Wade Blank

Blank, a nursing home worker, helped young disabled residents move out into their own flats in Denver, and in 1978 joined the "Gang of 19" who surrounded city buses in their wheelchairs to demand lifts. In 1983 they founded ADAPT, which for years blockaded transit and Greyhound offices nationwide and won accessible public transport, then turned to campaigning for funding to follow people out of nursing homes. ADAPT's leadership was overwhelmingly disabled people; Blank is the organiser who stayed alongside them.