The Americans with Disabilities Act celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015. On April 15, the VKC and the Nashville community hosted the ADA Legacy Bus Tour, “literally and figuratively a moving testament to the work of thousands of disability rights activists,” said AUCD director Andy Imparato.
The ADA Legacy Bus Tour in Nashville was co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC), the Tennessee Disability Coalition, and the Center for Independent Living of Middle Tennessee.
The bus made a morning stop at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, where students, trainees, faculty, staff, and area educators and disability service providers viewed the four-panel display on the history of self-advocacy (courtesy of the Museum of disABILITY History) as well as displays on the ADA Legacy Project and its effort to preserve disability history, to celebrate disability history milestones, and to educate future generations of disability advocates. Representatives from the VKC, Disability Coalition, and Center for Independent Living were also on hand to greet guests and to share information about community disability services.
“We were pleased to welcome disability services representatives from Austin Peay State University and Middle Tennessee State University, students from Tyler Lisowski’s Community-Based Transition Program in Metro Nashville Public Schools, and a group of self-advocates from Winchester, as well as our own Next Steps at Vanderbilt students and alumni,” said Lynnette Henderson, Ph.D., VKC UCEDD Associate Director of Adult Community Services. “It was lovely to see the juxtaposition of the 25 years of ADA with the 50 years of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center.”
After the bus pulled away from Vanderbilt, it made its way to the East Community Center, where Mayor Karl Dean and three individuals with disabilities–Kenton Dickerson, Carol Francisco, and Emily Hoskins–spoke on the impact that the ADA has made in 25 years. Attendees were treated to a dance performance by Movement Connection, a troupe sponsored by VSA Tennessee. Additionally, Tammy Vice, Nashville songwriter, musician, and autism parent/advocate, performed with Logan Blade, a young man on the autism spectrum.
“We were honored to serve as one of the hosts of the ADA Legacy Bus Tour,” said Carol Westlake, executive director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition. “For the last 25 years, the Americans with Disabilities Act has served as a ‘Road to Freedom’ for millions of Americans. Nashville’s advocates were reminded of the importance of working together to ensure the rights of all people with disabilities and were able to celebrate those leaders who have brought us so far.”
The goals of ADA Legacy Bus Tour are to preserve and to promote the history of the disability rights movement; to honor the impact of the ADA, as well as those who worked tirelessly for its passage in 1990; and to educate the public to create opportunity for greater understanding, inclusion, and access into the future.
To learn more about the ADA Legacy Bus Tour as well as to see where the bus will be headed next, visit www.adalegacy.com/ada25/ada-legacy-tour.
Pictured top of page: ADA Legacy Exhibit, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Photo by Elise McMillan.
