(Comment) – On July 5, 1978, a handful of activists rolled their wheelchairs in front of two buses at the Colfax and Broadway transit stop in downtown Denver. They held cardboard signs with “Freedom rider” and “Buses are for everyone” written on them and repeated the incisive chant, “We will ride!” The Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) had just released a fleet of new buses intended to improve transportation. But only ten buses in the entire city had wheelchair lifts. The activists, known as the Gang of 19, stayed on the street overnight. Eventually, the city agreed to add lifts to at least a third of the fleet.

Public transit systems are ostensibly meant for general use, yet many Canadian and American cities are still undergoing costly renovations to adapt infrastructure not built with a broad view of the human experience. At least 3.6 million Americans don’t leave their homes because of a disability, testifying to modes of transportation that have forgotten or ignored them. (Read More)