[Music]
[Logo: Ampers, with tagline: Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities.]
[Photo: John Riddle]
John Riddle: Like, I can see where I want to go but I can’t get there. And that’s kind of frustrating.
[Logo: Ampers, with taglines: Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, and Keep Moving Forward.]
Host: This is Keep Moving Forward.
[Photo: President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Photo courtesy of the George Bush Presidential Library.]
George H.W. Bush: Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.
[Logos: ADA 25: Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990-2015, and Disability Rights Are Civil Rights. Logos courtesy of the ADA National Network, www.adata.org.]
Host: Exploring the legacy and promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
[Photos: John Riddle]
John Riddle: My name is John Riddle. I’m in a manual wheelchair. I’m not paralyzed, I’m not paraplegic. I just have a brain injury, which means that I have poor balance and coordination.
Even places that say they are accessible a lot of times are not. My chair doesn’t fit through some corners and I have a small chair. I do wish that the people that are in charge of things like ramps or handicapped restrooms would spend a month in a wheelchair, so they can see first-hand these minor obstacles that you would never think would be a problem, suddenly are a huge problem.
I don’t see this ever happening. But I just wish that they would do what I do every day, and act as though they are not gonna be standing up anytime soon.
[Logos: the Minnesota Council on Disability, the Minnesota Humanities Center, the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, and the Ampers radio station.]
Host: Keep Moving Forward is supported by the Minnesota Council on Disability, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, online at Ampers.org.