On a warm, Saturday morning in the Summer of 1993, my mail delivery included my August 1993 issue of Able News; as always, I cast aside my bills and advertisements and eagerly dove into its pages.
I remember vividly staring at a photo of disability rights icons Judy Heumann and Justin Dart, Jr. leading a march of disability rights activists, under a banner with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!” For those of us who were immersed in efforts to rally support for the passage and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) over the previous four years, hearteningly, such images had become increasingly familiar to us.
While certainly familiar, this image was different. In this photo, flanking these national disability rights icons were local heroes who I had come to know well, and admire. Leaders of Disabled In Action; Center For Independence of the Disabled, New York; Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled; and other independent living centers who, for many of us, made our movement and our struggle palpable and tangible. And the backdrop of the photo was immediately recognizable—the streets of midtown Manhattan!
The photo’s caption told us that this was an image of the NYC Disability Independence March, 07/26/1993, which celebrated the passage and implementation of the ADA, and our burgeoning Disability Rights Movement. Beyond this brief caption, this photo spoke a proverbial thousand words about the significance of the ADA. It reminded us that as a legal document, it represented one of the most consequential civil rights laws ever enacted. It reminded us that as a political document, it was a product of activism, compromise, bipartisanship, and vigilance.
However, this photo reminded us that above all, the ADA was—and is—a powerful cultural document that reflects a vision for how we ought to regard people with disabilities as a nation, as a culture. The law’s name, in and of itself—“the Americans with Disabilities Act”—reflects our emerging understanding of ourselves as a community that shares the hopes, fears, and dreams of all Americans, and is also fiercely proud of our identities as people with disabilities. The ADA’s foundational principles of “otherwise qualified” and “reasonable accommodation” give voice to our core values—that with barriers removed, we can and will participate richly in all aspects of American life.
Finally, the photo also provides us with guidance on what it will take to keep the ADA strong and vital over the next 35 years. You can see it in the faces of our leaders—their looks of resolve, grit, and joy that are born from the understanding that national movements are actually a network of local movements—like the Disability Rights Movement in New York—and that our strength is derived from our fellowship.