40 years of Denver's disability rights movement inspire nationwide action
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Dawn Russell, a member of ADAPT's Denver chapter, in front of ADAPT's flag in 2005. Photo: Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Denver is the birthplace of a prominent grassroots organization, American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), that uses civil disobedience and mass arrests in the fight for disability rights.
Why it matters: 40 years after its official creation in 1983, ADAPT's nonviolent, direct action tactics have inspired a nationwide movement, with 36 active chapters in 25 states.
Go deeper: See iconic photos from the last four decades of ADAPT's struggle for disability rights in Denver and nationwide.
Why representation matters, according to movement photographer Tom Olin:
- Most "look at people with disabilities like 'poor thing'; it's real important for groups to say, Hey we're strong! We need photos [that show that]," Olin tells Axios.
"I was at an action and there were three photographers taking the same shot. When I saw the newspaper and I saw their shots, [for] one photographer, the chair was the most important thing, [as] the symbol of disability. I was more focused on that person's face, how he exuded that power that came from being oppressed for so long."
Tom Malone and Shaila Jackson (below, left photo) and 8-year-old Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins (right), were among the protestors who crawled up the U.S. Capitol steps to persuade Congress to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Years later as an adult, Keelan-Chaffins mused "it was the image of me climbing those steps that was the final decision to get the ADA passed."
In 2017, the group made headlines when their actions across the country helped defeat the GOP's attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Medicaid's budget by over $800 billion.
- In Denver, local ADAPT members held a sit-in at U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner's office for 58 hours before being arrested.
