I woke up Thursday excited to experience this day of celebrations of ADAPT’s 25th birthday. Actually, the celebrations began on Wednesday evening, with an informal reception in the Discovery Room, which held the breathtakingly unbelieveable exhibits that the Denver crew brought in. The walls of the entire room were covered in framed narratives written by ADAPT members. These spanned the entire time, from 1983 until the present, and included a picture of the ADAPT member, so that we could see who that person was, in case we didn’t recognize them by name. I am proud to say that my narrative was there! I reported on the 1992 Chicago action, and the narrative was titled, “When ADAPT Blew Through Chicago in 1992, I WAS THERE!”
There were also pictures of ADAPT actions going all the way back, as well as every T-shirt from every action, from the beginning until now. I went around that room having intense flashbacks of every description, the thoughts, sights, sounds, emotions, even the smells. I noticed the writing styles of the newspaper reporters changing over the era (yes, ERA–if you think about it, it’ll blow your mind, as it did mine). I looked at the pictures and marvelled at the fact that many of us, including me, have grey hairs now. I don’t know if I have the words to describe the feelings that came over, and how I miss Wade, JoAnne, Lee, Brooke, Leonard, Mark, Rev. Willie, and all of the ADAPT warriors who have gone to join the Ancestors.
After the reception, there was a showing of the movie called, “When You Remember Me“. The Emmy-nominated movie stars Fred Savage, Kevin Spacey, and Ellen Burstyn, and is the story of how Wade Blank was able to free the original members of Atlantis Community from a nursing facility. These young people were the original ADAPT members before ADAPT was born. Larry Ruiz, one of the original folks freed from that nursing home was there at the celebration. He is a dear friend of mine whom I’ve known all of my adult life. Linda Andre, another of the original folks, was there as well.
I was sitting with the Rochester Crew watching the movie, and many of them cried, and cheered at that final scene. Some in our group, knowing that I was from Denver, asked me did I know Wade, and I told them, ” yes, I was blessed, and honored to know and work with him.” Larry and I shared Wade stories with them. It was a very poignant, bittersweet evening.
Thursday morning, I sat with a bunch of ADAPTers for the ”Remember When“ session, hosted by Mark Johnson. Some of the Rochester Crew came down, too. Tim Wheat videotaped the whole thing. We started off with Frank Lozano telling his story, and being interviewd by Mark. I love Frank! I have known him all of my adult life, and he was my supervisor for a time, when I worked in the Colorado Springs office of Atlantis Community. We worked so well together! Frank is such a positive, supportive, and gentle person, and I still have fond memories of our work and advocacy.
Several other people told their stories, including Mary who was on a bus being blocked by ADAPT in Long beach, CA, back in the early days before my time. She told of her thoughts, and it felt being in that position, then went on to describe how things came full circle when she had her accident, and began using a wheelchair, and a few years later, her husband, too, had an accident, and began using a wheelchair. Mary said that she felt honored being on the other side now, and being with ADAPT. This was her first action, and she was going to be back!
I, too, told my story. Mark made me go into full details about my work with Dennis Schreiber, and how I got started in ADAPT, how I began as an interpreter and attendant, and my first action, as well as my first arrest. I sopke of that first national action (DC Siege/DOT) back in March of 1988, and how bitter cold it was. ADAPT had taken over the Department of Transportation (DOT) in an effort to get then secretary, Sam Skinner, to agree to put lifts on all buses. We held that building, inside and outside, all day, through the night, and into the next day. It was -4 degrees outside, and not much warmer inside. We were denied access to restrooms, and had no food, but a few snacks, which we shared. A camera crew had left behind some Perrier water, and that was it. I remember helping people to empty urinals, and hiding it in the mail room because we were not allowed to use the bathrooms. I remember that Mitch Snyder, who ran an organization that helped people who were homeless came by, along with Yoshiko Dart. They had blankets, hot soup, and food for those outside the building. I clearly remember ADAPTers who were on the outside trying to slip slices of wrapped American cheese through the cracks in the doors, so that those of us inside could at least have a morsel to eat.
We finally left about midmorning, or early afternoon. Did we go back to the hotel and rest? Nooooooooo!!! We went straightaway and started blocking buses! Some folks got arrested, but that was not to be for me. My first arrest would come on the very next action.
Needless to say, I was hooked, and vowed never to miss an action. To this day, I have only missed about four or five actions in twenty years of coming on national actions.
During the session, Jennifer McPhail, from Texas asked me if I had any rituals that I did to prepare myself for an upcoming ADAPT action. Actually, I do. That week before, I look at all of my old photos to get myself pumped up. I eat more food than usual because I know that I’ll be too busy to eat while I’m there on the action. I buy Hall’s cough drops, and eat then like candy to prepare myself for five days of chanting. I look at all of my ADAPT T-shirts to put me in a particular frame of mind for the week. Thats just some of the rituals that I do to prepare myself mentally and emotionally for ADAPT.
After the Remember When gathering, I hurried upstairs to room 753. StoryCorps folks were there to record stories and interviews of ADAPT members. There were six pairs of us doing this, and I was honored to be one of the ones asked to participate. If you are not familiar with StoryCorps, it ia a project begun several years ago to record stories of ordinary people, and the history that they may have lived, or created. It is aired on Mondays on most NPR stations, and the stories are archived in the Library of Congress for posterity.
I interviewed with Randy Alexander, from Memphis. Randy was one of the Day leaders, and has been in ADAPT for about ten years or more. Randy is a really cool person, and I enjoy working with him. We interviewed each other for about 40 minutes about how we came to ADAPT, our first actions, our first arrests, and our hopes and dreams for ADAPT. We took pictures for the archives-one by ourselves, and one together. After the interview, we were given a CD, which I burned to my hard drive. I gave Randy the original CD, which he will, in turn, give to Stephanie. National ADAPT will keep these, and get copies of all the interviews to everyone. They will also be kept in the ADAPT archives.
Afterwards, I went to the Barbeque. The food was good. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, pop, fruit, chips, and all the trimmings. There was a presentation for all of the sponsors of the celebration. Our center, the Center for Disability Rights, was one of the of the honorees. I ran into Andy Imparato, and Anne Sommers of AAPD. I was glad to see them, and now, I DO remember Anne!
The Barbeque wasn’t even over when I had to leave to participate in a sound check for the I Am ADAPT Show. All of us who were in the Show got there, and did a sound check and lined up in our places. I learned at the last minute that in addition to my I Am ADAPT piece, that I would be singing Happy Birthday with Jimmi. Actually, I didn’t feel bad about that at all, as we practiced a couple of times. What I was nervous about was what I would say for the I Am ADAPT piece. You see, I never write down a speech, or presentation. I have found that without exception, once I start, the words just come to me. I don’t know how, or why it is, but if I write down what I have to say, then, I end up stumbling and stammering. Eventually, I took a deep breath and decided that everything would be just fine. Just as we finished practicing, it was time. The Show was on!
The Show was a combination of video pieces, live perfomances, and presentations, all expertly hosted by Jimmi. To say that Jimmi is special to me is a vast understatement. We adopted each other as sister and brother. It was a pure honor to be able to be on stage with him!
Here is the pre-show video. It was eventually adapted (’scuse the pun) a bit for the Show. I love the music, and literally stood up and danced to it during the Show.
http://endeavorfreedom.ning.com/video/video/show?id=942302%3AVideo%3A24335
There was a vidoe about Wade, and his life, then, Babs, who has been in since the beginning, spoke about Wade, and what he meant to her. Babs ia another ADAPTer whom I love. I have known Babs all of my adult life. She was one of the first national ADAPT people that I met, after Wade and Molly. Babs an I have always worked well together. One of the more memorable projects that we worked on was The Battle of HCPF, a two-week successful vigil at the State Human Services building in downtown Denver back in 2002. After Babs’s presentation, she was recognized for her longtime activities and work with ADAPT. Indded, Babs is considered the Mother of ADAPT. She received some beautiful roses from everyone.
A lot of this is a blur to me. I remember that Rep. Pat Shroeder was there, and spoke about what it was like to come to that first action back in 1978–the shot heard ’round the world, if you will. After that, there were presentations and videos from the original Gang of 19, the original ADAPT kid, Tisha, Babs’s daughter, whom I ‘ve known since she was 16, and who now has a beautiful 12-year-old son, Malachai.
I was with the Free Our People part of the Show, one of the ones who had been institutionalized, but was now free. I kept my presentation short and sweet. I did well, as I suspected I would.
There were songs by Johnny Crescendo, Elaine Kolb, and Diane Coleman. There was a presentation by ADAPT youth who had grown up in ADAPT, as well as future leaders of ADAPT youth, who gave their presentation in Spanish, English, and American Sign Language. There were presentations by people who serve as attendants in ADAPT, and the folks who put together the Free Our People March. There was so much that I can’t remember, but I know that it was videotaped for our archives.
The last piece was Jimmi and I singing Happy Birthday To ADAPT, along with some cake. then, there was a final video–our Rochester, and ADAPT mascot, Gremmie, with a birthday video to ADAPT. It was quite hilarious! I really enjoyed the Show, and was honored to be a part of it!
Afterwards, was the traditional ADAPT party and dance, with cake, and a DJ. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and took the opportunity to announce my engagement to my partner, Lisa, and showed off The Ring. We plan to get married next year, and are seriously considering going to Canada to do the Blessed Deed.
Too soon, it seemed, things were done, tomorrow had come, and we were saying goodbye to our ADAPT family and getting on the bus to go home. I was exhausted, but would do it all again, and I can’t wait until the Fall Action in September!
