This is the true life story of a courageous lady, born with a birth defect (spina bifida), which by age 8 left her paralyzed from the waist down. When her grandfather, a country doctor, learned of her birth defect, his advice was, "Put her in a home and forget her. She won't live long." Walking became possible only with the aid of heavy steel braces and crutches. She had to stop formal education in the third grade. She very determined to live life to the fullest. And through tutored elementary education, college, marriage and later divorce, she did not miss many bases. Later. Osteoporosis and a broken leg put her in a wheelchair. This really allowed her to get out to meet the world and she did not like what she saw . So, she decided to change those things she could ---- like removal of obstacles, both physical and attitudinal.

From then on it was a duel between her and and the inane bureaucrats over freedom of access for the disabled. This activity caused her to be arrested and put in jail many times, for stopping inaccessible buses in most of the major cities of the USA.

Like Moses, she often led the way, saw many trials, and triumphs (e.g. ADA)but didn't make it to the promised land of an accessible world.

Cathy was born the fifth of six children, one of the brighter "flowers" of Blossom, Texas, she was born with spina bifida, at the end of the "Roaring Twenties" and just in time to hear the first cries of the Great Stockmarket Crash of '29 and the following Great Depresion. Being born with spina bifida (involving the spinal cord and spinal column) she also had reason to cry.

When DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) wouldn't listen to the disabled pleas for Access, she blocked DART Buses on the streets of Dallas with her wheelchair, getting arrested and jailed in the process. ---- She argued , "The failure to construct curb cuts and side walks, and to deny access to public transportation, is just the latest symptom of discrimination, segregation and deprivation of basic civil rights. The 'decoration' (in red paint "THIS CURB IS ILLEGAL") is notice that toleration of your intolerance is at an end. We have very carefully NOT asked for too much! We have negotiated with you, tried to work within the system. In return the system has given us nothing but lip-service. We are still thwarted by the old and the new: Antiquated thinking and newly constructed physical barriers. The time has come for obliteration of both!"

In 1990. with the help of people like Cathy Thomas, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed by Congress. President George Bush invited her to the White House for the signing of the bill. After finally "making it to the banquet". She died in 1992 of complications from spina bifida.

In Las Colinas, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, a little noticed plaque stands in memorial at the North Irving Transit Center. And as travelers hurry past, these words are her activist legacy:

CATHY THOMAS: AN ENTHUSIASTIC ADVOCATE OF PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED. CATHY THOMAS, OF IRVING, TEXAS, WORKED TIRELESSLY TO EDUCATE OTHERS OF THE RIGHTS AND ABILITIES OF INDIVIDUALS WHO SOMETIMES HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN IN OUR SOCIETY. SHE SACRIFICED AS AN ACTIVIST, PROVIDED LEADERSHIP AS AN ADVOCATE, SERVED AS A CATALYST, DEFENDED THE PLIGHT OF OTHERS, CHALLENGED THE SYSTEM AND ALWAYS CHAMPIONED THE CAUSE OF DISABLED PEOPLE'S SPECIAL ABILITIES. OF ALL THE HONORS SHE WAS BESTOWED NONE MADE HER MORE PROUD THAN THE PASSAGE OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990. CATHY'S LIFE AND WORK ARE HONORED HERE SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AMERICANS WILL KNOW AND REMEMBER HER!