‘We want to ride’: the 1978 protest that sparked the disability rights movement
Episode
24 min
Read time
2 min
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AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Civil disobedience strategy: The Gang of Nineteen used a three-wheelchair formation to immobilize Denver city buses — one at the door, one at the front, one at the side — making it physically impossible for drivers to move. This precise, non-verbal tactic required no confrontation, just positioning, and held two buses overnight for roughly 16 hours.
- ✓The "right to be arrested" precedent: Denver police refused to arrest wheelchair users during the 1978 protest because buses, police vans, jails, and courthouses were all inaccessible. Attorney John Holland successfully argued this denied protesters equal protection under law — establishing that disability activists have a legal right to be taken seriously as civil demonstrators.
- ✓Cost argument for home care: Providing attendant care for severely disabled individuals in their own homes costs less on average than nursing home placement. For someone like Nikki Bishop, who requires approximately 23 hours of daily care, Medicaid-funded home support enables full-time employment and parenting — outcomes institutionalization would eliminate entirely.
- ✓Olmstead decision as legal foundation: The 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead ruling established that disabled people requiring long-term care have a constitutional right to receive it within their community rather than institutions. A June 2025 DOJ memo now signals states may no longer carry that obligation, creating a direct legal challenge advocates are preparing to contest.
- ✓Medicaid cuts create immediate care gaps: Colorado's 2025 budget capped paid Medicaid caregiver hours, forcing family members to fill professional care gaps unpaid. Disability advocates warn that without federal oversight, states facing budget pressure will systematically reduce in-home support services — pushing disabled residents back toward nursing home placement as a default cost-cutting measure.
What It Covers
NPR's Up First traces the 1978 Denver bus protest by 19 wheelchair users — the "Gang of Nineteen" — through the 1990 Capitol Crawl to the ADA's passage, then examines how 2025 federal Medicaid cuts and a DOJ memo now threaten the independent living rights that movement secured.
Key Questions Answered
- •Civil disobedience strategy: The Gang of Nineteen used a three-wheelchair formation to immobilize Denver city buses — one at the door, one at the front, one at the side — making it physically impossible for drivers to move. This precise, non-verbal tactic required no confrontation, just positioning, and held two buses overnight for roughly 16 hours.
- •The "right to be arrested" precedent: Denver police refused to arrest wheelchair users during the 1978 protest because buses, police vans, jails, and courthouses were all inaccessible. Attorney John Holland successfully argued this denied protesters equal protection under law — establishing that disability activists have a legal right to be taken seriously as civil demonstrators.
- •Cost argument for home care: Providing attendant care for severely disabled individuals in their own homes costs less on average than nursing home placement. For someone like Nikki Bishop, who requires approximately 23 hours of daily care, Medicaid-funded home support enables full-time employment and parenting — outcomes institutionalization would eliminate entirely.
- •Olmstead decision as legal foundation: The 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead ruling established that disabled people requiring long-term care have a constitutional right to receive it within their community rather than institutions. A June 2025 DOJ memo now signals states may no longer carry that obligation, creating a direct legal challenge advocates are preparing to contest.
- •Medicaid cuts create immediate care gaps: Colorado's 2025 budget capped paid Medicaid caregiver hours, forcing family members to fill professional care gaps unpaid. Disability advocates warn that without federal oversight, states facing budget pressure will systematically reduce in-home support services — pushing disabled residents back toward nursing home placement as a default cost-cutting measure.
Notable Moment
Wade Blank, a Presbyterian minister who marched at Selma alongside Martin Luther King, took a job at a Denver nursing home and discovered residents covered in flies and bedsores. His response was to treat the facility like a college dorm — organizing camping trips, voter registration drives, and eventually a national movement.
Episode Transcript
I'm Ayesha Rasco. This is a Sunday story from Up First. Let's go back in time to this exact day thirty six years ago. It's when president George H. W. Bush picked up his pen and signed a landmark piece of legislation. And welcome to every one of you out there in this splendid scene of hope spread across the South Lawn Of The White House. The legislation was the Americans with Disabilities Act, an immense civil rights law. Disabled people could no longer be excluded from jobs, public transit, restaurants, stores, and hotels. As he put his name on the law, President Bush thanked the biggest stakeholders who were perhaps the loudest in advocating for the bill, the tens of millions of Americans with disabilities. And to all of you, I just wanna say your triumph is that your bill will now be law and that this day belongs to you. And on behalf of our nation, thank you very, very much. One major act of inclusion the law provided involved independence. The ADA opened the door to Americans with disabilities to live and receive care in their own homes, to live within their community rather than in a nursing home or institution. It's a hard fought right gained after years of activism. Today on the Sunday story, NPR's Joseph Shapiro and Stephanie Wolf of Colorado Public Radio are going to share their reporting on this bedrock of disability rights in The US. We'll be right back. This message comes from MidiHealth, a virtual care platform for women in perimenopause and menopause. CEO Joanna Strober shares the mission behind working with women in midlife. It's not just about hormones. It's not just about weight loss medications. We are very much a holistic care platform, and our job is to figure out whatever medications appropriate for you and offer you those medications. MediHealth, committed to helping women in midlife with perimenopause and menopause care, accessible via telehealth visits at joinmidi.com. This message comes from Betterment. You know when you sell a stock or any investing asset and start to feel the dread of getting a surprise tax bill? Betterment's tax impact preview tool shows you the estimated tax impact of the sale so you can make informed tax smart investing decisions. Get started today at betterment.com. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. Betterment is not a tax adviser nor should any information herein be considered tax advice. Please consult a qualified tax professional. We're back with a Sunday story and an episode about the disability rights movement in America. Now I'm gonna hand it over to NPR's Joseph Shapiro and Colorado Public Radio's Stephanie Wolf. I was on the South Lawn of the White House thirty six years ago today as a reporter to cover the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. People came from all over the country with every kind of disability. It was a celebration. Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down. God …
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