Hello Beloved!

16 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I suddenly, permanently, became blind. A fifth year senior at the University of Missouri, who had changed majors multiple times, I was used to studying any subject that interested me, spending countless hours in the stacks, and flitting across the 1,262 acre campus to take in the art museum in between clubs, classes, and coffee. I wanted to understand how my changed bodymind fit into this world I’d been living in. Although it was six months until I relearned how to use a computer (a much noisier experience, now that I had to use a screen reader) the ADA was the first thing I googled. This law, that I’d previously only heard mentioned a time or two, was going to become something I relied on daily.

The ADA is a civil rights law that provides broad, legal protections for disabled Americans. Signed by president George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990, it was the culmination of decades of steadfast advocacy by thousands of disabled activists, including leaders like Judy Heumann and Brad Lomax. I didn’t grow up learning about the ADA, or the disability rights movement in general. I believe more people are understanding its importance, with the popularity of films like Crip Camp.

When asked for reflections on the 33rd anniversary of the ADA, disabled Unitarian Universalists had a variety of responses:

• “On this anniversary, I have two reactions, relief and vigilance. While I have had a disability for longer than we have had the ADA, this is the time when so many places would be inaccessible to me without it. I’m so relieved that there were activists who made its implementation a reality. And I know that vigilance is necessary to maintain the act and its benefits.” Ruth Milledge
• “Without the ADA, I would have been unemployed these last few years. I’m both grateful and yet sad that workforce protections for the disabled need to be codified into our legal system. Melissa Ensign-Bedford
• “ I was invited to the 20th anniversary celebration of the ADA at the White House. I shook President Obama’s hand and instantly uttered, ‘I’ll never wash it!’ Ableism, the belief and practice that non-disabled bodies and minds are ‘the only norm,’ and the reality that implicit bias towards the disabled ‘increases’ with one’s education—was not part of the ADA. Yet, it is this bias, in many forms, that effectively mutes the justice-seeking voices within the sprawling disability movements. I think it is time the disability community recognize that the ADA will only take us this far, where disability ‘rights’ are only recognized in many places via successful complaints or lawsuits, rather than any groundswell of equanimity." Sandy Goodwick

For me, this anniversary is bittersweet. After I read the ADA all those years ago, I went back into the world, thinking that paths had been paved for me. As I went back to school, applied for jobs, and tried to participate in my community, I discovered the roads were rough, and sometimes, I have had to chart my own path. I am full of gratitude for my forebears, but the ADA got watered down in its revisions, and still has no effective enforcement mechanism.

The barriers and ableism I face every day tell me we still have a long way to go for the full inclusion of Americans with disabilities.

With Gratitude,
Gretchen