THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT AT 30 -- PART 5

VOICES OF VICTORY, CELEBRATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS

AND REMAINING CHALLENGES 

Rosemary Ciotti was a successful nurse practitioner, pregnant with her second child, when an inflammatory disease similar to MS gave her stroke-like symptoms and ultimately quadriplegia-like loss of limb use when it reached her spine. 

That was 25 years ago and though it was in full force for five years, she was barely aware of the ADA.

“We moved from a big house into a condo in Arlington, Virginia – landing in the land of ADA activists,” said Ciotti, who uses both a manual and power chair for mobility, largely because her right leg is effectively paralyzed. 

“I had a baby on my lap, my speech was still slurred and I was getting stuck in elevators. 

These activists got me off the couch and into activism.

They taught me that I had rights, that I didn’t have to miss four elevators while (abled bodied) people crammed ahead of me.”