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3/12/2025 11:17:18 AM
Two important events in disability history happened on March 12, 1990: The Wheels of Justice March and Capitol Crawl. Over 1,000 disability advocates representing 30 states marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Once the marchers arrived at the Capitol about 60 of the activists left their wheelchairs and other mobility aids and crawled up to the top of the Capitol. There were 83 steps.
Activist Mike Ervin wrote about his experience at the event in An Oral History of the Capitol Crawl. In the article he shares:
“I remember ADAPT leader Mike Auberger, a quadriplegic who spoke at the rally, telling me people were getting out of their wheelchairs and crawling up the steps as a vivid, symbolic demonstration of what the struggle to pass the ADA was all about. Congress was smugly ensconced in its ivory tower, trying to pretend that we didn’t exist. But we weren’t going to let them ignore us.”
In an interview with the Indiana Disability History Project, former U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, who introduced and championed the ADA, said of the Capitol Crawl, “When that hit the evening news all over America, we got the bill [ADA] out of the House 30 days later.”
This video of the Capitol Crawl helps demonstrate the power of their advocacy.
The youngest person to climb the steps at the Capitol Crawl was eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins. This wasn't her first time advocating though. At age six, she attended her first protest in Phoenix to advocate for accessible buses with ADAPT, the same disability rights group that helped organize the 1990 march in D.C.
“For me at age six, this was the first time that I ever had seen people with disabilities like myself fighting for their rights,” said Keelan-Chaffins, who continued her activist work and helped develop the children’s book All the Way to the Top about her Capitol climb. “I realized these people with disabilities are fighting for their right to be acknowledged and accepted…and I can too, and I want to be a part of that.”
It's Our Story did a multi-part interview with Jennifer. It's Our Story is a national initiative to make disability history national and accessible.
Recognition
