-->Marva Ways remembers peering longingly through restaurant windows at the diners enjoying their meals.
All too often, she was unable to join them because her wheelchair couldn't fit through the door or maneuver up the stairs.
Today, the 60-year-old Dearborn Heights woman and millions of others who have benefited will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The legislation made everything from sign-language interpreters at speeches to public restroom grab bars to anti-discrimination hiring policies possible.
"Before the ADA was passed, it was almost like people with disabilities had no civil rights," Ways said. "A lot of it had to do with attitudinal barriers."
Fifteen percent, or 41.3 million, of (noninstitutionalized) Americans have disabilities, according to the most recent American Community Service data from the U.S. Census.
Paralyzed in a 1976 car accident, Ways told the Free Press she often had to deal with inaccessibility issues when she began traveling the country as a disability-rights advocate.
"People didn't recognize us as the first-class citizens that we were," said Ways, a professional motivational speaker who was the first runner-up in the 2005 Ms. Wheelchair America contest.
In disability civil rights, Michigan considered leader
Michigan was among the first states in the country to have laws protecting disabled people, and in some areas is stricter than the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the head of Wayne State University's disability law clinic.
"Michigan was an early leader in the field of disability civil rights," said professor David Moss, who teaches discrimination law.
In 1976, the state enacted what was called the Michigan Handicappers' Civil Rights Act to require accessibility and outlaw discrimination.
Under federal law, only businesses that have more than a certain number of employees are bound by the ADA. But Michigan's stricter law applies to companies that have only one employee.
Hip Hip Hooray for the ADA! Happy 20th birthday!