July 26, 1990

President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act in a White House, Rose Garden ceremony. MCIL consumer Barbara Bounds witnesses the signing.

August 4, 1990

Protest of MALCO seating policies. Twenty-five to thirty activists gain a meeting with the head of the company to discuss unequal seating for people with disabilities.

December 22, 1991

On the eve of the ADA taking effect, business owners say that Memphis is already accessible. “There probably won't be many changes for building owners in Memphis because the local code already addresses most of the issues,” reports the Commercial Appeal in an article titled -  ACCESS LAW TAKES HOLD SOON, LOCAL STANDARDS ASSURE MINIMAL CHANGE HERE.

March 16, 1992

MCIL provides ADA and disability issues training to Northwest Airlines employees.

May 14, 1992

Butch Lawrie, accessibility specialist with the Memphis Center for Independent Living said ''Basically, downtown [Memphis] is avoided like the plague [by people with disabilities].''

July 26, 1992

Title I of the ADA goes into effect; Equal Employment guaranteed for people with disabilities. Evan Kemp, head of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said Jerry Lewis tries to evoke pity from the public. Kemp calls for the actor-comedian's removal from the longstanding MDA Telethon.

September 8, 1992

Jerry Lewis Protest in Memphis. ''We're tired of Jerry Lewis pitying the disabled,” said Barbara Bounds, ''I have three kids, I go shopping and I lead a good life. Jerry Lewis makes it sound like we can't.''

May 27, 1993

City of Memphis uses ADA funds to widen Covington Pike. “The two-year, $5.4 million Covington Pike project, which would widen the road from four to seven lanes north of the interstate to Stage Road, would be partly funded by shifting funds earmarked for a program required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act to future years. [Commercial Appeal 5/27/93].”

July 26, 1993

MCIL holds an “EMANCIPATION MARCH” down the main street mall in celebration of the signing of the ADA.

July 26, 1994

Pancho's Restaurant on Union becomes accessible and Company president Brenda O'Brien said plans are being made for modifications at the other 6 Memphis locations and at their locations in Arkansas and Mississippi.

October 5, 1994

Deborah Cunningham writes a letter for Memphis ADAPT asking The Public Eye to comply with the ADA.

January 26, 1995

Memphis missed date to make streets accessible. ''I guess it's a matter of priorities. If cities make this a priority, they'll find the funds for it,'' said Mary Jane Starnes, program director for the Center for Independent Living.

February 24, 1995

ADAPT complains to the U.S. Department of Justice about access at the Public Eye.

September 12, 1995

MCIL makes public note that the fairgrounds are not accessible. ''A lot of people don't know they (the fairgrounds) are not accessible until they get out there,'' said Betty Anderson.

June 15, 1996

MCIL supports a statue of FDR in a wheelchair. “We hope that Americans still would like to build a quality memorial that is not only historically accurate, but is a memorial untainted by the bigotry and prejudice of a past era . . ..”

June 28, 1996

Demonstration at The Public Eye. Owner promises to build a ramp.

April 18, 1997

MCIL makes ADA complaints about Memphis paratransit service. MCIL and the Barrier Free Memphis Society claim the Memphis Area Transit Authority is not following federal law with its MATAplus program.

July 26, 1997

MCIL uses the ADA to require a large full-service bank to accept state ID as equivalent to a Drivers License statewide; files USDOJ complaint on a second bank. “People who do not drive due to a disability should not be grouped by the banks prejudice with those that would defraud the bank [The Declaration! Summer 1997].”

August 8, 1997

Memphis ADAPT blocks Greyhound buses in downtown Memphis coordinated with protests in 40 other US cities because of the intercity carriers lack of compliance with the ADA.

August 29, 1997

MCIL consumers rode Greyhound from Memphis to Jackson Tennessee and back. MCIL videotaped Greyhound carrying people on and off the bus.

September 17, 1997

MATA announces the paratransit system will provide next day service only after MCIL and BFMS members “took it to the streets” unfurling the banner -  Memphis Transit is going nowhere. Citizens block buses and demanded change; filed an ADA complaint with the Department of Transportation.

January 15, 1998

MCIL staff member Dawn Russell files a pro se case against Greyhound in Federal Court. The Memphis Terminal manager met with MCIL staff and demonstrated the Scalamobil. Despite his assurance that the Scalamobil would board people with disabilities, it failed and was removed from the Memphis Terminal.

May 12, 1998

Disability Rights activists take-over the state office building in Memphis for two days. "I think we got the governor's attention. We've made people in Memphis and Tennessee aware of the issue of long-term care and the fact there are no choices here,” said Judy Neal, the Memphis Center for Independent Living program director.

July 8, 1998

Memphis Mayor William Herenton visits MCIL and pledges an ADA transition plan by September 4th.

July 15, 1998

Greyhound attorneys make a settlement offer of $5,000, in the pro se Dawn Russell v. Greyhound.

August 11, 1998

Deborah Cunningham files a pro se complaint in Federal Court asking for equal access at the Public Eye. 

August 24, 1998

Uttilla v. Memphis et. al. filed in Memphis Federal Court by 6 MCIL consumers. The complaint states the Cities of Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and the Tennessee Highway Department have not created a self-evaluation and transition plan to identify barriers and set a schedule for compliance.

September 21, 1998

MCIL supports the ADA integration mandate in Tennessee. [From the Commercial Appeal] When Memphian Dawn Russell, of MCIL, proposed adoption of a position statement declaring that the state's Medicaid funds for long-term care "is not an entitlement for nursing home(s). . . and must be  used to formulate a comprehensive plan for long term care. . .", the meeting came to a screeching halt.

October 8, 1998

City of Memphis cancels a scheduled ADA Public Hearing out of fear of action from angry citizens. Mayor’s pledge to have an ADA plan is empty.

November 18, 1998

Nine people, MCIL staff and consumers along with ADAPT activists, are arrested protesting state of Tennessee’s violation of the integration mandate of the ADA.

February 8, 1999

U.S. DOJ intervenes in Cunningham v. The Public Eye. The Attorney General of the United States, Janet Reno, certifies the case is of "general public importance."

June 30, 1999

US Supreme Court finds in Olmstead v. LC that institutionalization is illegal discrimination upholding the integration mandate of the ADA.

September 8, 1999

Deborah Cunningham and the United States of America v. The Public Eye et. al. US Attorneys Office announces enforcement on The Public Eye. "It is important for the businesses in this community, both public and private, to make sure that their establishments are accessible to all citizens within the bounds of the law," U.S. Atty. Veronica Coleman said in a press conference held at MCIL.

December 6, 1999

MCIL assists consumer to file a pro se ADA complaint against Wendy’s Old Fashioned Restaurant. Memphis ADAPT finds access problems in eight other Wendy’s locations in Memphis.

February 4, 2000

MCIL complains about MATA’s backwards safety policy, ADA requires ramp safety boarding forward or backward.

April 20, 2000

Senator Frist visits MCIL, Consumers confront Frist about MiCASSA and the integration mandate of the ADA.

July 6, 2000

Extraordinary 10th Anniversary Montage – “Patriots of the ADA,” Forty images of our most influential early activists and revered freedom fighters dramatically pictured in sepia pencil by ADAPT activist/artist Sher Stewart. Exclusively offered by Memphis ADAPT.

July 7, 2000

Deborah Cunningham files an ADA complaint against MRB Windyke Apartments

July 11, 2000

Spirit of the ADA Torch Relay passes through Memphis.

July 26, 2000

Tenth Anniversary of the ADA. MCIL consumers and staff attend a ceremony at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and are invited to dinner with Vice President Al Gore.

September 24, 2000

MCIL helps coordinate the Rolling Freedom Express on a nine-city tour to the U.S. Supreme Court to highlight Americans support for the ADA.

October 3, 2000

March for Justice. Organized by ADAPT in Washington DC the March for Justice is the largest Civil Rights March of people with disabilities to date. Speakers at the rally include - Jesse Jackson, Justin Dart, Martin Luther King III and Diane Coleman.

January 9, 2001

Chris Colsey v. Yosemite Sam’s.

January 15, 2001

ADAPT unblocks Blockbuster. Twelve ADAPT members, determined to see equal access at a local BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO (1556 Union) blocked the door to until executives agreed to design an unblocked ramp.

January 26, 2001

MCIL sues local apartments for more access. The Memphis Center for Independent Living completed a survey of newly constructed rental housing compliance with the ADA and the Fair Housing Act. The report lists 1700 barriers in 32 complexes.

January 29, 2001

Deborah Cunningham files a pro se ADA complaint against Krystal Hamburgers.

March 23, 2001

Memphis ADAPT had dinner on the sidewalk in front of Zinnie's Old Place 1688 Madison to make the point that ADA accessibility is good business. Activists did not go inside or patronize the inaccessible business.

July 9, 2001

ADAPT members blew whistles and shook cowbells to drown out comments by FTA Region IV Administrator at a MATA groundbreaking. Activists insisted that Jerry Franklin address enforcement of the FTA’s negative ADA report on Memphis.

July 19, 2001

Suzanne Colsey v. Fashion Cents. Norstan Apparel Shops, Inc. paid $7,000 in penalties $3,000 in damages and 9 months of attorney’s fees when making their Fashion Cents stores accessible could have cost them nothing.

July 26, 2001

ADAPT members sat draped in chains to remind everyone at the ADA celebration that the most critical part of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act is the "integration mandate."

August 7, 2001

Congressman Harold Ford Jr. brings the Director of the office of Civil Rights for the Department of Transportation to a Memphis Public Hearing. Community discusses enforcement of the ADA with Arthur Lopez.

September 3, 2001

A dozen Memphis ADAPT activists picketed the Jerry Lewis Telethon outside the Libertyland. “If it’s pity we’ll get money,” said Jerry Lewis. “Pity? You don’t want to be pitied because you’re a cripple in a wheelchair? Stay in your house [The Declaration! Summer 2001].”

September 15, 2001

US Department of Justice intervenes in MCIL v. MRB Windyke.

September 22, 2001

Demonstrators crowded around the doors of Old Zinnies chanting, "access is a civil right," while Chris Colsey and Barbara Bounds got out of their wheelchairs and crawled into the inaccessible business. They sat on the floor at the end of the bar and delivered the demand to comply with the ADA to the manager, who agreed to build a ramp.

January 14, 2002

BFMS surveys MATA phone service for ADA compliance. A customer making a typical call to MATAplus is on hold more than ten times longer than the average hold time experienced by a customer calling for fixed-route bus information (40.8 seconds versus 434 seconds).

February 14, 2002

ADAPT sends Gov. Sundquist a 14 foot tall Valentine as a demonstration for ADA most integrated setting.. "Lock off the elevators," ordered Jerry Cantrell the person in charge of security at the Donnelly J. Hill State Office Building, "no one gets in the building."

May 6, 2002

MCIL confronts Regional Managers of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and are told that ADA “systems complaints” will not be responded to.

June 21, 2002

The Memphis ADA Transition Plan Fails Minimal Requirements. As well as being over 10 years late the Cities plan lacked necessary compliance terms.

June 22, 2002

Justin Dart dies. “Thanks to you, I die in the beautiful belief that the revolution of empowerment will go on. I love you so much. I'm with you always. Lead on! Lead on!”

December 6, 2002

Old Zinnies is ordered to install a ramp to the front entrance of the restaurant at 1688 Madison in 60 days.

July 12, 2003

The State of Tennessee’s Appeal of the Lane Decision Should Be Withdrawn. Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers and Governor Phil Bredesen continue an evil legacy of bigotry in the south, endanger the civil liberties of people with disabilities and do not advance “states rights” with Tennessee’s appeal to the US Supreme Court. By Deborah Cunningham.

November 20, 2003

World premier of the musical version of "Hello/Goodbye Ada Who?" raised consciousness about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

December 25, 2003

The Memphis Center for Independent Living surveyed 40 of the 233 polling sites in the city and not one of the 40 sites was in compliance with ADA accessibility guidelines.

April 24, 2004

ADAPT activists from Memphis confronted fund raisers for King's Daughters and Sons Foundation. “Ron Arrison, Director of KDSH is an example of the system that is not about our rights, needs, wants or desires. It is about his for-profit business, which is about warehousing our brothers and sisters [Randy Alexander].”

August 12, 2004

Robert Lipscomb commits to a self-evaluation of Memphis Housing for accessibility.

March 18, 2005

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with 10 Memphis firms involved in the design and construction of five apartment complexes. The settlement resolves lawsuits brought by the Memphis Center for Independent Living and the Justice Department alleging failures to design and construct apartments with accessible features for persons with physical disabilities as required by federal law.

March 28, 2005

ADAPT takes over Charlotte Avenue in downtown Nashville. Demands the Governor use Money Follows the Person to get Tennesseans out of expensive institutions.

May 25, 2005

The newly renovated Court Square Park and the completely NON-ACCESSIBLE gazebo/bandstand and grass areas symbolize this administration's complete disregard towards the rights of people with disabilities.

June 20, 2005

Activists begin a sit-in at Governor Phil Bredesen’s office. One issue is that the prescription limits are a violation of the ADA. The ADA defines institutionalization as a unique area of discrimination directed toward people with disabilities, limiting services in the community while providing no limits in institutions is illegal discrimination.