SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Thirty-five years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. It was the world's first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. To commemorate the anniversary, NPR member station KCUR's podcast, "A People's History Of Kansas City," has a new episode out celebrating some of the protesters, advocates and lawmakers who got the ADA passed. Mackenzie Martin reported this episode and joins us now. Hey there.
MACKENZIE MARTIN, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So let's start back before the ADA, which has been, you know, in - signed into law for so long now, it's sometimes hard to remember. What was life like before that for people with disabilities?
MARTIN: Yeah. Before the ADA, people with disabilities led much more isolated lives. We're talking no real formal education, way less access to public spaces. Discrimination was rampant. People could ask you to leave if they didn't like the way you looked. In 1964, we passed the Civil Rights Act, which was huge, but it didn't include any provisions for people with disabilities. The ADA took another 26 years.
DETROW: What is the best way to think about how the ADA changed things across the country?
MARTIN: Formally, the ADA guaranteed equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation and more. But it also dramatically altered our physical world. You know, today, the ADA is ingrained in how America builds buildings and does business. It's why we have curb cuts, and everyone in America benefits from stuff like this. Curb cuts are really helpful if you have a mobility aid, like a wheelchair, but it's also great for people pushing a stroller or riding a bike.
DETROW: I had no idea that those were directly tied to this law.
MARTIN: I'm so glad that I'm teaching you this.
DETROW: Yeah, 'cause it's just a given, but it wasn't always a given. I think that's a great example. This episode focuses on people in Kansas who played a big role in this law being passed. And first and foremost on that list is Bob Dole, longtime Republican senator from Kansas, longtime Republican leader in the Senate, of course, ran for president as well. Tell me about Dole's past as a disability advocate.
MARTIN: Yeah, Dole got involved with all of this because it was personal for him. He served in World War II, and he lost the use of his right arm in combat. And it kind of woke him up to how inaccessible this country was. So starting in the '60s, you really see him become a national voice for people with disabilities in Congress. He actually made his first speech on the Senate floor on the 24th anniversary of the day he was wounded in the war.
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BOB DOLE: And I said at that time, handicapped people - they've always suffered from discrimination and exclusion. It may not be a problem of being excluded from the front of the bus, but as often as a problem of being excluded from even getting on the bus. If there's a foot-and-half curb, you might as well be in China. You're just that far away. And we're making some progress, but it's very slow.
MARTIN: Senator Dole also supported a lot of really important policies and legislation in the '70s - the most important by far being Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities for programs receiving federal funds. And that was kind of the famous building block that the ADA ran with years later.
DETROW: So let's talk about Dole's role in getting the ADA passed.
MARTIN: What he really brought to the table was his ability to work across the aisle with Democrats. Senator Tom Harkin was a Democrat from Iowa who helped introduce the ADA, and he famously called Dole their linchpin to the Republicans. He was also known for being pretty fiscally conservative. So when businesses or other Republicans would come at him with concerns about how much this legislation was going to cost, he always had an answer. Like, he would frame the ADA as good for the economy overall.
DETROW: Thirty years on, it's pretty fair to say this law is an example of government working. There's this bipartisan coalition - we're talking about Bob Dole. It was signed into law by a Republican president. There were a lot of Democratic ideas as well. This is something that made a big difference in a lot of people's lives for the better. You have been taking a look at this moment, not just at the work of Bob Dole but other advocates as well. I'm curious what your takeaways were for how this all came together.
MARTIN: My biggest takeaway is really the power of collective advocacy. You know, we've been talking about the lawmakers, but another huge, incredibly influential part of all of this was the advocates and the protesters who held lawmakers like Dole accountable. In March 1990, the ADA had passed the U.S. Senate, but it was stalled in the House. And activists were sick of waiting around, so, led by the group ADAPT, they planned a number of very public demonstrations. And one of the most famous is the Capitol Crawl, which involved 60 disability rights activists abandoning their wheelchairs and other mobility aids and physically climbing up the U.S. Capitol steps.
DETROW: Let's actually listen to a moment from your podcast about that scene. This is described by a Kansas City writer and wheelchair user, Rebekah Taussig.
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REBEKAH TAUSSIG: The 1990 Capitol Crawl - the images of that are iconic.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hey, yeah, now.
TAUSSIG: Like, you have the Capitol towering and then these people pulling their bodies up the steps to demonstrate the spectacle of inaccessibility. This is what this looks like. If this is uncomfortable to you, it should be.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hey, yeah, now.
MO WEST: It wasn't just a protest. It was, like, a turning point.
MARTIN: And that last voice you heard there was Senator Bob Dole's legislative aide, Mo West, who was actually at these protests, and she told me it was a major impetus for getting the ADA passed a few months later.
DETROW: This is interesting to hear about at this moment in time, where, for a wide variety of reasons, a lot of people throughout the country feel like the government does not work for them or just does not work, period. I'm wondering what, if anything, you think from 30 years ago is applicable right now when it comes to how government is working or not working?
MARTIN: Yeah, I mean, this came up with everyone I talked with. And I can't sit here and pretend that it's a very easy time to be looking at the government, but I've reported a lot of big history stories like this now, and I do think it is really helpful to look into the past. Progress isn't linear. It takes decades to compromise and make change, but it's always worth doing that work. And one of the Kansas organizers that I researched, Gina McDonald - 20 years ago, she said that it's often times like this when people are the most ready to organize.
DETROW: That is Mackenzie Martin, one of the hosts of KCUR's podcast, "A People's History Of Kansas City," about the everyday people who shaped Kansas and Missouri. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for talking to us.
MARTIN: Thank you.
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