The inaugural Disability Pride Fair in Joliet celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at a time when one lawmaker said it is “under attack” by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Advocates and organizations for people with disabilities gathered at the outdoor event on Saturday at Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park, 201 W. Jefferson St., Joliet.

The event connects people with resources while also offering music, food and games. It was hosted by the City of Joliet Committee on Citizens with Disabilities.

Riley Spreadbury, a member of the committee, said in addressing the attendees if it wasn’t for the “incredible civic engagement” and at times “necessary civil disobedience” of the disability community, the ADA would have never been signed into law on July 26, 1990.

The landmark legislation protects people with disabilities from discrimination.

Spreadbury said the event was called the Disability Pride Fair to “flip the narrative” on disability having a negative connotation. The event was meant to remind people that “to be disabled means to be part of a community of fighters,” she said.

“And quite frankly, I find that is something to be very proud of,” Spreadbury said.

Spreadbury works as a independent living advocate for Disability Resource Center in Joliet, which had a booth at the event.

Some of the other organizations at the event include Cornerstone Services, the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education – Roosevelt and the Joliet Park District’s Special Recreation of Joliet and Channahon.

In an interview weeks before Saturday’s event, Sally Ritchey said she was outside the White House for the signing of the ADA back in 1990. Ritchey is a director of technology information for Trinity Services in New Lenox.

“From my angle on the White House lawn, I was able to witness [U.S.] President George H.W. Bush and longtime disability advocate Justin Dart as the bill was signed into law, and hear the crowd’s joy and excitement,” Ritchey said.

Ritchey said because she’s an amputee who’s had an artificial leg since she was a teenager, the legislation was important to her personally. When Ritchey was young, she said she had osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bone.

She said the ADA does give people recourse to “take some action” if they have subjected to discrimination.

Ritchey said the ADA also increased public awareness of disability issues and changed public perception about disability because of “improved dialogue” regarding the issue.

“Disability is now seen and accepted as a normal part of the human experience,” Ritchey said.

ADA ‘under attack’

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, was one of several lawmakers who attended the Disability Pride Fair in Joliet.

Underwood called the ADA a “monumental civil rights law” but she said there is still “a lot of work to do together” to ensure the everything communities have to offer is “accessible truly for all of us.”

“At a time when the ADA is under attack by [U.S. President] Donald Trump, we honor those who worked, fought and literally crawled up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to get it passed,” Underwood said.

Last July, the Associated Press reported Trump administration made budget proposals to slash funding for disability rights centers. Axios reported on Oct. 7 the Trump administration “quietly ended” support for a program that helped poor people access federal disability benefits.

On Saturday, USAToday reported the U.S. Department of Education “fired nearly everyone” in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

Members of some Joliet organizations that serve people with disabilities said they haven’t been directly affected by the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1. But they are concerned about the impact of any potential cuts to services in the future.

Spreadbury said the economy is affected when there are cuts to programs that provide healthcare to people with disabilities and helps them live independently so they can work.

“Accessibility and inclusion and funding for those programs is so important,” she said.

Medicaid, a joint federal and state program, provides health care and long-term support services to people with disabilities. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which he signed into law on July 4, seeks to reduce and prevent alleged waste, fraud and abuse in the program.

But Illinois has a “good system” to “weed out” waste, fraud and abuse, said Brian Patel, executive director of United Cerebral Palsy Center for Disability Services in Joliet.

“In Illinois, we do a good job of providing social services to people who need it,” Patel said.

The UCP Center for Disability Services provides a therapeutic day school for children and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The center also provides a community day services program to enhance the lives of adults with those disabilities.

Future advocacy efforts

Ritchey said she would like greater awareness of all forms of disability, including neurodivergence, which wasn’t well-recognized in the 1990s, and how noise or certain elements in the environment overstimulate some people.

For instance, workspaces and place people live could be designed so “everyone could be comfortable there,” Ritchey said.

“My hope is that when we celebrate the ADA’s 70th anniversary, true equality and equal access will have been fully realized,” Ritchey said.

At the Disability Pride Fair, State Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, said she has a neurodiversity legislative advisory committee that is held once a month at Joliet Junior College’s Romeoville campus.

Manley also announced a new legislative caucus in Springfield.

“We have just started, the first ever, Illinois Legislative Neurodiversity Caucus. It is bicameral, bipartisan and it’s the only way we’re going to get things in the [state] budget that help people that need resources,” Manley said.

Manley said there is no “demographic or zip code that doesn’t have somebody that has a disability.”

Manley said she hopes the Disability Pride Fair is “twice as packed” next year.

Manley recalled Pam Heavens, a community access advocate for the UCP Center of Disability Services, talking about the 25th anniversary of the ADA in Springfield.

“In a blink of an eye, it’s now 35 years. It’s hard to believe. We have a lot of work to do, it’s been 35 years and we still have a long road to go,” Manley said.