ADAPT, or Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, is a disability rights collective focused on highlighting and changing the institutional discrimination faced by disabled people. Founded in 1983 as a collective of activists from multiple existing disability rights groups who demanded that city buses include wheelchair-accessible lifts, ADAPT soon branched out into other disability rights issues, such as legislation that solidifies the rights of disabled people. ADAPT often makes headlines for their bold civilly disobedient tactics, such as occupying government offices or blocking bus routes.
-
Change perception of disability “beyond mere tolerance”
-
Create a truly intersectional and coalitional movement
-
Critique the industrial realities that allow the subjugation of disabled people
-
Increase awareness and eventually end the ongoing institutional discrimination that hinders disabled people from living independent lives
-
End the use of nursing homes for disabled people
-
Continue to improve accessibility of public spaces
-
Food and Drug Administration, US Government/Congress, Colorado Regional Transportation District (historically), The McDonald's Corporation (historically), Greyhound Lines, Inc. (historically), American Public Transit Association (historically), Department of Transportation (historically), Urban Mass Transportation Administration (historically), National Governors Association (historically)