The “Capitol Crawl” Protest, 30 Years Later
When confronted with someone visibly struggling, those watching from the sidelines are forced to make a choice.
On March 12, 1990, eight-year old Jennifer Keelan slid out of her wheelchair and began the long, slow climb up the steps to the United States Capitol Building. But she didn’t crawl alone.
Abandoned wheelchairs and crutches littered the concourse as protestors ascended the steps, demanding Congress break their gridlock and pass the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
More than sixty protestors participated that day in what has become known as the “Capitol Crawl.”
When confronted with someone visibly struggling, those watching from the sidelines are forced to make a choice.
You either choose to do nothing, or you choose to help.
Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan highlights this so clearly.
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him”
Luke 10:30-33, NIV
The presence of the man beaten and bloody on the side of the road changed what was previously a morally neutral activity (walking the road from Jericho to Jerusalem) into a choice.
For Congress, sixty people struggling to crawl up the stairs they walked every day was a visceral, visual reminder that their bill was not an abstract snippet of legalese, but a lifeline to living, breathing people. Thankfully, Congress chose the way of the Samaritan.
They chose to act.
But the necessity of laws like the ADA highlights something that every church needs to understand; by default, the world is unfriendly and ill-suited to people with disabilities.
No one has to tell water to flow downhill, and no one has to design the world to have barriers for people with disabilities. They’re already there.
The strange reality within the church is that almost no one intentionally excludes people with disabilities. Churches fail to think through accessibility issues because there are no people with disabilities in their congregations; and there are no people with disabilities in their congregation because they fail to think through accessibility issues.
The very thing that would motivate them to action (someone visibly struggling to integrate at their church) is the thing that prevents people with disabilities from coming to their church in the first place.
So I beg you: don’t wait for an eight-year old to climb the steps to your church on her elbows.
We cannot afford to let a flight of stairs become a barrier to the gospel. Reversing the way businesses interacted with people with disabilities required the weight of the United States legal system.
But churches are exempt from the ADA. There is no legal mandate forcing us to change. The mandate we have is from heaven, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15, NIV).
When our churches are places where people with disabilities truly belong—not as burdens, nuisances, or afterthoughts—we reflect the reality that, “There is one body and one Spirit…” (Ephesians 4:4, NIV).
It shows that Christ died to win the hearts of people who are able-bodied and disabled.
Where the world must have its arm twisted to include people with disabilities, let the church be a place where people are welcomed eagerly with open arms.
The cause of Christ is worth it.
Written By—Ryan Faulk
Ryan Faulk works for Joni and Friends to equip churches in Southern California to evangelize and disciple people with disabilities. He is passionate about seeing churches reflect the heart of Christ for all people.
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