Community Living Campaign

Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.

Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.

Stories about the ADA

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On the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we asked participants to share their stories about how the ADA has impacted their lives. Here are just a couple of those stories:

From John Trasvina:

When I worked as Senator Paul Simon’s counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1980s and 1990s, he was instrumental in the passage of the disability access provisions of the Fair Housing Act and the full Americans with Disabilities Act.   The most compelling memory I have is when members of the public who had disabilities would come to Washington D.C. to speak with staff or at hearings about the importance of these laws to their daily lives.  In particular, representatives of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) who were afflicted with these illnesses would describe their daily challenges.  Their courage and strength educated people in Washington and helped pass these laws.   They should be remembered today as well as the political leaders who passed the bills and signed them into law.

From Nicky Trasvina:

When my kids were little we rented a funky old house at 46th and Taraval. It felt like the end of the world out there. But there was a highlight! On the corner stood The Bashful Bull Too, a large diner with huge plate windows that served excellent pancakes. Those pancakes were so delicious that my father enjoyed bringing us there almost every Sunday. Sometimes we were  joined by my uncle or a family friend or two. We were a party of at least 6.

But during the 1990s tragedy struck and my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers and simultaneously lost her mobility, making her wheel-chair bound. Yet my dad insisted we keep going to The Bashful Bull Too. So we brought my mom downstairs, into the car, along with the wheelchair and off we would go. Tragedy struck again around 2002 and my dad was stricken with a form of ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease. Our family was in shock to see two very intelligent and active seniors lose most of their physical abilities almost overnight.
But we knew that my dad wanted to continue the Sunday family tradition of going to The Bashful Bull Too. So almost every Sunday, my brother, my boys, and I would somehow carry my parents down from the second story of their home, get them situated in the car, load up the wheelchairs  and drive to 46th and Taraval. Then we would carefully get them out of the car, unload the wheelchairs and off we would go!
The bittersweet aspect of this story is that when the Bashful Bull Too owner and waiter saw us approaching the front door they did everything they could to accommodate us! They held the door for us while another moved tables and chairs. They saved the corner table for us to shield us from the drafty door opening and closing, they brought us coffee and menus immediately. They made the experience as easy as possible for my parents and for the rest of the family. I will never forget their kindness and the respect they showed to my parents! We never felt like a spectacle causing so much commotion, but appreciated the fanfare of their welcome!
Yes, this did take place after the ADA was voted and approved in 1990, but to me, the owner and her staff embodied the underlying meaning and mission of the ADA. They did not behave this way because of the ADA. Yes, it’s important but a sad commentary that we have to have laws to tell people the right thing to do, to notice and to make accommodations so that everyone is treated fairly and given full access. It is the strength of the law that protects what differently -abled individuals have gained and benefit in their daily lives.
The bittersweet aspect of this story is that the owner and her staff did not behave this way for the ADA. Their assistance to us was inspired out of the goodness of their hearts. Their show of respect and kindness to my parents is a bittersweet story of all our fortitude and determination to make my parents’ lives as regular and happy as possible for the longest time possible. We could not have done it without our friends at the Bashful Bull Too.
I want to thank Jennifer Walsh, a warrior for the differently-abled community, for asking for stories about how the ADA has impacted our lives and the experiences of those with disabilities.