tzippy@dasys1.uucp (Tzipporah BenAvraham) (03/16/90)
Index Number: 7197 03/12 1835 DISABLED LOBBY FOR BILL TO EXPAND CIVIL RIGHTS, ... WASHINGTON (MARCH 12) UPI - Nearly a hundred wheelchair-users left their chairs behind and crawled up the steps of the Capitol Monday to draw attention to their demands for passage of a bill to expand civil rights for the disabled. Almost a thousand marchers had wheeled and walked along Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the Capitol to rally support for the bill. They chanted, "Hey, hey, we want access right away," and carried placards that read: "Just Do it." "What we did with civil rights in the '60s, we forgot to do with people with disabilities," said Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., before many of the demonstrators struggled to climb 81 steps on the west side of the Capitol. If passed, the Americans with Disabilities Act will provide protections against discrimination in the workplace, access to public places and transportation for the disabled. The Senate passed the bill in September with the Bush admin- istration's support. But the measure has since been under study by several House committees as lawmakers debated possible amendments. The disabled and their supporters mobilized Monday for "a final push" for passage. "It's the final push on the bill and it's also a signal that there should not be any weakening amendments attached to the bill," said Ralph Neas, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Passage of the bill will mean that buses will have to be equipped with lifts and that buildings constructed in the future will have to provide access for the handicapped. The bill has already passed through the House Education and Labor Committee. It still must be reviewed by the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Public Works and Transportation Committee and the Judiciary Committee before it reaches the House floor. A spokesman for Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who is coordinating the bill's movement in the House, said the committee work will likely be finished by the end of the month and it should be voted on by early May. But supporters of the bill said they are worried that the bill will be damaged by amendments before it even leaves the committee rooms. Pat Wright, director of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, said a public works subcommittee has already attached an amendment to the bill that will limit the number of cars accessible to the wheelchair-bound on commuter trains. "It may be enough for all of us to pull from the bill if that amendment lives," she said. Demonstrators also said the Bush administration has softened its support of the bill since the Senate approved it Sept. 7 by a 76-8 vote. "The president needs to show his support by getting the House to move," said rally organizer Bob Kafka. But Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairman Evan Kemp, a Bush administration official, said the president remains committed to the bill. Kemp, who has been confined to a wheelchair for 19 years and who took part in the rally, was named commission chairman last week.