Barbara Toomer

Barbara Greenlee Toomer (August 26, 1929 – April 24, 2018) was an American advocate for disability rights. She was born and raised in Southern California and attended nursing school in San Francisco. She then joined the United States Army Nurse Corps in 1953 and was stationed at Fort Bragg. In 1956, Toomer contracted polio and became a wheelchair user. She spent the remainder of her life advocating for disability rights in Utah. She founded and participated in multiple activist organizations, participated in protests against inaccessible transportation, and lobbied for housing freedom for disabled persons. Much of her activism involved ensuring that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was upheld. Toomer received numerous awards for her efforts; she was awarded the Woman of Courageous Action Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Organization for Women in 2000 and the Rosa Parks Award by the Salt Lake branch of the NAACP in 2017. Toomer died in 2018 and was buried in the Utah Veterans Cemetery.

Early life and education Barbara Greenlee Toomer was born on August 26, 1929, in Pasadena, California Her father worked in real estate, and her mother had been a secretary. She had one younger sister. The Greenlee family lived in "the back of a real estate office" during the Great Depression before moving to a family-owned ranch in Tarzana. She was ranked as a first lieutenant. and had three children. and required the use of a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. She then began to advocate for increased access and accommodations for disabled people. She began by writing letters and delivering speeches. Toomer was also involved with ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) from its inception. In 1991, she helped organize the Disabled Rights Action Committee She also joined the Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission and the Professional Ethics Committee of the Utah State Bar. One of her earliest protests, a "crawl-on" in Denver in 1983, involved chanting "We will ride!"

Toomer then took part in the demonstrations in Washington D.C. to promote the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She was "the only known Utahn to actively participate" in these protests. Then, in 1992, she participated in a protest against a telethon put on by the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association. The fundraiser, in Toomer's words, advertised disabled people as being "helpless, hopeless, non-functioning and non-contributing". After the ADA was passed in 1990, She participated in protests against Greyhound Lines. While being honored with the Rosa Parks Award by the Salt Lake City Branch of the NAACP in 2017, Toomer said, "I've always felt that Miss Parks and I have the same goals. She wanted to get from the back of the bus. I wanted to get on the bus." Toomer was arrested at least 35 times for her activism. In 2000, she lobbied for one in every four new apartments constructed in Utah to be accessible, upholding the Fair Housing Act.

Toomer reported vehicles occupying parking spots designated for people with disabilities without having proper tags. She worked to help get curb cuts in Utah for better wheelchair accessibility. Toomer was also a longtime delegate for the Democratic Party. She lobbied for federal aid, state aid, and affordable housing options for the elderly and persons with disabilities. In this effort, she "personally lobbied President Bill Clinton and Cabinet members of the George W. Bush administration". In 2005, Toomer was given the Utah Issues' Joe Duke Rosati Hell Raiser Award. and the Community Justice Award in 2008,

Death and legacy Toomer died of respiratory failure She had continued to work as an activist "well into her 80s". One of her last efforts had including lobbying for federal financial support for in-home caretakers for disabled persons. Her role as one of the "leading advocates for civil rights for people with disabilities and the poor in Utah" spanned four decades. The Disability Law Center also established the Barbara G. Toomer Disability Rights Fellowship in her honor. Additionally, ADAPT honored Toomer in their Fun Run fundraiser. She was then buried in the Utah Veterans Cemetery in Bluffdale, Utah.