In casual conversation with Victoria, she brought up the “Capital Crawl.” She is one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever had the pleasure knowing. A lot like her brother they are walking encyclopedias. I decided that was what I would be grateful for today. As a disabled person I will be forever grateful for these amazing courageous people who made this happen, but during my research I discovered something so amazing.
The youngest person to climb the steps that day was eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, who by then had already been protesting for two years. At age six, she attended her first protest in Phoenix to advocate for accessible buses with ADAPT, the same disability rights group that helped organize the 1990 march in D.C.
“For me at age six, this was the first time that I ever had seen people with disabilities like me fighting for their rights,” says Keelan-Chaffins, who continued her activist work and helped develop the children’s book All the Way to the Top about her Capitol climb. “I realized these people with disabilities are fighting for their right to be acknowledged and accepted…and I can too, and I want to be a part of that.”
When Keelan-Chaffins showed up to the Capitol Crawl, some organizers weren’t sure it was a good idea for her to climb the steps. This was because she was a child, and because “they were concerned about what that could do, the image of me climbing the steps, and whether or not it would send a message of pity instead of empowerment,” she says.
ADAPT founder Reverend Wade Blank told her that if she wanted to climb the steps then she should do it, so she got out of her wheelchair and began climbing.
“Even though I was quite young, I realized that as one of the very few kids that got to be involved in this movement…it wasn’t just about myself, but it was about them as well,” she says. Amazing isn’t it!
What I found out to be even more shocking was the fact that the year before in Montreal, police had arrested both Keelan and seven-year-old Keelan-Chaffins while protesting a conference for the American Public Transportation Association. Ironically, the police had to obtain accessible school buses to transport the arrested demonstrators because they didn’t have accessible paddy wagons.
Because of this experience, Keelan was careful to make sure Keelan-Chaffins and her younger sister, Kailee Keelan, were safe the day of the arrests at the Capitol rotunda. “But I did want my mother to get arrested on my behalf,” Keelan-Chaffins says. “Kailee and I both did ask mom to get arrested.”
Today I am grateful for courageous little girls and brave mothers who fought for all of us to have the accessibilities we do today.
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