Fifty for 150: Gang of 19 in 1978 makes Colorado a center of disability rights activism

Not long ago American society relegated people with disabilities to broad forms of segregation. It wasn’t until the 1960s that U.S. universities began to admit students with significant disabilities. The first federal program for people with disabilities was enacted less than 100 years ago, with the Social Security Act, and many were institutionalized well into the mid-20th century.

This story is part of Colorado at 150. Each Fifty for 150 story focuses on an event that helped define Colorado over 150 years of statehood. Newsline is publishing one Fifty for 150 story every weekday in reverse chronological order until the sesquicentennial, Aug. 1, when the final of 50 stories, about the declaration of statehood, will appear.

Disability rights have come a long way since then. A major turning point was the summer of 1978, when a bold group of Colorado activists took to the streets of Denver.

For two days starting July 5 of that year, 19 activists who used wheelchairs blocked the central Denver intersection of Broadway and Colfax and demanded more accessible transportation, which was virtually nonexistent at the time.

“Most buses did not have wheelchair lifts and were not convenient,” Denver’s Regional Transportation District says today about the event. “A single trip could take many hours and would cost more due to the lack of buses with proper accommodations.”

The group — known as the Gang of 19 and comprising members of what was later called American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, or ADAPT — chanted “we will ride” and railed against “taxation without transportation.” The action was spearheaded by Rev. Wade Blank, who had been spurred to activism while working at a Denver nursing home, where he observed mistreatment of disabled residents. 

The protest worked. RTD updated much of its bus fleet with accessible features, and Denver became one of the first major U.S. cities to offer accessible public transit. In the mid-1980s the RTD service area became the first such region in the country with wheelchair accessibility on all local buses.

The protest is also credited with helping to make possible the landmark federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which guarantees civil rights for people with disabilities.

“Denver became the national center of disability rights activism,” said Chris Hinds, a Denver City Council member who uses a wheelchair and represents the district that includes the site of the Gang of 19 action.

That spirit continues to result in progress.

In 2021, with the enactment of House Bill 21-1110, Colorado became the first state to require that state and local public entities meet website accessibility standards. The bill was sponsored by former Rep. David Ortiz, who was the first person who uses a wheelchair to serve in the state Legislature.

In 2024, Ortiz also sponsored House Bill 24-1360, creating the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office, which serves people with disabilities throughout the state.

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