The ADAPT Youth Summit
The ADAPT Youth Summit was good. There were twelve youths from around the nation–California, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, Virginia, Washington State, Florida, and Texas.
Friday, the 8th, began with introductions and icebreakers, dinner, ADAPT Jeopardy, and an intergenerational chat. Bob Kafka, Stephanie Thomas, Cassie James, Yoshiko Dart, Rahnee Patrick, Michael Heinrich, Randy Alexander, and I were the ADAPT veterans who chatted with the young folks. Some of them had never really advocated for themselves, or others, and had just come out of the “pity me” stage. Others had done quite a bit, like Candice, from West Virginia, a member of the West Virginia Youth Disability Caucus that got legislation passed this year creating a Disability History Week in West Virginia, and Eric Clow, a disability rights filmaker from California.
Saturday, the 9th, began with several games designed to teach the youth about power, and who has it, and negotiations skills. We then discussed ADAPT history, dynamics, and tactics. This then led to a session on organizing, and how to organize a meeting using the negotiation skills that were learned. The youths then organized a real action that would take place the next day.
Sunday, the 10th, was a beautiful sunny day, a perfect day for an action! The Starbuck’s located at 325 7th St., NW was inaccessible. There is a door on the side that is accessible, but that door is always locked. The youth participants had decided from start to finish how this action would come off. We vets were mainly there for support.
At about 11 am, we arrived at the Starbuck’s. Two of the youth leaders went in, and asked for the manager. After a few minutes, she came out, but was rude. She didn’t know why the door was locked, and she didn’t have time to speak with us.
We then went into full demo mode, whipping out signs, and passing out leaflets explaining what was going on, ans outlining our demands, which were that the accessible door remain open, and that there be signage at the front door regarding the accessible entrance.
Since the manager didn’t want to deal with us, we stepped it up by doing a “coffee crawl-up”. Eric and Cassie crawled up the stairs, opened the door, and blocked it. Later, I crawled up with Eric so that Cassie coud assist the youth leaders in dealing with the police. Eric and I began loudly chanting, “Access is our civil right!” The chanting reverberated throughout the Starbuck’s, and you’d better believe it, the police came fast! Since there wouldn’t be any arrests, we got away from the door, and the police began to help us negotiate with the manager.
In the end, we got the number to the regional manager for the DC Region, as well as the number to Starbuck’s corporate offices. We decided to call them tomorrow with the demands, and to set up a meeting. We would then do follow-up in the days and weeks to come.
We went back to the hotel to debrief those who did not go, and to plan our next steps. The Summit ended with the youth describing what their favorite part of the Summit, and telling what they would do when they got back to their home towns. Several of the youth participants, including Paul, Candice, Eric, and Dan, as well as youth facilitators, Amber and Sarah are staying for the entire week of ADAPT actions, and will follow up on Starbuck’s. I am so excited!
On Monday, the 11th, as ADAPT was coming into town, the ADAPT Youth Committee placed calls to the regional offices of Starbuck’s. The person was not available, so messages were left, and faxes were sent.
A few days later, the youth leaders received a call from Starbuck’s requesting more information about what happened. Here is the email that was sent:
Dear Ms. Huard,
Thank you so much for promptly returning our phone call this afternoon, September 15, 2006, regarding our concerns with physical accessibility at one of your Starbucks locations in Washington, D.C.
We visited the Starbucks on 325 7th St. NW on Sunday, September 10, 2006 as part of a direct-action ADAPT training for youth with disabilities, and discovered that the “accessible” entrance to the store was regularly kept locked and that it did not feature any signage indicating the entrance as accessible.
When we raised these concerns with the manager on duty, Sheila Dennis, we were treated disrespectfully and ultimately told that the decision to place signage at the accessible entrance rested with the Starbucks Company, not the local store. We tried unsuccessfully to reach Mark Wentworth, the regional director for the D.C. area, by phone, at which point we contacted you.
Although our primary request is that the accessible entrance to the Starbucks at 325 7th St. NW remains unlocked and is properly marked, we are also concerned that a lack of physical accessibility and/or signage indicating the existence of accessible entrances is a problem at other Starbucks locations across the country.
We would like to work with you to ensure that all Starbucks stores are accessible and welcoming environments for customers with a variety of physical disabilities. We would like to set up a conference call meeting with you and other relevant Starbucks personnel to discuss what Starbucks is currently doing to meet the needs of its customers with disabilities and how it needs to improve its services to customers with disabilities by the end of November, 2006. Please contact our point person, Eric Clow, at (510) 685-9183 or eric.clow@hotmail.com to follow through on this issue.
Respectfully yours,
The ADAPT Youth Community
Candice Clark – Beckley, WV
Eric Clow – Berkeley, CA
Paul Daye – Elkins Park, PA
Stephanie George – Manassas, VA
Joe Hall – Pawley’s Island, SC
Dan Patterson – Chico, CA
Sarah Watkins – Ann Arbor, MI
Ms. Huard did respond to the email, but the ADAPT Youth Committee would like for more to be done. I will keep you posted on what happens.