The veterans’ hospital in the Bronx is called the James J. Peters Veterans Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The building, opened during the Carter Administration, is also a VA spinal cord injury center. Jim Peters, the wheelchair-using Executive Director of Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association (EPVA), and my boss from 1979 until his untimely death in 2002 at age 57, was a champion of disabled veterans rights but understood that the disabled veteran community needed to embrace the civilian disabled community to achieve social change.
Peters, of Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, and then Huntington Station, was a newly paralyzed veteran, living under horrific conditions in the old Kingsbridge VA Hospital in the Bronx. He and other paralyzed vets encouraged a 1970 LIFE magazine exposé of the neglect of Vietnam-era vets with spinal cord injuries. Another paralyzed vet, Ron Kovic, of Massapequa wrote Born on the Fourth of July, a best-selling memoir, also revealing shockingly poor care and conditions including beds in hallways surrounded by open garbage cans, and rats running across the beds of quadriplegics.
A new, state-of-the-art hospital opened in 1980. Peters was also a Vice President of the Paralyzed Veterans Of America for 23 years. Under his leadership EPVA provided millions to the hospital for fellowships, equipment and its Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, but he was quite aware that enhancing the rights of people with disabilities depended on the representation and participation of all people with disabilities that stood to benefit. Before his death he began the transition from a veteran’s organization to United Spinal Association, which now has over 60,000 members throughout the United States, mostly all of whom use wheelchairs.
Peter Addesso, of Lynbrook, Silver Star winner for his heroic actions during the Tet Offensive’s 1968 battle of Hue City depicted in the movie Full Metal Jacket, was the EPVA Board Chair who presided over the transition. EPVA’s all disabled veteran board of directors, guided by Addesso, brought civilian wheelchair users onto the new United Spinal Association’s Board and into its leadership ranks.
Peters’ outreach to the disability community was fostered by EPVA’s founding board members. In 1946 Bob Moss, of Roslyn Heights, was an original incorporator of EPVA but almost simultaneously formed the National Paraplegia Foundation, a non-veteran spinal cord injury organization. That became the National Spinal Cord Injury Association which later merged with United Spinal Association. Moss led demonstrations for accessible housing at Grand Central Station in the late 1940s and stayed on the EPVA board for almost 40 years.
When I came to EPVA as an attorney, in 1979, many World War II and Korea veterans, including Bob Moss, were still on the board of directors. I was recruited by Peters and quadriplegic Marine Corps veteran, Terry Moakley, who grew up in Hicksville. Peters and Moakley wanted to sue New York City and its transit system. A graduate of Chaminade High school, St. John’s University, with a master’s degree in comparative literature from Hofstra University, Moakley was EPVA’s liaison to the disability community. He and I recruited post-polio wheelchair user and disability advocate Denise Figueroa, and we sued MTA in 1979. Figueroa, a nonveteran, Jim Peters, and Terry Moakley were the plaintiffs in the case.
Terry Moakley, who passed away twelve years ago, was smart, funny and genuine. The Transit Workers Union loved him even as the MTA Board, opposing accessibility, said the union would want higher wages for bus drivers because they would have to operate lifts, a new job duty. After meeting with Moakley, Sonny Hall, TWU President, stated that unionism is a people’s movement and that people with disabilities were people first, were welcome on buses and that there would be no new wage demand. Moakley and I created a bus driver awards program, hosted by Moakley, that lasted for years, and encouraged drivers to accommodate passengers. Gov. Mario Cuomo gave the awards one year, even as Mayor Koch, and his MTA Board appointees opposed access and refused to attend. Moakley rewrote NYC’s Building Code, along with city and private architectural experts, and the city’s code meets or exceeds ADA access standards and has for decades. Our bus system was the first in the US to become 100% accessible due to his leadership.
Disabled veterans, especially Vietnam era veterans, grew up during both the Black and women’s movements. They saw that social activism can open eyes, change attitudes, and human behavior. They were not ready to stay at home just because they were wounded serving their country. They wanted jobs, families, houses, transportation – they wanted access to the American dream. Working with nonvets they changed the world.
Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Able News at The Viscardi Center and/or The Viscardi Center.