ADA Poem by Frank Cuta

Birth of the ADA
By Frank Cuta

I wrote this ten years ago at the tenth anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is designed to be read by Maya Angelou, who would drive through it with determination, strong and powerful--chewing through each line word by word. The tone starts out slightly angry and winds up jubilant at the conclusion.

Note to blind readers: I never did corral Maya Angelou but with the proper setting on your
screen reader and a little imagination you can probably get the general idea. Please do not read it with your screen reader speed turned up--it really ruins the effect completely. In Jaws you can temporarily turn down your speech rate by holding down control+alt and hitting the page up key a few times.

Frank

Birth of the ADA

Access denied rights stripped ripped off out raged dreams shattered
righteous wrath.
Shackled cast aside special treatment smothered bitter pill lynch mob
math.
No ramps no trial no rights no Braille no doubt no clout legal rape.
hell fire burned bad endured forever fuse ignited now fire inside
virgin state.
Rallied round ground swell byte it off out in front fears ironed out
must not fail.
Not diverted not divided not denied determined directed pressure will
prevail.
1990 pulled it off glorious new world give us wings everybody wins sweet
victory.
Revered prize red rockets ablaze blue bunting awesome all american
alabaster ADA.