How Disabled Activists Forced Congress To Act

Send us Fan MailEighty-three steps doesn’t sound like a policy argument until you picture someone dragging themselves up marble stairs just to be allowed in the room. We’re Kevin and Palmy, and we’re talking about the Capitol Crawl, the 1990 disability rights protest that helped break the stalemate around the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by forcing the country to see inaccessibility up close.We set the scene in Washington, DC: activists leaving behind wheelchairs and mobility aids, cameras rolling, chants echoing, and more than 60 people climbing the Capitol steps by hand. One moment still stops us cold, eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan pulling herself upward and saying she’d take all night if she had to. That image made a simple point lawmakers could not talk around: without ramps and accessible entrances, disabled people are locked out of civic life.Then we get into what happened after the ADA passed and why “passing a law” isn’t the same as guaranteeing access. We talk about ramps, curb cuts, accessible transit, and workplace accommodations, plus the frustrating gaps: weak enforcement, the burden of civil recourse, and how accessibility breaks down on private property like shopping center parking lots. We also dig into why fines for blocking access don’t land the same for everyone, especially across income levels, and what that means for real-world disability justice.If you care about accessibility, disability advocacy, civil rights, or the history behind the ADA, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review so more people find the show.Support the show