Julie Reiskin, Longtime Colorado Disability Advocate, Wins Civil Rights Award

For Julie Reiskin, the decision to dive headfirst into disability-rights advocacy came after experiencing an injustice in her own life.

"I really thought that it was wrong that in order to get Medicaid, you had to not work at all and take Social Security," says Reiskin, the longtime director and then co-director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition. "When that all kind of came crashing down on me, I thought, 'Well, I'm just going to work on this issue until the time that people with disabilities can work and get paid and still have what they need.'"

That was in the mid-1990s, after Reiskin, who'd grown up in Connecticut, had come to Colorado to be with the "woman of my dreams," whom she'd met in Washington, D.C. She began volunteering with the CCDC to help on health-policy matters. "The organization was actually founded to make sure that the Americans With Disabilities Act was a reality in Colorado," Reiskin says. President George H.W. Bush had signed the ADA into law in July 1990; part of a series of civil rights policies enshrined during the second half of the twentieth century, it prohibited discrimination based on disability. But the ADA was and is only as good as the enforcement of the law.

By 1996, Reiskin had become the executive director of the CCDC. And within two decades, among other accomplishments, she'd pushed through legislation that allowed people with disabilities to continue to use Medicaid and also work.

On August 24, Reiskin will receive the Anti-Defamation League Mountain States annual Civil Rights Award in recognition of her influential work in Colorado since the ’90s.

"We just have heard time and time again that when it comes to making sure that persons with disability in Colorado received access to quality health care and health services and access to employment and the list goes on, that there is no one who works more tirelessly than Julie," says Jeremy Shaver, the senior associate regional director for ADL Mountain States.

When she moved to Denver from Connecticut, where there was almost no public transportation, Reiskin was in awe of the widespread use of RTD buses. "Part of it was like, 'Oh, this is cool. This is great,'" says Reiskin. But as she started to use RTD to get around, "it was a challenge," she recalls.

RTD didn't maintain all of the lifts on buses, so they often wouldn't work. Additionally, RTD policy insisted that operators tie down wheelchairs, which would "take a lot of time" and lead to other passengers getting mad, according to Reiskin.

So she and the CCDC did one of the things they do best: They filed a lawsuit.

"We did end up suing RTD in the late ’90s and got a bunch of reforms out of that lawsuit, including making tie-downs optional, incorporating disability into driver training and putting lift maintenances into their ongoing practices and procedures," Reiskin says.

Since then, the CCDC has filed two more suits against RTD to secure more reforms. Reiskin served as a plaintiff in all of the suits.

"Incorporating legal work into the organization has been really important," Reiskin says. "You need to be able to enforce laws."

Reiskin, who teaches at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work supervising field students, notes that the CCDC has been able to get closely involved with Colorado government at all levels. "Many of the state agencies that we work with the most, they've realized — or I hope they have — that it is in their best interest to invite us in early and not try to keep us out," she says. "That we can actually be helpful to them."

That type of relationship between disability-rights advocates and government officials wasn't always the norm. In fact, RTD's initial reluctance to work with disability-rights advocates led to the landmark Gang of 19 protest in 1978. During this demonstration, nineteen people with disabilities blocked two RTD buses at Colfax Avenue and Broadway, demanding lifts on all RTD buses; the protest resulted in RTD installing lifts in subsequent years.

That protest is considered one of the most catalyzing moments of the American disability-rights advocacy movement. "Colorado is absolutely significant," Reiskin says. "We believe the movement started here."

The relationship between the CCDC and RTD is much better nowadays.

"The current leadership, Deborah Johnson, has been an incredible breath of fresh air," Reiskin says. "Under her leadership, they've actually hired an ADA coordinator who actually listens, which had not been the case before."

Some issues still exist with RTD paratransit service Access-a-Ride, according to Reiskin. And she's worried that as RTD gets rid of lines in areas that receive less ridership, some people who use Access-a-Ride and are more than three-quarters of a mile from a fixed route may get left behind.

"There are people moving out there because they just can't afford the city, so we do want to make sure that we have options for non-drivers," Reiskin says.

Reiskin thinks that Colorado has made great strides in disability rights over the past couple of decades. But in some areas, progress is definitely lacking.

"I think if your disability is mental illness, it's a different story. Our mental health system is horrific," Reiskin says.

She wants more people with disabilities to get employed and have better access to various housing options. "We need a greater range of housing options for people, and not assume the only thing for success is living by yourself in an apartment or a house," Reiskin says.

She'd also like to see more representation of people with disabilities at all levels of Colorado government. "On a broad level, my dream is that...we have more than two people with known disabilities in the Colorado General Assembly," Reiskin says, adding that she also wishes that more than one person with a disability was on Denver City Council.

And that means they need to get out and vote. "We want to be the state in the country that has the highest percentage of people with disabilities in voting," Reiskin says. "We're nonpartisan, but we want people to think of disability issues, and we want a strong disability turnout."

During the August 24 awards ceremony, the ADL will also recognize Adams County Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet. But while politicians are often honored, the pick of Reiskin is unique.

"Our honoree selection committee felt really passionate that the struggle for civil rights for persons with disabilities doesn't get that attention," Shaver says. "And it's really due."