The ADA just turned 30. Where are we now?

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Acts being signed into law, enacting a sweeping measure that changed how children are educated, workers are hired, and buildings are built. The disability rights movement is not done, activists say, as people still fight for the “reasonable accommodations” guaranteed by the law to become reality, from still-inaccessible public places to discrimination in hiring. As the U.S. reckons with systemic racism, BIPOC writers with disabilities reflect on the past, present, and future of disability rights and justice in the Disability Visibility Project’s #ADA30InColor: “I’d rather the ADA exist than not, but as we’re seeing under Covid-19, it means very little for Native lives,” Jen Deerinwater writes.