Premieres Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE "Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act," a new documentary tells the emotional and dramatic story of the decades-long push for equality and accessibility that culminated in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. While curb cuts, ramps at building entrances, and braille on elevator buttons seem commonplace today, they were once the subject of a pitched battle that landed on the steps of Congress.
Told through the voices of key participants and witnesses, the film highlights the determined people who literally put their bodies on the line to achieve their goal and change the lives of all Americans.
A story of courage and perseverance, the film brings to life one of the great civil rights movements in American history, where ordinary people made their voices heard and Congress responded. A testament to the power of coalition building and bipartisan compromise, the passage of the ADA is a shining example of democracy in action.
In the 1970s, a movement was ignited to lift disability out of the shadows, spurred by a shocking television expose of the horrific abuses at Willowbrook, a state institution for disabled children and adults in Staten Island. At the time, one in four Americans lived with a disability. A fraction held jobs and most lived in poverty.
In California, a small group of disabled college students and community members formed the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley. Rejecting the model of charity and pity, the Independent Living Movement charted a new course to empower people with disabilities to lead independent lives.
On April 5, 1977, demonstrations took place at federal offices across the country to fight for rights promised — but never implemented — in Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The San Francisco protest lasted 28 days and ended victoriously with signed regulations prohibiting discrimination in federally funded institutions and programs.
Empowered by the victory, a new organization grew out of CIL: the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF). Motivated to heighten their influence in shaping disability rights legislation and policy, DREDF opened an office in Washington, DC, in 1983. They took the battle to Washington to mobilize Congress and the White House to enact comprehensive legislation enshrining civil rights for people with disabilities in all public and private areas of American life.
While DREDF plotted the inside game of Washington politics, activists took to the streets to demand action. American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) mobilized members to chain their wheelchairs to buses and form blockades at bus depots to draw attention to the lack of accessible transportation nationwide.
On March 6, 1988, students at Washington’s Gallaudet University, the premiere university for people who are deaf, launched a massive — and successful — protest to elect the first deaf president in its 124-year history.
In the wake of the protest, Congress finally proposed the Americans with Disabilities Act in April 1988. Derisively nicknamed “the bankruptcy bill” for the immense cost required to make the country accessible, the bipartisan effort to pass the bill failed. But in January 1989, newly elected President George H.W. Bush, whose favorite uncle was a polio survivor, signaled his support for disability rights, and the bill received a lifeline.
Still, scores of lobbyists tried to derail the bill and progress stalled. Frustrated, ADAPT summoned protesters to Washington, and on March 12, 1990, over 700 people marched from the White House to the Capitol. At the base of the Capitol, activists — most in wheelchairs — dropped to the ground and dragged themselves to the top of the 83 steps, forever remembered as “The Capitol Crawl.” The next day, protesters occupied the Capitol Rotunda, resulting in 104 arrests.
The pressure from the protests and news coverage finally prompted Congress to pass the legislation, and on July 26, 1990, nearly 3000 people watched President Bush sign the ADA into law on the White House lawn.
Since its passing, the ADA has been responsible for transformational changes in the built environment — including curb cuts and ramps, wheelchair-accessible public transportation, braille signage in shared public spaces — and led to the widespread use of closed captioning, making video content available to those who are deaf and hard of hearing. Yet, there is still much to be achieved. Many Americans with disabilities remain unemployed and live in poverty.
“I'm grateful for the ADA,” says activist Anita Cameron in the film. “I pushed for it. I fought for it. I went to jail for it. But the ADA is the floor — it's not the ceiling.”
Related Article: How People with Disabilities Helped Win World War II
Watch On Your Schedule:
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE "Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act" will stream for free simultaneously with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. The show will be broadcast with open captions and audio description.
Viewers who stream on the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE website, PBS.org and on the PBS app will have access to four versions of the film: a version with closed captions, a version interpreted with American Sign Language and open captions, a version with extended audio description, and a version with Spanish language closed captions.
Credits: Narrated by Peter Dinklage. Directed by Jim Lebrecht. Written and Produced by: Chana Gazit. Produced by Hilary Klotz Steinman and Sarah Keeling. Edited by Sandra Christie, Ace. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is a production of GBH Boston. Executive Producer: Cameo George
