Through an act of civil disobedience -- blocking a Port Authority bus with his wheelchair -- Donald Stancile says he has figured out what to do with his life.

"My past isn't pretty, but I know what it takes to be an activist," said Stancile, 53, of Brushton, new local president of ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

	"My past isn't pretty, but I know what it takes to be an activist." (John Beale, Post-Gazette) Click photo for larger image.

Since Stancile was arrested earlier this month for what he called "taking a bus hostage," the phones at the ACORN office on Penn Avenue in Garfield haven't quit ringing.

His mantra, "No Rider Left Behind," was catchy. Maryellen Hayden, an ACORN organizer, said many callers want to help ACORN make an issue of how the physically disabled are treated on buses.

On talk shows, in phone calls and e-mail messages, Stancile was praised and excoriated, called everything from the "Rosa Parks for the Disabled" to "Bob Marley in a Wheelchair" working for a left-wing Communist organization.

The local chapter of ACORN, a national organization that advocates for low and moderate-income families, hopes to use this newfound energy to challenge the Port Authority on behalf of the disabled, launch initiatives to stop predatory lending and home foreclosures, warn low-income people about income tax preparers who offer them refund anticipation loans at high fees and promote other projects.

"He is rocking the world," a beaming Hayden said about Stancile, whose position is unpaid.

Stancile, who is no stranger to the criminal justice system, spent the night in the Allegheny County Jail after wheeling his wheelchair in front of an 86B Frankstown bus that failed to pick him up Jan. 8 in Garfield.

"For 22 years of my life, I was in the drug scene," Stancile said. He has multiple convictions, and has served time in both county and state prisons for crimes he said were the result of his addiction to illegal drugs.

While Jan. 8 was not the first time Stancile had blocked a bus, it was the first time he was arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic for his actions.

Stancile was born in Birmingham, Ala., one of five siblings, and lost his father when he was 4 years old. When he was 7, his mother moved the family to the Homewood-Brushton area to be closer to relatives. He said his mother, who is deceased, was a strong influence, encouraging her children to get educations and to be articulate when expressing themselves.

Stancile said he already was using drugs when he dropped out of Westinghouse High School without graduating. He said he later earned a GED and an associate degree.

After serving in the Army in the States, he returned to Pittsburgh, but he also lived for short times in Atlanta, New York, Ohio and Kentucky. He said he worked as a cable installer and has skills in carpentry and bricklaying.

His most recent drug conviction in Allegheny County was in 1997, according to court records.

Stancile said he no longer uses illegal drugs and doesn't even take addictive painkillers for his many physical disabilities. He lost three-quarters of a lung after developing tuberculosis in the mid-1980s. In 2001, he was paralyzed from the waist down after an accident. He uses braces for short walks and his wheelchair for longer trips.

After extensive rehabilitation, Stancile began boarding Port Authority buses in his wheelchair, but became frustrated when drivers said their buses' wheelchair ramps or lifts weren't working.

Last year, Stancile invited a television reporter to join him at a bus stop where he was checking buses to see whether the lifts or ramps worked. Of the four buses that stopped, he said, one had inoperable handicapped equipment. The experiment never aired on television.

He also claims he was injured on a bus when a wheelchair ramp malfunctioned.

He said he had blocked another bus with his wheelchair about a month ago, that time in East Liberty, but wasn't arrested for it.

The Port Authority became aware that he was on a mission and invited him to be an advocate for the handicapped. At one point, the transit agency gave him a cell phone and the pager number of a supervisor to call if a bus wheelchair ramp malfunctioned. Stancile refused to become an advocate, used the cell phone only one time and said the supervisor didn't solve his problem when he paged him.

"They said, 'We understand,' " Stancile said. "They are sitting in a nice warm room and I am on the street in my wheelchair. I said, 'I don't think you understand.' "

When he blocked the 86B Frankstown, the driver told him the wheelchair ramp wasn't working. With the bus stopped at Atlantic and Penn avenues, a passenger called 911 and city police responded. The driver called for another bus, but Stancile wouldn't get on it. He was arrested when he refused to move from in front of the first bus.

The Port Authority determined that the bus driver, Lydia Walker, could have manually lowered the ramp but didn't do so. She was not disciplined, but was being retrained on how to operate the handicapped equipment.

Port Authority officials acknowledge that lifts and ramps malfunction and drivers can make mistakes, but said the authority requires drivers to undergo extensive and ongoing training to comply with provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

"We take all these complaints very seriously," said authority spokesman Bob Grove.

No matter, Walker's failure to lower the ramp opened a new world of opportunity for Stancile and ACORN to rally for persons with disabilities.

"I think civil disobedience is justified when it brings change," Stancile said.