Friend, July 26 should be a full-on celebration, balloons, confetti, Beyoncé-level Disability Pride. 35 years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) changed the game. It wasn’t just a law, it was a civil rights milestone, led by disabled people, that told this country: Disabled people exist. We matter. And we will not be pushed aside. The ADA opened doors, literally and figuratively: - Curb cuts
- Captioning
- Accessible voting
- Inclusive classrooms
- Employment protections
- Access like nondisabled people have every day.
This law reshaped our world. And I’ve lived all 35 years of it. I’m a pre-ADA baby. I didn’t even know I had rights until college because no one taught me. Imagine if disability rights were part of every school’s curriculum. Would disability be more accepted? More understood? I remember being a kid in a world that didn’t make space for me. Where you had to fight just to exist, let alone be included in a classroom, a job, or your own future. And today? We still meet youth and adults with disabilities who are just learning about the ADA, 35 years later. But when they do? I see it. The spark. The confidence. The pride. They begin to understand: They belong. Their voice matters. At the ADA signing on July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush stood before a sea of disabled Americans and declared: “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.” Those words meant something. They still do. But this year, that wall doesn’t feel like it’s falling. It feels like it’s being rebuilt, brick by brick. Why? - Civil rights enforcement? Gutted.
- ADA compliance? Ignored or delayed.
- Access? Still treated like a favor instead of the right it is.
The ADA is not radical. It’s not a burden. It’s not “extra.” It’s the floor, not the ceiling. It’s the bare minimum of what equity and belonging look like. And yet, 35 years later, we still hear: - “It’s too expensive to be accessible.”
- “It’s too hard to accommodate everyone.”
- “It’s too much to ask.”
- “We don’t have to comply.”
No. Nope. Enough. It’s too much to keep asking disabled people to fight for crumbs of inclusion in a system that was never built for us. Yes, the ADA changed lives. It changed my life. I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. But a law is only as strong as the will to enforce it. And progress without protection? That’s just a promise on paper. To my fellow disabled people: You don’t have to earn your place. You already belong. - The ADA was written with you front and center. Know your rights. Use your voice. Take pride as a disabled person who has the right to live in this world.
To allies: The ADA is your responsibility, too. Accessibility isn’t optional. - Stop whispering it like a favor - demand it, fund it, and build it in from the start. (P.S.- It’s often free, and when it’s not, it still won’t break the bank.)
To lawmakers and leaders: Y’all. If you believe in freedom, prove it. - Protect the ADA. Enforce it. Expand it.
- Weakening civil rights isn’t budget reform, it’s discrimination. The ADA was never the finish line; it was the starting block.
So yes, we celebrate what this law made possible. But we also recommit to what still needs to happen. Because we’re not going back to begging for access. Not now. Not ever. We’re proud. We’re powerful. And we’re not done yet. You with me? - Kimberly Tissot, President and CEO, Able South Carolina | 
