Kevin Williams, a well known Civil Rights legal program director for the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition, died earlier this month at the age of 57 from respiratory failure. Known nationally for his legal work, Williams founded thecoalition in 1996 and became a powerful part of the group’s disability rights enforcement work. Williamsfiled hundreds of cases on behalf of people with disabilities and hired other attorneys to enforce disability rights laws, notably creating change in 2016 for those with disabilities who were attending concerts or special events at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre so that they were entitled to the same experiences as all ticketholders.
"That case prevented ticket scalpers from buying up all the tickets in the front row, which is one of the few areas at Red Rocks that can accommodate wheelchairs, except for the very back in the nosebleed section," said Colorado Sun editor Lance Benzel when he joined KUNC host Michael Lyle on Thursday to discuss the legacy of Williams and why his work was important to the disability rights movement in the state. "He also forced the venue to add accessible parking and other policies friendlier to people with disabilities. So you can guess that a great number of people with disabilities were in some way touched by by the changes."
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Williams was also known for forcing major changes at stores and restaurant chains to support those with disabilities.
"What a lot of his former colleagues would tell you is that you'd be hard pressed to find anyone more devoted to the cause of disability rights," said Benzel. "He was so passionate about it, in fact, that he used to joke that he would work until he died. And some of his closest colleagues say that's actually what happened."
Williams grew up in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland before moving to Colorado in 1990, which happened to be the same year the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted.
He attended and graduated from the University of Colorado Denver in 1993 and the University of Denver College of Law, now the Sturm College of Law, in 1996.
"Williams was a tireless advocate for disability rights, someone with a reputation that spans the nation," said Benzel. "He also had a remarkable personal story when he was paralyzed from the chest down as a result of a diving accident when he was 19. And he became passionate about disability rights in the years that followed."
