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WHEREAS, Marca Bristo, Chicago disability rights a^iws^&q^founlSr of Access Living, who worked for Americans With Disabilities Act and the CTA accessfin ; Marca Bristo is survived by her husband, Bob Kettlewell; their children Sam and Madeline; a sister, Gail; and a granddaughter; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago City Council has been informed of her passing by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Marca was born Marcia Lynn Bristo on June 23, 1953, in Albany, New York, and was raised on a family farm in Castleton-on-Hudson, New York before moving to West Winfield, New York; and
WHEREAS, Marca spent her senior year of high school in the Philippines, and after graduating from Beloit College in Wisconsin in 1974, Marca attended Rush University College of Nursing; and
WHEREAS, Marca was in a diving accident in 1977 in Lake Michigan that rendered her paralyzed from the waist down and required her to use a wheelchair, while working at Northwestern Prentice Women's Hospital; she noticed a difference in the way women with disabilities were treated and pointed out the disparity to her supervisors; Thus began a lifetime of fighting discrimination; and
WHEREAS, In 1980 Marca helped found Access Living, a nationally recognized disabilities rights organization dedicated to assisting those with disabilities in Chicago with living independendy, and led the organization for many years; and
WHEREAS, Marca and other disability rights leaders help write the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination against those with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, Marca co-founded the American National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) with Max Starkloff and Charlie Carr, was granted the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award, the Americans with Disabilities Act Award, and the 2014 Henry Viscardi Achievement Award; and
WHEREAS, Marca was the first disabled chair of the American National Council on Disability from 1994 to 2002, and in 2014 Marca became president of the United States International Council on Disabilities; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council assembled this Eighteenth day of September 2019, do hereby express our sorrow and extend deepest condolences to the family of Marca Bristo on her passing, September 8, 2019.