Ah, the weather was beautiful. I swam to this raft that was anchored offshore and didn't check the depth of the water.
It was the summer of 1967 when Joni Eareckson Tada went swimming in the Chesapeake Bay near the Bay Bridge. Joni, who had just graduated from Woodlawn High School, dove off the raft.
WATCH: Joni Eareckson Tada and the 35th anniversary of the ADA
“Immediately, my head hit the sandy bottom,” she says. “That snapped my head back and I heard a crunch and a sprung, and the next thing I knew, I was totally paralyzed face down in the water.
Joni's spinal cord was severed, and her life was forever changed.
“They told my family I would never use these hands, I would never walk again, I would always be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life,” she says. “It just did not compute. I just couldn't absorb the fact that I would never walk again.”
Although her body was weakened, her faith grew. And she made it her mission to help others with disabilities.
Through her nonprofit, Joni and Friends, she's traveled the world, bringing hope and support to people with disabilities and their families.
“I remember being in the Philippines once,” Joni says. “It was during the monsoon season, and I saw a paralyzed woman crossing the street using flip flops on her hands, and she was dragging her body across the street. On the way home in the airplane, I’m thinking to myself, God, if I can do anything to make that woman’s life better, count me in.”
Since then, her Wheels for the World ministry has restored and given more than 260,000 wheelchairs to people.
What's more, she's advocated at the highest levels for disability rights and was instrumental in getting the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990.
“Recently, I was in Yosemite National Park with my husband and I, with tears, I, I could not believe the access,” she says. “Signage opportunities for the blind. There were loops for people who are deaf. There were paved pathways for my husband and I to take long, casual walks. To know that the ADA has provided this access.”
With the 35th anniversary of the ADA this month, Joni is looking back at how the law has made the lives of people with disabilities better, and what challenges remain.
“It is a changed heart in our society that is needed, especially now,” she says. “We need new hearts, fresh hearts, happy hearts that are willing to include everyone, to embrace each other despite our differences.”
Now 74, Joni is one of the world’s longest surviving quadriplegics. She’s still going strong, doing inspirational podcasts and videos.
While she lives in California, she remains connected to home and family here.
“I love Baltimore,” she says. “I love its people. I will always consider myself a Marylander and most proudly, a Baltimorean.”
