Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Praise the Lord for providing accessibility for those with disabilities!
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Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with some accessible memories.
You know, I suffered my diving accident at a time when there was no such thing as access for people like me in wheelchairs. I remember in the 1970s – years after I broke my neck and finally got adjusted to life in a wheelchair – I remember when I would go to restaurants, I’d have to wheel down an alley, past smelly dumpsters, and into a side door that led through a crowded, noisy kitchen… all this to reach the dining table. Or I recall going to a museum in Washington DC and my sister had to tilt my wheelchair back and pull me up the steps, bumpety-bump-bump, to get through the front door. To this day, I still laugh at the time I got stuck in a lady’s dressing room trying on clothes; it was a very small dressing room and unfortunately, my wheelchair got wedged, got jammed between the swinging door and the wall; the store manager had to come and jerk me free. All this was very humiliating, but that was life back then, before the Americans with Disabilities Act.
With each passing year, I racked up more embarrassing incidents of being stranded, getting stuck, navigating long, winding detours to the restaurants, movies, churches, stores. That was then. But in the late 1980s, as I became more skilled in advocating for myself, I somehow landed a position on the National Council on Disability under President Reagan. And one of the first initiatives our Council tackled was lack of access in public places. It took a couple of years to get through Congress, but, oh, what an honor to finally find myself sitting on the White House lawn with other Council members as we watched President Bush sign into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.
That’s a memory I treasure as I am about to mark 55 years in my wheelchair. And all these decades later, I don’t often think about my tenure on the National Council on Disability and all that was accomplished through the ADA. But just a couple of weeks ago, Ken and I traveled to Yosemite National Park, and we were awestruck by God’s creation, so much beauty around us, the trees, meadows, stopping to look up at El Capitan and Half Dome, so majestic, rising above the Yosemite valley floor! And everywhere we went the paths were paved. And they were marked with access symbols. And each path was smooth and straight, miles and miles of trails for me to wander, all throughout the national park. I could even easily wheel into the Ansel Adams Museum. I could wheel into shops and restaurants. And for places I could not wheel, well, there were accessible trams. At one point I just had to stop and think back on all those long ago, crazy days that I would have to make my way through dark alleys and back doors. And now, I almost got choked up wheeling those accessible paths in Yosemite for wheelchair users like me. Never did I dream that day on the White House lawn when the ADA was signed into law that even our national parks would be made accessible.
Psalm 16 says that the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. And I would add, accessible places. Hey, today marks the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. And I thank God that he used my wheelchair so many years ago to help bring it about in at least a small way. And that, for me, is a cause for celebration. God bless you today, and thanks for listening!
© Joni and Friends