Molded by the hands of activists, lawmakers, allies, and fresh young minds, our ever-changing society is continuously striving for greater accessibility. As we close out Disability Pride Month in July, we also celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law July 26, 1990.

In the decades that have passed since, accessibility services and education have evolved greatly, and though much has changed, we still have a great responsibility to carry on past generations’ work and create an even more equitable society.

This summer, I have watched with admiration how the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s accessibility team handles the weight of this responsibility. Our mighty accessibility team—manager Diane Nutting, assistant Tori Baker, and intern Bella Pulliam, plus a support specialist, interpreters, and other service providers—eagerly uplifts communities through their work, especially during this year’s program, Youth and the Future of Culture.

Nutting and her team implement accessibility services into the Festival from the early stages of the production process.

“Accessibility works best when you think about creating an experience that’s accessible from the beginning—when you think about it in your design of space, engagement, the experience, and in the content itself,” she says. “Someone who moves in a different way or communicates in a different way may be attending this event, and you’re extending that invitation to make [them] feel welcome.”

The ADA requires public programs to be accessible to people with disabilities, for example, by allowing service animals or providing communication access. But providing services beyond what the ADA requires is essential, especially since the Smithsonian as an educational institution has a duty to every single person. One way the Smithsonian aims to be inclusive is through programs offered throughout Smithsonian partners such as See Me at the Smithsonian and the User Expert Advisory Group.

“We want people to know that these programs exist so they can share that information with friends and family,” says Larissa Kunynskyj, accessibility program coordinator at the Smithsonian’s Office of Visitor Accessibility. Another program offered pan-institutionally is Morning at the Museum, extended to the Folklife Festival as Morning on the Mall.

The Festival’s accessibility team aims to extend an open invitation and the chance to experience the wonder of the Folklife Festival through Morning on the Mall, launched in 2012. On a weekend morning, before the Festival opens to the general public, registered families can meet Festival participants and engage in activities without the bustle of the usual crowds.

“The program started really from just a need from the community, hearing that it was something that families were looking for,” Kunynskyj says. “Our museums can be really overwhelming for the average visitor, so [we created] a time when folks could come in where it was…a more controlled environment.”

Nutting says she wants Morning on the Mall to welcome anyone who needs a more relaxed Festival environment, saying, “Morning on the Mall creates this safe space where folks can simply just be their authentic self. You can almost feel the exhale. You can feel everyone being like, ‘Okay, this is where I can just be me.’”

Attendees of this year’s Morning on the Mall seemed to agree. As local visitor Tonjua Menefee-Green said, “It’s an outlet for my son to come to what I consider a more than safe environment. If I’m out of sight, he’s still comfortable, and he gets to see things that people fly all over the world to see in our backyard.”

Another attendee shared that he has been coming to the Festival for thirty years, has family on the spectrum, and feels that Morning on the Mall creates a sanctuary to include his family in something he has always loved. “We just started coming to the Morning on the Mall, and it’s nice, peaceful, and less crowded,” he said. “It’s more inclusive, everybody seems to be more together, and it’s easier to approach people. It feels safer for everybody.”

Like Morning on the Mall, accessibility services available at the Festival, such as American Sign Language interpretation and live captioning, take ADA requirements one step further.

“The ADA is the very bare minimum of access,” says Baker, a recent graduate of Shenandoah University, where she was a founding member of the Disability Advocacy Committee. “A lot of what we do is beyond the ADA, and we should continue to do it.” 

For example, in addition to scheduled interpreted programs, ASL interpreters are available upon request via a phone number on signage available at Festival participants’ booths. Those who want to communicate with participants and staff can send a message through this phone number, let them know where they are, and an interpreter will be sent to their location.

Another service provided by the Festival accessibility team is a Sensory Guide and Map of the Festival. “We take the public map of the Festival, and then we put in symbols that tell you ‘This area is going to be louder. This area is going to be more visually stimulating,’” Baker says. “People will pick it up because of epilepsy, autism, because they have small children... If something is accessible, it’s generally a better design for everybody.”

This sentiment is echoed by Pulliam, who is a senior in the Department of Deaf Studies at California State University, Northridge. “There are so many things that disability communities have contributed to this world that we use so often that we don’t even know,” she says. “A lot of times, what works best for them also works best for a lot of other people, even if you don’t have the same identities or disabilities.”

Nutting says being ADA compliant is not supposed to be the goal but a start. “When you use the ADA as your stopping point, then you’re really focusing on the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law,” she says. “The spirit of the law is about creating a space that’s inclusive and provides equity and opportunity and access for everyone regardless of who they are.”

Three and a half decades after passage of the ADA, younger generations of advocates are carrying forward the legacy of disability rights activists by embracing, expanding, and educating the public on disability and accessibility.

Pulliam has noticed that younger generations are also recognizing disabilities they may have and adopting the mindset that there is no need to be ashamed of any type of label.

“This new generation is more knowledgeable and more proud of identities that may lie under a disability,” she says. “They are starting a conversation, spreading knowledge, because at times, older generations may not know.” Pulliam credits this to an evolving society emerging from the efforts of young people as they are starting conversations, spreading knowledge, and using tools like social media.

Kunynskyj has also observed this generation’s strength in advocacy and how it has shaped her work. “A lot of people in the younger generation are more outspoken and are seeing themselves not as different from everyone else who’s coming to our public programs, and they are making the case for themselves that they belong everywhere,” she says.

Though the ADA made public spaces more accessible, it is important to continue building on the foundation it established and pushing beyond compliance.

Reflecting on the anniversary of the ADA, Pulliam hopes that its future is safe in our generation’s hands. She wants people to continue using their voice to protect the ADA and keep on demanding for the access needs of all people.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival Accessibility Guide for Program and Support Staff closes with a powerful reminder and reinforces the spirit of collective responsibility: “Accessibility is everybody’s job. You are all part of the process, and you ALL make a difference.”

Sebastian Barajas is an intern in the Folklife Storytellers Workshop and a recent art history graduate from The University of Texas at Austin.

Watch the Festival’s virtual Story Circle marking the anniversary of the ADA in 2020, “Beyond ADA 30 – Impacts, Intersections & Reflecting Forward.”

For additional information on the Morning at the Mall or other accessibility programs, please contact the Smithsonian Office of Visitor Accessibility at access@si.edu or (202) 633-2921.