Video by Linda Litowsky 1990
Courtesy of the author/ADAPT Museum
On March 12, 1990, over 60 disabled activists left their wheelchairs and mobility aids and began crawling up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. This performative protest, known as the Capitol Crawl, offered a dramatic demonstration of the restrictions faced by millions of Americans in accessing public life. Led by ADAPT (a grassroots disability rights organization), the protest helped pressure Congress into passing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which remains the landmark legislation prohibiting discrimination based on disability in the United States. A video of the protest in the museum exhibit hall brings this moment to life for visitors.
While this legislation was a watershed moment in disability politics in the country, it was neither its beginning nor its conclusion. Historically, disabled individuals have fought against the limitations imposed on their life and have often joined other political causes—framing disability not just as a personal condition but a political question.
The political organizing of disabled individuals coalesced in the disability rights movement in the 1970s. This movement challenged discriminatory laws and asserted disabled people’s right to shape their own futures, drawing inspiration from other liberation movements such as the Black Power movement and its call for self-determination. A major turning point came in 1973 with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which banned discrimination against people with disabilities in federally funded programs. A hard-won victory, this law opened the path to the ADA. And yet, many have brought attention to the need to go beyond the pursuit of rights: Rather than ensuring that disabled individuals are not discriminated against within prevailing systems, disability justice advocates invite us to question those very systems.
