A reception hosted by TIRR Memorial Hermann in Washington, D.C., set the stage for two weeks of celebration of the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Attending the event, held last July at the J.W. Marriott, were members of the ADA Participation Action Research Consortium and key disability rights activists.
Among those present was Lex Frieden, widely regarded as a chief architect of the ADA and the director of the independent Living Research Utilization program at TIRR Memorial Hermann. “For people with disabilities, the ADA was our emancipation act,” says Frieden, a professor of biomedical informatics at The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston. “Before the ADA, a person could look you in the eye and deny you a job or deny you entrance to college simply because you were in a wheelchair and it was perfectly legal to do so.”
Frieden was a freshman in college in 1967 when he suffered a spinal cord injury in an auto accident. Following rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann, he was denied readmission to the university. He later completed a B.S. in psychology at the University of Tulsa and an M.A. in social psychology at the University of Houston.
Frieden was in Washington for two weeks attending receptions, ceremonies and conferences; participating in panel discussions; and delivering remarks, including an introduction of Pierce Bush, the grandson of President George H. W. Bush, at the ADA 25th Anniversary Party held July 26 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“The celebration was a reminder that the disability community doesn’t need anything more than a voice,” Josehart says. “Lasting change comes from listening and creating partnerships with individuals seeking change. I left the events feeling hopeful that if policymakers continue to listen to the voices of people who live with a disability, we’ll continue to find solutions.”