AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A panning shot of the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building on March 13th 1990.

Inside, police stand by as protesters fill the building, pumping their fists in unison with their chanting.

Some stand while others sit in wheelchairs.

A group of unintroduced individuals give brief commentary over black and white protest photos.

PROTESTERS: A.D.A.

now!

A.D.A.

now!

A.D.A.

now!

Our time has come, pass this bill now!

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?"

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Cut to black.

Text: American Experience Films.

ANITA CAMERON: Civil rights aren't given.

You have to fight to get 'em and then you have to fight to keep 'em.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Continued protest footage PROTESTER: We feel like we're building a real social movement.

It's the first really militant thing that disabled people have ever done.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Text: A#decades long struggle.

♪ MARY LOU BRESLIN: There .. every single step of the way.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: To ensure civil rights JOHN WODATCH: The disability community had had enough.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: And equal opportunity ARLENE MAYERSON: In order to have equal opportunity, there had to be accommodations.

BRESLIN: 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 CAMERON: And a lot of it was about money.

PAT WRIGHT: But we realized that people with disabilities could be a political force.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: In continued footage, demonstrators dressed in blue hold signs and flags, many in wheelchairs, as they make their way to the Capitol Building.

CARTER: They weren't going to accept 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."

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: in front of a crowd of cameras, demonstrators crawl, scoot, and drag up the steps of the Capitol Building.

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: .. 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.

[APPLAUSE] 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 is going to change.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: an American flag, its white stars illustrating a wheelchair symbol.

Text: American Experience Films Change, Not Charity: the Americans with Disabilities Act