
Trailer | Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Preview: Season 37 Episode 2 | 2m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
The dramatic story of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.
The dramatic story of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The film highlights the determined people who literally put their bodies on the line to pass the legislation that changed the lives of all Americans.
Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Trailer | Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Preview: Season 37 Episode 2 | 2m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
The dramatic story of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The film highlights the determined people who literally put their bodies on the line to pass the legislation that changed the lives of all Americans.
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When is a photo an act of resistance?
For families that just decades earlier were torn apart by chattel slavery, being photographed together was proof of their resilience.Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipPROTESTERS: A.D.A.
now!
A.D.A.
now!
A.D.A.
now!
A.D.A.
now!
Our time has come.
Pass this bill now!
(cheering) STENY HOYER: They couldn't be moved.
And Speaker Foley got very upset about it.
And he said to me, "This is just going too far."
But after you get by the "this is going too far," then you get to, "What are they saying?"
♪ ♪ ANITA CAMERON: Civil rights aren't given.
You have to fight to get 'em and then you have to fight to keep 'em.
PROTESTERS: What do we get for 504?
PROTESTER: We feel like we'r building a real social movement.
It's the first really militant thing that disabled people have ever done.
♪ ♪ MARY LOU BRESLIN: There were barriers every single step of the way.
♪ ♪ JOHN WODATCH: The disability community had had enough.
♪ ♪ ARLENE MAYERSON: In order to have equal opportunity, there had to be accommodations.
Everything was architecturally inaccessible virtually everywhere in the world.
The restrooms in my high school were not accessible.
So it wasn't possible to use the restroom during the day.
LAWRENCE CARTER: It was "out of sight, out of mind" as public policy.
CAMERON: And a lot of it was about money.
PAT WRIGHT: But we realized that people with disabilities could be a political force.
♪ ♪ They weren't going to accep second-class status any longer.
WRIGHT: We decided to send a delegation to Washington.
CAMERON: I felt like, "Oh, my gosh.
We have to do this to make y'all see."
CYNDI JONES: She's a cute little kid, and she's crawling up those steps.
WOMAN: Do you want to take a rest?
JENNIFER KEELAN-CHAFFINS: I'll take all night if I have to!
JONES: And you could see the-- oh, I got goosebumps-- you could see the future of America.
GEORGE H.W.
BUSH: I now lift my pen and say let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.
(applauding) CARTER: For the first time in many people's lives, they were given the opportunity to dream.
I.
KING JORDAN It was a moment when I realized that life was going to change.
♪ ♪
Chapter 1 | ASL | Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Video has Closed Captions
ASL Watch a preview of Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act. (9m 17s)
Chapter 1 | Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Video has Closed Captions
Watch a preview of Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act. (9m 17s)
Trailer | ASL | Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Video has Closed Captions
ASL The dramatic story of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. (2m 23s)
Trailer | Extended Audio Description | Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
Video has Closed Captions
EXTENDED AD The dramatic story of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. (2m 50s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipCorporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.