"Arrests are Almost Like Merit Badges" – Protesters Change History for Citizens with Disabilities:
Today, Out Of Exile – Invisible Disability Rights honors "The Gang of 19" and the disability rights activist group, "ADAPT" (Atlantis Community). Forty-five years ago this week, they demanded, and were instrumental in winning, independence for people with mobility disabilities across the country. This act, is considered by many, to be the birth of the disability rights movement in the US. The unique methods they used, make their story worth exploring… They're just that cool.
On July 5, 1978, as a Denver RTD bus was picking up passengers at Colfax Avenue and Broadway, a group of individuals rolled their wheelchairs in front of the vehicle. After a second bus pulled up to the stop, other wheelchair users maneuvered themselves behind it, forming a blockade. The buses remained trapped between the wheelchair users for the next 24 hours. Chanting, "WE WILL RIDE!", the protesters message of "TAXATION WITHOUT TRANSPORTATION" forced a nation to take notice of the disability rights movement. Are the tax dollars of persons are with disabilities worth less than the tax dollars of others? Are individuals with disabilities deserving of less public accommodations than their "abled" co-citizens? The demand: That one third of Denver city buses be made wheelchair accessible. Thanks to the courage of "the gang's" heroic actions, public buses across the country are equipped to provide accessibility, independence and a bit of equality for people with disabilities.
Check out the "Gang of 19" PBS documentary contained in the links below. You can also read more about the bus blockade, ADAPT's role in the Americans With Disabilities Act, or the time wheelchair user's pulverized a curb with sledgehammers thus, forging the way for inclines at crosswalks. In hindsight, it's outrageous that it took a sledgehammer demolition, to generate understanding about the barriers and safety concerns facing wheelchair users, just trying to cross the street. There is however, much more work to be done to better the lives of all people with disabilities.
Every year as fireworks explode in celebration, I raise a glass to toast the liberty that these "Denver Pioneers" fought to win, for so many with disabilities. The neurodivergent thinkers behind these creative acts of social defiance, are nothing short of legendary. The anniversary of the "Gang of 19" blockade is truly something to celebrate. It also serves as a reminder that, a loud voice or action is sometimes necessary in the fight for disability rights, equality and, to finally #TearDownTheWall.
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." Martin Luther King Jr.
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Gang of 19 – History.com: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gang-of-19-disability-activists-protest-denver-bus-system
"Arrests are Almost Like Merit Badges" More Stories of ADAPT Activism: https://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/05/adapt-disabled-activists-denver/
Watch the PBS special – We Will Ride: 44 years after the "Gang of 19" protests: https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/gang-of-19-43-year-anniversary/
More on the "Gang of 19": https://abilitychicagoinfo.blogspot.com/2017/07/we-will-ride-adapt-gang-of-19-in-denver.html
More Work to Be Done: https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/more-work-to-be-done-42-years-after-gang-of-19-protest/
Remembering the Gang of 19: https://www.westword.com/news/disability-protesters-gang-of-19-remembered-in-denver-10496346
#GangOf19 #ADAPT #disability #DisabilityRights #activism #SocialJustice #protest #equality #change #InvisibleDisabilityRights #SpeakUp4Change #accessibility #NoBarriers #accommodation #WheelchairUsers #ADA #DisabilityCommunity #DisabilitySolidarity #DisabilityVoice #respect #dignity #CommunityIntegration #NeurodivergentThinking #heroes #MLK
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