A city councilmember says he felt humiliated when he was forced to crawl onto a debate stage in Colorado that was not wheelchair accessible, according to multiple reports.
Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds showed up to a mandatory debate at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance school Monday, Feb. 13, but could not maneuver his wheelchair onstage because the venue did not have a ramp, The Denver Post reported.
If he didn’t participate in the debate, which was for Denver’s District 10 council seat, he would have had to forfeit his $125,000 in campaign finances from the city’s Fair Elections Fund, the outlet reported.
“It was a choice between my campaign’s viability or my dignity,” he told the outlet.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Feb. 16.
The school sent a statement to KUSA blaming Hinds for not arriving early enough or requesting “additional or enhanced accommodations.”
A staffer from the school told his team they planned to lift his power wheelchair onstage — something Hinds says is impossible as it weighs close to 400 pounds, Denverite reported.
“It’s insulting that they would just say that they would just lift me up,” he told KUSA. “I was just in shock. I didn’t really know how to handle the situation.”
He ended up having to hoist himself out of the chair to crawl onstage, an image captured by a filmmaker in the audience.
When that didn’t remedy the accessibility issue, staff decided to hold the debate on the floor in front of the stage. But the damage was already done, Hinds told CBS Colorado.
“I felt like a circus clown,” he told the station.
He hopes the ordeal can be a teachable moment for disability rights and representation, the station reported.
“The importance here is to not focus entirely on what went wrong, but to learn from it,” he told KUSA.
On Feb. 16, the dance school apologized to Hinds in a statement posted to Facebook, in which Executive Director Malik Robinson took responsibility.
“This incident was an important and visceral reminder that accessibility, in many forms, is critical for all members of our community,” the apology says, adding “It is not incumbent upon visitors to assure our compliance to accessible spaces in our facility.”
The school said it will come up with a “more comprehensive plan to address physical accessibility issues” throughout the building.
