CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Continuing to guarantee the rights of the disabled

Lewiston Morning Tribune - 8/7/2020

Aug. 7--Larry Clott didn't set out to be an advocate for those with disabilities.

Now 71, Clott was just 19 years old when he broke his neck in a motor vehicle accident that left him a quadriplegic.

Never one to just give up, he went on to marry, have a family, earn bachelor, master's and doctoral degrees and hold down numerous positions, including athletic counselor at Washington State University and served as director of the Palouse Regional Crisis Line and executive director of Stepping Stones in Moscow.

But it was in 1990 that Clott and others emerged on the national stage and pushed for Congress to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act and convinced President George H.W. Bush to sign it into law.

It would, however, take the help of Clott's daughter, Lynsie, who was 5 years old at the time, to make it happen. The fate of the act was uncertain, so Clott, his daughter and hundreds of protesters marched on the White House in the pouring rain.

"A CNN cameraman came toward us and I thought, 'This is my time,' " Clott said. "He went straight toward my daughter and said, 'Hey little girl, why are you here?' She said, 'Because George Bush doesn't think people in wheelchairs are good. They are.' It went national."

Bush would later sign the ADA into law.

Craig Clohessy: Thirty years later, how have things improved for those with disabilities, how have they changed?

Larry Clott: Prior to the ADA passage, occasionally you'd see a curb cut. Occasionally you would see an elevator in a building and it was a real plus to have a push-button door. ... The world has changed completely now that we're at the 30-year mark. ...

(The ADA) is almost so common now that when people talk about ADA it was like it was there forever. But in fact when I left the rehabilitation hospital after a broken neck and one year in the hospital, I had a power chair but I couldn't use it -- not outside of the facility -- because there were no ramps. It wouldn't climb a curb and if you backed off a curb with it, the whole motor system would disengage. So you couldn't go anywhere. Occasionally if you could find a driveway and use it as a wheelchair ramp you could get off the sidewalk or back on the sidewalk. But not all streets had them. ...

You asked if the world has changed at all. I can remember when I received my master's degree and started looking for jobs. People would say to me, "We would love to have you work for us, but how are you going to get into our building?" (They should have said,) "How can we make it accessible?" or "How can we use you?" Clearly and simply they would say, "We can't hire you because you can't get into our building."

I was asked to leave stores. ... I was asked to leave a Safeway store because a little boy kept saying, "What's that? What's that?" pointing at different things on my wheelchair. I love kids. I started explaining it to him and the mother said, "Leave him alone, leave him alone." And I said, "He's fine, he's fine." She went to the manager and said her son was scared of me so she wanted me removed. And he said, "I have to do it because she's a patron." And I said, "I'm a patron too." But he said, "I'm sorry but if she thinks you're scaring her child, you have to leave."

Things like that happened.

CC: Do you think there's more to be done today?

LC: There's going to get constant refreshing of the needs for people that are disabled. ... Our city (Moscow) can be negligent and occasionally allows someone to build something inaccessible. ... I worked years ago with ... the city engineer. I actually had to put his butt into a chair and have him go down ramps that they had built and the chair tipped over. That sold him on the fact that the ramps needed to be redone.

CC: Despite or maybe because of your disability, you've lived a very full life. You earned multiple degrees and held leadership jobs. Heck, you were a youth baseball and softball coach for 25 years. What advice would you offer to those with disabilities?

LC: Oh gosh, don't live life as being disabled. That's just plain and simple. Live life like you want to live life. I know there are a lot of people that are disabled that will say, "But you don't understand what I go through." No, I don't understand every other person's life, but live it as full as you possibly can. ...

My first year after my master's (degree program) started, I said to my wife, "I think I am just too stressed out to keep going." And she said, "You need to do something about it." And I said, "I don't know what to do." She said, "Well, what do you like to do?" I said, "I like to play baseball." She said, "Well, you can't play baseball ... but why don't you coach?"

It was addictive. I mean the kids hung on me and they loved hearing stories and they loved getting on the field and they were so protective of me and I'd say, "You know, don't worry about it, if I get hit with a ball, I get hit with a ball." And sure as heck I'd get hit in the knee with a ball or in the shin.

Clohessy is managing editor of the Lewiston Tribune. He may be contacted at cclohessy@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2251.

Larry Dale Clott

Age: 71

Family: Wife, Audrey, deceased 1999; daughter, Lynsie; son-in-law, Aaron Freudenthol; granddaughter, Fiona, 1-year-old.

Education: Bachelor of arts, speech communication; master's, organizational communications; Ph.D., education counseling.

Work history: Speech instructor, Washington State University; athletic counselor, WSU; director of Eastern Protection and Advocacy Assoc. -- Washington; executive director Stepping Stones Inc., Moscow; director Palouse Regional Crisis Line; grant reader for Department of Education; served on Cornell Human Rights Board; project member for Texas Institute on Rehabilitation Research.

Hobbies/interests: Sports spectator, coached youth baseball and softball for 25 years, wrote Idaho's first handicapped parking bill.

___

(c)2020 the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho)

Visit the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho) at www.lmtribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News