Author: Tony Trott
I was watching an episode of American Experience on PBS last week about the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, and the quote from Anita Cameron about the ADA being the floor and 
not the ceiling really made me think. Not only about the beginning part of it (“I’m grateful for the A.D.A. I pushed for it, I fought for it, I went to jail for it.”), but also for the second part (“But the A.D.A. is the floor. It’s not the ceiling.”) Of course, I am forever grateful and enormously thankful for those who gave up so much of what they had for the sake of others with disabilities, but it was the second part that really made me think.
“But the A.D.A. is the floor. It’s not the ceiling.” What a great reminder! The ADA is a law of empowerment; it’s not one of entitlement. As people with disabilities, we must learn about the law and know how it works and how we can utilize it to make our lives, and the lives of future generations who have disabilities, better and, at least to some degree, easier. What’s even more important about the second section is that there is still noncompliance with the ADA. So many entities are not even meeting the floor. The ADA is good for everyone; universal design has been shown to benefit women with strollers going up a ramp as well as delivery people; adequate spaces in aisles of stores gives room for multiple carts to pass at the same time. It makes sense. And, while you are at it, do you need to meet the basic requirement? Just because an automatic 
door is not required on a bathroom, why not install it? During the height of COVID many of the automatic door openers did not require you to put your hand on it, you wave and the door opens. It is more is more sanitary and not more expensive. So why not have that all the time?
I could go on with examples but hopefully you get the point. While we advocate to meet the floor, we should explain why reaching for the ceiling is not cumbersome and burdensome. It makes common sense. Let’s listen to Anita.
