The Norman Transcript

Editor's Note: This is part of a weeklong series on people living with disabilities and the challenges they face. This article includes an interactive timeline down the left side. Simply mouse over the years to see important milestones.

On the morning of July 26, 1990, about 3,000 watched President George Bush sign a measure which had been -- for all practical purposes -- more than 30 years in the making.

There, on the south lawn of the White House, the President, surrounded by his staff, members of Congress, and other officials, signed the Americans with Disabilities Act -- an issue, spawned during the Civil Rights movement, which led to better access for thousands of Americans with handicaps.

It was, for the 3,000 disability rights advocates attending the ceremony, a historic event.

But getting that bill to the President wasn't easy.

And it almost cost one Oklahoma Congressman his political career.

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"It was an issue which didn't have a large constituency," said Gene Wallace, a Muskogee County Commissioner who spent 16 years as chief of staff for the late Congressman Mike Synar.

"It wasn't one of those issues where 40 percent of the public thought it was necessary. It wasn't the type of bill that everyone rushed out to get involved in."

Except, maybe, Mike Synar.

A maverick, stand-alone type Democrat, Synar represented Oklahoma's Second Congressional District from 1978 until 1994. Brilliant, loud, opinionated and not afraid of a fight, Synar, Wallace said, could not be turned once he made up his mind.

And in the late 1980s, Synar turned his attention to better protection for the disabled.

"He embraced the ADA proposal because he had personal experience in dealing with persons with disabilities," Wallace said. "It was, for him, very personal."

And part of that reason, Wallace said, was due to the Special Olympics.

"I believe it was because he (Synar) was involved with Special Olympics," he said. "He served as the Honorary Chairman. He never campaigned on that, he never listed it on a resum?. In fact, unless he was putting the tap on people to donate for them (the Special Olympics), he never talked about it. But I really think that's what motivated him to embrace the ADA like he did."

It would be a long, tough fight.

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The issue hit the political arena hard during the second term of then-President Ronald Reagan. In 1986, the National Council on Disability issued its report, "Toward Independence." That report recommended a number of policy changes including a comprehensive law which required "equal opportunity for individuals to be enacted."

Two years later, that bill hit the U.S. Senate.

In May 1988, the first version of the ADA was introduced. In September, the Senate passed it and quickly sent it to the House of Representatives.

And it was there, in the U.S. House, where the fight got ugly.

"It quickly proved to be very controversial," Wallace said. "It was controversial because it cost money. Lots of money. Obviously, the principle obstacles were the cost of refitting buildings -- that was the biggest problem. And that's where the opposition started."

But that debate didn't bother Synar.

"Mike was always of the opinion that government should be the leader in any good, sound social policy," Wallace said. "He recognized the need for the bill and he knew it needed to pass."

So Synar, Wallace said, did his own research.

"Mike had to have facts and figures," he said. "He was a champion debater, so he wanted to be armed with information."

And part of that research included experiencing what it was like to be handicapped.

"I remember he spent a considerable part of one day using a wheelchair," Wallace said. "He didn't talk to anyone. He didn't tell anyone. He just did it on his own. He wanted to know what it felt like to be disabled and to try and get around."

Synar's experiment, along with his research and his work on the Special Olympics, would make him "very dogmatic" about the ADA. "He was pretty unyielding," Wallace said. "He just hung on until his opponents understood how important the need was."

But even with a passionate, hard-working advocate, the original version of the ADA hit a brick wall in the U.S. House, and wouldn't budge until the spring of 1989.

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With a new president in office, and a different set of players in the House of Representatives, the revised ADA was introduced in May 1989. In the House, five separate committees began holding hearings on the proposal -- and the rancor grew.

"The opponents were looking at the cost and the not the overall benefit of the bill," Wallace said. "It was a money thing."

But Synar, Wallace said, didn't care about costs.

"It (the cost) didn't bother him a bit," he said. "He said it was just the right thing to do. He wanted to raise the public capability of that portion of society. He wanted to give them the chance to do what they could never do before."

With debates continuing, controversy about the ADA began to seep back home to the Second District. And most of the "home folks," Wallace said, weren't too pleased by Synar's stance.

"Most of the people in the district didn't support it," he said. "But, again, that didn't bother Mike. He held town hall meeting after town hall meeting. He met with city officials and state officials. He just had the passion of believing that something needed to be done."

A few would change their opinion.

But many others, including large collections of business leaders and government officials, remained opposed.

"Municipal, county and state governments were really against it," Wallace said. "They were some of the first opposition to get on board. They were looking at the cost of refitting their buildings and they kept asking us where the money was going to come from. They said they had limited budgets and the ADA was just another unfunded Congressional mandate."

A compromise was reached.

Congress expanded the length of time needed to comply with the bill and some of the opposition began to die down.

"Like anything that calls for social change, the ADA needed some lead time," Wallace said. "I think that helped."

After several bitter months, the ADA would pass the House, the Senate, and be sent to President George Bush. "It was an uphill climb," Wallace said. "It cost people money and it had a lot of opposition; I mean there weren't too many people in three-piece suits around lobbying for it."

But eventually, on a sunny morning in July 1990, the ADA became law.

With thousands of people watching -- the ceremony would be the largest such ceremony in history --?Bush signed the measure into law, calling it "the world's first comprehensive declaration of equality of people with disabilities."

"With today's signing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, every man, woman and child with a disability can now pass through once-closed doors, into a bright new era of equality, independence and freedom," Bush said.

For Synar the bill was, simply, a good idea.

"Well, we won one for the people," he told Wallace.

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With his four-year effort complete, Synar would move on to other legislative fights -- such as tobacco and gun legislation.

He would also have to fight for his political life back home.

"He had some tough, tough races there in the last few years, and part of that reason was the ADA," Wallace said. "But I think he expected those. He knew his candle wasn't going to burn forever and he wanted to remain independent. So he just did what he thought was right."

That attitude eventually would catch up with him.

Backed by huge contributions from both the tobacco and gun lobbies, Synar was defeated in the fall of 1994.

A short time later, in the spring of 1995, the "Iron Duke" of the House would die from untreatable brain cancer.

Still, Wallace said, Synar would have continued to fight those "uphill battles" had he been sick or not.

"He was one of those persons who liked to walk the highest tightrope without a net," Wallace said. "He was one of those rare elected officials that never worried about being re-elected."

And while passing the ADA would prove to be one of Synar's last big battles, it was, Wallace said, one of the most important.

"It was a landmark piece of legislation," he said. "It was like the tobacco and the gun fights -- they were all tough. But, it was worth it. Mike said that bill helped give handicapped workers acceptance that wasn't there before. And that's why he thought it was the right thing to do."

M. Scott Carter 366-3545 scarter@normantranscript.com