whom literally climbed over the wheelchairs of protesters, also put in a word or two. “You are a lawless mob,“ a worker for the Department of Rehabilitative Services told a group of protesters blocking the elevator. “They have a right to protest," the worker said. “They don’t have a right to interfere with our lives." PHOTO by SUN-TIMES /Al Podgorski: A man walks up escalator steps with another man in his arms, as two other men stand on the side of the steps. Below on the floor level, a mass of people in wheelchairs, and a few standing, crowd the entire rest of the scene. Some are wearing ADAPT t-shirts. A security guard stands at the bottom of the escalator to one side. Caption: Joe Potter of Denver carries a men who usually uses a wheelchair up a stopped escalator at the State of Illinois Center on Wednesday. The protest by disabled activists was the fourth in four days.
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[This article is a continuation of ADAPT 707 and the entire part of the article we have is included there for easier reading.]
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Chicago Tribune Wednesday May 29, 1992 Stateville: The State of Illinois Center was on lockdown again Tuesday after reports that “visually-impaired” demonstrators were on the way to terrorize the building. This time state troopers were on hand. "And orders were that no one would be allowed up to Jim Edgar’s office, where disabled protesters last week emptied a catheter into a gubernatorial wastebasket. The precautions weren’t needed. No protesters appeared.
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USA TODAY Wednesday, May 13, 1992 (The nation's newspaper. No.1 in the USA... 6.6 million readers a day) NATIONLINE from USA Today's National News Network Title: Disabled demand services, rights PHOTO by Eugene Garcia. Agence France-Presse: A uniformed female Chicago Police officer is standing, bracing herself slightly as she grabs the arm and armrest of a man (Bill from Georgia) in a scooter. Bill is leaning back away from her and yelling or chanting as the two of them lock eyes, both determined. Behind them is a cluster of other people, in wheelchairs and standing, in the middle of the street looking around. Caption reads - CHICAGO PROTEST: A demonstrator blocking an entrance to the American Medical Association headquarters yells as he is removed by police. Protesters seeking more services and rights for the disabled are demonstrating at various sites in Chicago this week.
ADAPT (705)
Chicago Tribune Photo by Eduardo Contreras: An Asian-American man (Ken Heard) with pulled back hair and large glasses, a white jacket and pale jeans sits in his foot controlled power wheelchair. He blocking part of an escalator, and what he is not blocking, the police officer that is trying to stop him is blocking. The officer's arms are crossed across his chest and Ken has his hands in his pockets. Caption reads: Ken Heard blocks the entrance to an escalator Wednesday in the State of Illinois Center as part of an ADAPT protest.
ADAPT (706)
Chicago Tribune Tuesday, May 12, 1992 Title: State thwarts protest, so disabled switch site By Rob Karwath A threatened demonstration by wheelchair-bound protesters prompted an unprecedented show of force Monday at the 16-floor glass-and-steel State of Illinois Center. The demonstrators instead targeted federal offices several blocks south, leaving 3,000 state workers walking along barricaded corridors and past security checkpoints in the building at 100 W. Randolph St. Workers had to tell uniformed police where they were going. Security guards manned the elevators. A trip from an upper floor to a main-floor coffee shop became a half-hour journey. The preparations were made for a group that has become increasingly militant, with members at times chaining themselves to objects and forming chains of wheelchairs. After experiencing a day of the clampdown, most employees interviewed said they thought the state Department of Central Management Services, which runs the building, has overreacted. “It's ridiculous," said Peggy Craddieth, a secretary at the Illinois Pollution Control Board. “Even during Operation Desert Storm they weren’t this tight.” State officials said the tight security will continue all week, or at least until the protesters from Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) leave town. The heavy security seemed out of place to those familiar with the idea behind the wide—open state building. Architect Helmut Jahn created the building to symbolize the openness of a properly run democracy. Jahn’s concept was former Gov. James Thompson's frequent retort to anyone who criticized the building as a poor use of space. “There’s a general discomfort all across the office about this,” said Rob Cushing, a lawyer in the lllinois attorney general‘s office. He said of the demonstrators, “We shouldn't have to go through all of this to deny them their right to protest.” Central Management Services officials said they never intended to create a problem with the extra security, which included calling all department police in on their days off and hiring l6 private security guards at a cost of about $2,000 a day. Instead, department spokeswoman Helen Adorjan said the state was simply trying to keep the building open after receiving a call from ADAPT warning that the group might try to block doors and elevators at the building this week. The group is protesting what it believes to be a lack of government funds for programs that allow disabled people to live at home and avoid nursing homes. ADAPT did block doorways and elevators Monday in at least one Loop building where federal offices are housed. Diane Coleman, an organizer in ADAPT, said Monday that the group went to 105 W. Adams, the Bankers Building, because it houses one of the regional offices of the Department of Health and Human Services. “There have been movements by `groups` like this before, but they were neglecting civil rights tactics—taking it to the streets,” she said. “And we'll do it until we win this issue. Six times the money goes to nursing homes and other institutions than to home and community-based services. We want 25 percent of that nursing home budget to go to home care." Many State of Illinois building workers said they were concerned that everyone entering the building was barred from the Easement and first-floor elevators, which were roped of and guarded by Central Management Services police officers. Yellow and black paper signs directed workers and patrons to an escalator that took them to the second floor where they were allowed to board the elevators. The escalator guaranteed that any wheechair-bound protesters wouldn‘t make it beyond the ground level. But some state workers said they were concerned that wheelchair-bound employees and disabled people with state business had to specially request that an elevator descend to the first floor and then convince building police that they were not protesters. “ls it fair for someone who shows up in a wheelchair to have to declare their business?" asked Alex Des Chenes, a contractor with the state Department of Public Health. “Have you seen the tapes of what the have done in other cities?” Anforjan said. “This group completely immobilizes activity. They need to be able to express themselves, but we need to keep the building operating." But, in an effort to prevent a disruption, workers said all of the extra security only ended up causing a disruption. The building's Lake Street entrance was open, but a large steel gate inside the revolving glass doors sealed it off to all but riders of the CTA subway trains below. A newsstand and a Chinese restaurant located inside the entrance were empty as most of their customers were forced to bypass them. Even some of the Central Management Services police running the elevators said they disagreed with the security plan and would have tried less-disruptive measures. “Everybody’s complaining about this," said one officer, shaking his head as he punched elevator buttons. “It‘s crazy." Tribune photo by David Klobucar: A mass of people are clustered in one big not. ADAPT protesters in wheelchairs are on the street and people in suits and similar work outfits are making their way down the log jammed sidewalk, up to the police barricades. A woman in a dress is stepping over and through two of the protesters so she can continue in the street. Between the street and the sidewalk a metal police barricade is partially visible, and two uniformed officers appear to be casually trying to hold the barricades up. Caption reads: Protesters from Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today block an entrance to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on West Adams Street Monday.
ADAPT (707)
Access USA News June 1992 page 21 [This article appears to be in 3 parts, we do not have the first part. The article continues in ADAPT 702 but that text is included here for easier reading.] PHOTO in the center of the article: A mass of people in wheelchairs are lined up against the windows at the front of a building. The rows of people are 2 deep in many spots. Then there is a pathway along the sidewalk and another group of people is packed on the other side. One of the protesters in a manual wheelchair is facing away from the camera and on his back is a large poster that says "HELL NO! I Won't Go Back." Someone in a scooter (Rhona Schnall?) is rolling down the end of the pathway. Caption reads: ADAPT protestors converge on Chicago. ADAPT from page 3... "They're paying these people to work and, instead, they're standing out here and watching us. Yet I can't get my PCA money. What's going on?" asked 31-year-old Michael Graver, of Orland Park, Ill., during ADAPT's demonstration at the State of Illinois building on Wednesday. ADAPT shut down access to the upper floors of the building when the facility manager shut off the elevators and escalators so that protestors in wheelchairs could not reach the 16th floor, the office of Gov. Edgar. Many people employed by offices on upper floors chose to stand on the balconies overhead and gawk at the activities below. Graver has been attending Southem Illinois University at Carbondale - until now. He has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The college junior currently is unable to attend school at SIU because of the state cuts in PCA funding. No new clients have been accepted for in-home services since February 1. ”I can afford the apartment," he said, ”but not in-home services.” ”Tell them to give you the escalators and give us the elevators,” one ADAPT member told able-bodied individuals who complained about the group cutting off access to the upper floors. ADAPT blocked off the escalators with wheelchairs and bodies when members were told the elevators would not be made available to them. A small-framed, middle-aged woman attempted forcing her way through the unit blocking an escalator, emphatically stating, "I’m from Wisconsin, I can't do anything for you." She was detained. A man, approximately age 50, succeeded in forcing his way through the demonstrators, only after stepping over their wheelchairs, over people and finding himself crawling on the ground before getting to the other to the side. Another man of about the same age walked down the escalator and when he began trying to make his way through, said, "I have nothing against you people." A man in his 20's tried finding a route up an escalator, but met face to face with a female ADAPT protestor. ”Back off and try to understand what we're doing," she told the young man. ”This is beautiful," said the Rev. Hatcher, who uses a wheelchair and was at the State of Illinois building on behalf of the Coalition for United Community Labor Force, not with the ADAPT group. ”I really support this. I showed up to meet with the Governor's office to protest some things. This Governor is insensitive to the black community and handicapped community." Most able—bodied individuals continued trying to find elevators, escalators or stairs leading them to upper floors. Many stood on the ground-level floor in amazement, then complained that this was unfair to them. A few were curious enough to ask questions, read the fliers and express support. "James Edgar, shame on you. ”People are dying, shame on you. "Hey, hey, ho, ho, budget cuts have got to go." ADAPT’s verses were in unison, clear and loud as the crowded state building remained in chaos all day. "When l used to travel around the country, I would brag about Illinois and our in-home services,” said Judy Savage, Chicago ADAPT member and employee of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago. "They've already limited the number of people who can get these funds and Democratic legislators are recommending more cuts.” Insert Text box: "In the nursing home, they don't let you do things yourself. I have to ask for permission to go out." -Louis Summers Article continues: As the fourth and final day of ADAPT’s demonstrations dragged on at the State of Illinois Building, able-bodied individuals became more irritated. ”Edgar's going to have to stop all this," one man said. “l have a grandmother in a nursing home and I know what they're like," a woman said, "but blocking off the elevators and escalators won't change that.” "This is wrong. This is even a fire hazard. You can't deny other people the right to go out and support their families. They’ re denying us our constitutional rights,” another man said, angry that he could not get to an upper floor. "This is wrong.” Thirty-nine year-old ADAPT member Mary Kay Strasser, who also belongs to Disabled Americans Rally for Equality (D.A.R.E.), sat at the opening of one of the elevators all day Wednesday, her personal attendant standing nearby. "This is a disgrace," she said. "We're human beings just like they are. People walk by and don't ask us what we're fighting for. You can tell their attitudes by the looks on their faces. The people in the nursing homes don't realize they treat us like we're nothing. I was in a nursing home for 3-1/2 years and it was the worst experience of my life." ADAPT passed out nearly 10,000 fliers during the Chicago rally. Fifteen people were arrested, mostly for trespassing, including 10 late Monday afternoon outside the Health and Human Services offices. The bulk of police-protestor interaction took place outside the AMA building Tuesday as demonstrators attempted to stop paddy wagons from leaving the area. One man being moved by police was dropped out of his wheelchair and his head struck the sidewalk; his injury appeared the next day to be a minor abrasion on the side of his head. At that time, a Chicago police officer wearing badge number 215 asked able-bodied ADAPT member Robin McGee why they were not protecting the people in chairs better, why they were allowing them to do this and get hurt. Louis Summers, age 31, was hit by a train while working and has lived in a nursing home the past three years. Father of three kids, Summers gets $422 a month in social security payments. He took his place among ADAPT members blocking an escalator on Wednesday. "I want a part-time job so I can pay child support and buy the things I need," said Summers, who uses a wheelchair and is deaf, but speaks clearly. "($422) is not enough for food and rent and payment on a loan." "I don‘t know why the government pays nursing homes more than they pay personal attendants. l can afford an apartment, but I can't afford the personal attendant. In the nursing home, they don't let you do things yourself. I have to ask for permission to go out."
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Chicago Defender, Thursday May 14, 1992 ADAPT shuts down Illinois center ADAPT protests budget cuts by Dobie Holland Hundreds of wheelchair-bound demonstrators shut down the State of Illinois Center after they converged on the building Wednesday to protest the impending budget cuts in the Home care program for the disabled. The shut down occurred after members of the Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) were denied access to the governor’s 16th floor offices. The group retaliated with a blockade of escalators and elevators. Although ADAPT members faced barricades outside the center, once they had stormed inside, security police operating the elevators refused to allow most of the wheelchair-bound protesters upstairs. Mike Ervin, one of the Chicago coordinators for ADAPT, said they had no choice but to block the paths of pedestrians in the building by setting up wheelchair blockades of escalators and elevators in the center. They demanded a meeting with the governor. Gov. Jim Edgar was in Springfield but it was not clear by the Chicago Defender's press deadline if he would meet with the group. Gary Mack, a spokesman for the governor, said the State of Illinois has one the most “liberal programs" in the country for the disabled and cuts are being made “across the board” in the wake of a severe budget deficit. Mack said the program will lose $3 million — “a small amount" — a reduction from $68 million to $65 million. Mack added the governor was not responsible for denying the protesters access to the elevators. "They (security) have been trying to keep this place operating," Mack said. “But as l understand it, we are letting some people up here (on the 16th floor). One oi those people allowed up in the elevators to sit in the governor’s 16th floor lobby was Paulette Patterson. Patterson, who was not a member of the protest group, said she was denied access to the elevators on Tuesday when she came to the building to eat breakfast. Patterson, 35, of Chicago, said she has filed a discrimination suit against the state because she was not allowed free passage through the building “simply because I was in a wheelchair. “l was not with this group before,” she said. “But I am a member now." Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, commenting on the conflict between security personnel and protesters, said during a Tuesday press conference: “My job is not to judge anybody but to make sure no one's rights have been violated."
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Photo by Tom Olin: A woman in a striped suit, (the Regional Director of HHS, Delilah Brummet Flaum) stands by a car at the edge of the sidewalk. She is clutching a cup of coffee in one hand and in the other a briefcase and large envelope. Behind her several men in suits follow closely behind her looking like they might push her forward. At her feet however, a man (Bob Kafka) sits on the ground blocking her. To his right a woman in a scooter (Barbara Bounds) leans forward to block that side of the woman's path, while a policeman tries to wrest the controls of her scooter from her. To the woman's right is a man in a scooter (Larry Biondi?). Bob is leaning against the back of this scooter.
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 (711)
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.
ADAPT (712)
This is a continuation of the article that starts in ADAPT 717. The entire text of the article is included there for easier reading.