The Capitol Crawl

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By the beginning of 1990, the United States Congress stalled on passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, a piece of legislation aimed at prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities.

Frustrated by the government’s inaction, more than 1,000 disability activists showed up in Washington DC to protest on 12 March that year. When the group reached the Capitol Building’s stairs, hundreds of activists pulled themselves out of their wheelchairs and began to crawl up in a dramatic and symbolic protest.

Stephanie Wolf talks to Anita Cameron who participated in the historic action. Co-produced by Rebekah Romberg.

A Written in Air production. Archive recordings courtesy of Linda Litowsky.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Photo: Wheelchair users crawling up the steps of the US Capitol building in March 1990. Credit: Tom Olin Collection, University of Toledo Libraries)

Transcript

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0:00.0	He tells her that she will be sent to France as a secret agent, and if she's got, she's
0:07.9	going to be shot.
0:09.2	I'm Helen Obalam Carter, and this is history's secret heroes, where I shine a light on
0:14.9	extraordinary stories from World War II.
0:17.6	What they wanted was someone to get themselves arrested and sent to Auschwitz.
0:22.0	Tales of deception and incredible acts of resistance and courage.
0:26.2	She was a born soldier. She's a freedom fighter in its widest sense.
0:29.8	The brand new series of History's secret heroes. Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:39.3	Hello, welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Stephanie
0:45.1	Wolf.
0:45.9	I'm taking you back to March 12, 1990, a day when disability rights activists gathered at the United
0:53.5	States Capitol building in Washington, D.C.,
0:56.3	to fight for the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA.
1:02.8	I remember we were lining up those of us who were going to do the crawl.
1:08.2	March 12, 1990, it was hot. About a thousand activists, including Anita Cameron,
1:15.3	were there. We were so busy chanting by ADA now. Access is a civil right. Access is a civil right. What you're hearing is actual footage captured by a documentary
1:33.8	film producer from a protest that came to be known as the Capitol crawl.
1:41.7	The chant is a demand that the U.S. Congress passed the ADA after lawmakers had sat on a version of the bill for almost two years.
1:52.3	This is landmark legislation. It has to pass. You know, it's meant to highlight the struggles that we had to go through being like second-class citizens.
2:05.3	We were getting, for lack a better word, like desperate.
2:10.4	Activists were frustrated by the inaction.
2:13.6	And on this day, in a dramatic, symbolic protest, hundreds pulled themselves from their wheelchairs and began to crawl up the stairs.
	...

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