It was a busy morning for a crowd of 193 people in wheelchairs
gathered at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles July 25. The group first
formed the initials "ADA" for a photograph in observance of the
20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Then the
wheelchair users formed a queue and officially broke the Guinness
world record for "most wheelchairs moving in a continuous
line."
And it all happened before 11 a.m. so everyone could be cleared
out in time for a 1 p.m. Dodger home game that afternoon.
Members of the Los Angeles disability community helped recruit
their members and constituents to turn out en masse to participate
in the event, sponsored by the Christopher & Dana Reeve
Foundation. There were also friends from San Diego and Orange
County on hand, and one family reportedly drove 800 miles from
northern Mexico to join the festivities.
"I think the message of the event is that the number of people
with disabilities is large, and they are a significant part of the
culture," says Sam Maddox, knowledge manager of the Reeve
Foundation, who came up with the idea for the event.
"We wanted to celebrate that and pay tribute to the ADA, which
is an important piece of civil rights legislation. We need to keep
it alive and make it better. To see all those wheelchairs in one
spot was really something."
Speakers at the event, including surfer and founder Jesse
Billauer of the Life Rolls On Foundation (a subsidiary of the Reeve
Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life for young
people affected by spinal cord injury), acknowledged the ADA,
signed into law July 26, 1990, as a life-changing measure that has
given people living with disabilities better access to employment,
transportation and a way to be a part of their communities.
"I started thinking about the 20th anniversary of ADA and
thought this would be a great [way] to focus some attention and
provide a celebration," explains Maddox. "It was a fun day in July,
and we could come out and enjoy each other's company. I sent the
idea up the line at the Reeve Foundation, and it was immediately
appealing. It was visual, unique, had a nice hook and it was
advocacy-neutral.
"It was a celebration, and a chance to pause and look at the ADA
in a community-based way."
Moving through a series of cones set in an "S" shape in honor of
"Superman" Christopher Reeve, the event participants easily beat
the previous world record, set in Vermont, of 106 wheelchairs
moving in a continuous line.
The 20,000-space parking lot for Dodger Stadium provided plenty
of room for the event, with the iconic stadium standing in the
background.
