On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. It was one of the most significant civil rights laws in modern American history, and it changed daily life for millions of people. But the signing ceremony came at the end of a long road, and some of the most important steps along it were taken, quite literally, on hands and knees.
A long fight for access
For much of American history, people with disabilities were routinely shut out of schools, jobs, public buildings and transportation. Curbs without ramps, buses without lifts and buildings reachable only by stairs made ordinary independence impossible for many. Disability rights activists had been organizing for decades to change that.
An earlier milestone came in 1977. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibited disability discrimination in programs that received federal money, but the regulations needed to enforce it had stalled. Activists responded with protests and sit-ins at federal offices. In San Francisco, demonstrators occupied a federal building for nearly a month, refusing to leave until the regulations were signed. That victory showed what persistent, visible action could achieve.
The steps of the Capitol
By early 1990, the ADA was making its way through Congress but facing delays. In March of that year, disability rights activists gathered at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. Many of them set aside their wheelchairs, crutches and other mobility aids and began pulling themselves up the long stone staircase, one step at a time, as onlookers watched.
The protest became known as the Capitol Crawl. It was exhausting, uncomfortable and deliberately hard to look away from. Among the climbers was an eight-year-old girl whose determination became one of the day’s lasting images. The scene made a point no speech could: for people who could not use stairs, the buildings of democracy were themselves a barrier.
What the law changed
A few months later, the ADA became law. In broad terms, it prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations such as stores and restaurants, transportation and telecommunications. Ramps, accessible restrooms, curb cuts and captioning became far more common in the years that followed. Congress later broadened the law’s protections with amendments passed in 2008.
If you want to understand rights or responsibilities under the law, the official ADA.gov site is the place to start, and an attorney can help with specific situations.
The kind of courage it took
The Capitol Crawl is a vivid example of a kind of courage that rarely gets celebrated: the courage to be seen struggling, on purpose, in public, for something larger than yourself. Many people spend enormous energy hiding what is hard for them. The activists on those steps did the opposite. They made the difficulty visible so that others could no longer ignore it.
There are quieter versions of that courage in everyday life. Telling a manager what you need to do your best work. Admitting to friends that you are having a hard time. Asking a business to fix something that keeps people out. Each one risks discomfort to make things better for yourself and for the people who come after you.
This July, the anniversary of the ADA is a good moment to notice the ramps and curb cuts you pass without thinking. Many of them exist because people refused to stay quiet.
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