Campaigns
  • Acquire government recognition through laws, lawsuits like the ADA, Olmstead Decision, Smith vs. O’Halloran
  • Popularize independent living facilities like the Atlantis Community
  • Amplify the voices of more marginalized groups within the movement
  • Boycott discriminatory businesses like McDonald's and Greyhound
  • Campaign for the institutional legitimacy granted by legislation that explicitly supports the rights of disabled people
Communication Strategy

Internally, much of each local ADAPT chapter's organizing is done through Facebook groups and other online methods of communication. The National ADAPT group puts information about upcoming actions on its website (adapt.org), which is publicly accessible. 

Externally, social media campaigns and hashtags are an integral part of how ADAPT publicizes its message. Additionally, ADAPT writes press releases and journals of its actions, which can be found on its website. ADAPT's protests often include occupying offices of major government officials and departments, like Sen. Mitch McConnell's office and the FDA headquarters, so news outlets often publicize their protests.

ADAPT Websites/ Social Media (Also found in the right sidebar):

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Youtube

Created New Spaces

Physically, ADAPT’s protests for accessibility have led to mandated accommodations, which allow disabled people to permanently access places they physically couldn’t before. ADA regulations mandate that facilities like bathrooms and public buildings be wheelchair accessible. However, the degree to which these accommodations are implemented varies. Additionally, the creation of an independent living community for disabled people (The Atlantis Community) represents an important alternative to the inherently and historically discriminatory government-sponsored institutions. More temporarily, by occupying and taking control of spaces like governmental offices, conferences, businesses, and roads, ADAPT is rearticulating these spaces as accessible and affectable by their causes. 

ADAPT has also helped to create forums for disabled people to bring the discrimination they still face to the public’s attention. The ADA was seen by many as the end to the disability rights movement, as many thought that disabled people had achieved equality. However, more implicit discrimination is still embedded within institutions, and by raising up the voices of disabled people, ADAPT creates a conceptual space that was previously nonexistent.

 
Incorporated Cultural Forms

Quote

“The strategy was to physically be a barrier because handicapped people have to face barriers all their lives" -Wade Blank
 
Quote
"In America, we have a way of hiding our prejudices with pragmatism" -Wade Blank
 
Quote
“To us there is no difference between riding a different bus and riding in the back of a bus if you’re black” -Jean Stewart
 
Quote
“For the estimated 1-2 percent of the population that is severely physically disabled, social prejudice is compounded by segregative obstacles such as stairs, curbs, and narrow doorways" -Jennefer Pittman
 

THANK YOU, ADAPT

A poem by Rhonda Lester

 

There is a little boy

Very close to my heart

Who is a bit different

But handsome and smart.

Strangers who meet him

Can't get past the chair,

But he goes on bravely,

Not seeming to care.

He's strong and he's tough-

He almost has to be-

But he is one of the warriors

Who wants to be free.

We are always standing by you,

For our fight is real.

We wanted you to know

How grateful we feel.

So thank you all clearly

For all that you've done

For the movement, myself,

And my son.