Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Thursday, May 03, 2012
NY disability rights activist, Independence Today publisher Pat Figueroa dies
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
NY disability rights activist, Independence Today publisher
dies
The Facebook friends of Pat Figueroa (pictured) report that he died April 3, 2012. You can read or listen to his disability rights oral history at the UC-Berkeley's website on the Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement.
This is a bio about him from Independent Living USA:
Patricio Figueroa, also known as Pat Figueroa, was born in Catano, Puerto Rico on April 20, 1948.
Pat was an artist, an author, a disability activist and advocate for people with disabilities, publisher, web designer, an inventor, entrepreneur, husband and father. He was one of ten children of Patricio and Josefina Figueroa.
He founded the first independent living center in New York state in 1978, CIDNY, co-founded the 504 Democratic Club, and was the publisher of the national disability newspaper, Independence Today.
On November 21, 1980, Pat Figueroa, Jr., and the staffs of CIDNY, BILC, and members of Disabled In Action (DIA), took over the headquarters of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, trapping then M.T.A. Chairman Richard Ravitch for more than 10 hours.
The event got national and international coverage even though John Tesh, then a local reporter for the CBS Channel 6 affiliate, was the only reporter allowed in to speak to the sit-in demonstrators. The disabled activists, all part of a group named Mass-transit Thru Access, blocked the three elevators with wheelchairs, and blocked the doors to the stairwells with heavy desks, filling cabinets, and other heavy items after letting staff members leave down the staircase.
Figueroa, the leader and mastermind of the takeover of the MTA headquarters, refused to release Ravitch until he committed to negotiating in good faith with the disability community.
Around 7 p.m., the NYC Tactical Squad forced one of the stairwell doors opened and moved in to remove the protesters. All 232 demonstrators were removed; none were arrested.
Ravitch was forced to negotiate with the disability community, and eventually lost a lawsuit, under NYS law, that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Americans with Disabilities Act cites this lawsuit litigated by James Weisman of the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association.
"Struggling for disability advances has been akin to guerrilla warfare," Figueroa explained, "and at times my tactics had some people labeling me the 'Che Guevara of disability.'"
NY disability rights activist, Independence Today publisher
The Facebook friends of Pat Figueroa (pictured) report that he died April 3, 2012. You can read or listen to his disability rights oral history at the UC-Berkeley's website on the Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement.
This is a bio about him from Independent Living USA:
Patricio Figueroa, also known as Pat Figueroa, was born in Catano, Puerto Rico on April 20, 1948.
Pat was an artist, an author, a disability activist and advocate for people with disabilities, publisher, web designer, an inventor, entrepreneur, husband and father. He was one of ten children of Patricio and Josefina Figueroa.
He founded the first independent living center in New York state in 1978, CIDNY, co-founded the 504 Democratic Club, and was the publisher of the national disability newspaper, Independence Today.
On November 21, 1980, Pat Figueroa, Jr., and the staffs of CIDNY, BILC, and members of Disabled In Action (DIA), took over the headquarters of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, trapping then M.T.A. Chairman Richard Ravitch for more than 10 hours.
The event got national and international coverage even though John Tesh, then a local reporter for the CBS Channel 6 affiliate, was the only reporter allowed in to speak to the sit-in demonstrators. The disabled activists, all part of a group named Mass-transit Thru Access, blocked the three elevators with wheelchairs, and blocked the doors to the stairwells with heavy desks, filling cabinets, and other heavy items after letting staff members leave down the staircase.
Figueroa, the leader and mastermind of the takeover of the MTA headquarters, refused to release Ravitch until he committed to negotiating in good faith with the disability community.
Around 7 p.m., the NYC Tactical Squad forced one of the stairwell doors opened and moved in to remove the protesters. All 232 demonstrators were removed; none were arrested.
Ravitch was forced to negotiate with the disability community, and eventually lost a lawsuit, under NYS law, that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Americans with Disabilities Act cites this lawsuit litigated by James Weisman of the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association.
"Struggling for disability advances has been akin to guerrilla warfare," Figueroa explained, "and at times my tactics had some people labeling me the 'Che Guevara of disability.'"
Solicitada
Víctor Pedro Giménez Vélez
Con motivo de pedir transporte con accesibilidad universal, el 19 de abril se realizó una intervención callejera para concientizar a la población sobre la necesidad de que se adapte el transporte para las personas con movilidad reducida. En esta oportunidad, el señor José Pappalardo, directivo de una de las empresas prestatarias en el Sistema Urbano de Transporte (SUT), opinó en el Diario El Día que "la solución no está en implementar las rampas sino en otro tipo de medidas", y agregó: "De hecho, los pliegos de concesión de este sistema no hablan de rampas, sólo de los asientos reservados para discapacitados. Pero en la Capital Federal, por ejemplo, existen micros con rampas y aún así ningún discapacitado viaja en colectivo. En los países avanzados, lo que hace el Estado es poner a su disposición vehículos o combis especiales que no son las mismas unidades que prestan el servicio de autotransporte convencional. Hay que tener en cuenta que una rampa cuesta 20 mil pesos, y que en esos términos es más barato implementar un sistema de transporte alternativo. Lo que ocurre es que con este tema se hace mucha política, y se prometen cosas que en los hechos no se pueden cumplir".
Este señor, representante de los empresarios de transporte, está en total desconocimiento de la Ley 26.378 promulgada y sancionada con fuerza de ley según la Convención sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad el 6 de junio 2008. En ella se reafirman la universalidad, interdependencia e interrelación de todos los derechos humanos y libertades fundamentales, así como la necesidad de garantizar que las personas con discapacidad los ejerzan plenamente y sin discriminación.
Lo que el señor Pappalardo sugiere está totalmente en contra de lo que establece la ley que dice que hay que promover la inclusión y la plena participación de las personas con discapacidad en la sociedad.
A los fines de la presente ley, entiéndase por accesibilidad la posibilidad de las personas con movilidad reducida de gozar de las adecuadas condiciones de seguridad y autonomía como elemento primordial para el desarrollo de las actividades de la vida diaria, sin restricciones derivadas del ámbito físico urbano, arquitectónico o del transporte, para su integración y equiparación de oportunidades’.
Por lo tanto solicitamos a los señores empresarios de transporte:
1. Tomen conciencia respecto de las personas con discapacidad y sobre la imposibilidad de utilizar el medio de transporte público debido a la falta de adaptabilidad de las unidades, quitándoseles el derecho a la educación, a la salud y al esparcimiento a aquellos de menores recursos.
2. Adopten las medidas pertinentes para asegurar el acceso de las personas con movilidad reducida al transporte, eliminando los obstáculos para subir y dotándoles de una rampa para que todos estemos en igualdad de condiciones con los demás, promoviendo así que puedan vivir en forma independiente y trasladarse libremente.
3. Todos los ciudadanos tenemos igual reconocimiento como personas ante la ley en todos los aspectos de la vida, se está quebrantando la ley al libre tránsito, fundamental para tener una vida plena.
4. Sin un transporte accesible, las personas con movilidad reducida están siendo excluidas de la sociedad, el medio de transporte es vital para la salud, educación y trabajo, ya que sin él no se encuentran en igualdad de condiciones con las demás personas.
5. Repudiamos todo acto discriminatorio, y exigimos a las empresas la inmediata incorporación de rampas en las unidades de transporte bajo la ley que nos ampara.
CIUDADANOS AUTOCONVOCADOS POR UN TRANSPORTE ACCESIBLE
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