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9:32am August 22, 2012

➸ Disability Activists in Wheelchairs Arrested in NYC: Cops can't transport them due to inaccessibility

virginiaslist:

Quote from article:

As demonstrators gathered in the street in front of Gracie Mansion chanting, “Taxis for all!” and singing solidarity songs led by the Raging Grannies, the arrests began unexpectedly. Suddenly, police began arresting non-disabled supporters of the Disability Caucus action from the rear, leaving behind all the wheelchair users. The officers handcuffed the non-disabled demonstrators as a paddy wagon roared up and screeched to a halt adjacent to the arrests. They then dragged their arrestees to the paddy wagon and threw them in. The supporters arrested included a surprised 67-year-old member of the Raging Grannies who was in mid-song on her ukulele.
 
Then, the row of wheelchair users at the front (of which I was a part) shut down our machines and refused to move. We further told them that the people with disabilities were the principals and instigators of this demonstration, and that they had arrested our supporters and left the principals behind. They sent up a “negotiator” who told us that we were free to leave, and eventually implored us to leave. We demanded that they release our supporters, and we told them that we would not move until they either arrested everyone or no one.
 
What ensued was an hour’s standoff, as they tried to figure out what to do with us. While they had a small army’s worth of hardware, vehicles and personnel on the scene, as we waited it became apparent that the NYPD did not have a wheelchair-accessible paddy wagon! After a long standoff and more arrivals of higher-ups from the mayor’s staff and the police department — and lots of phone calls to parties unseen — a decision was made to commandeer Access-a-Ride vehicles to take us to jail. (Access-a-Ride is the problematic New York City paratransit service for people with disabilities, often referred to by users as “Acc-stress a Ride.”)