Twenty Five years ago on July 25th, Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization “DAMO” held The Other Side of the Americans with Disabilities Act Rally in front of San Francisco’s City Hall pulling together people of color, poor people and immigrants with disabilities. I pointed out what was missing from the cover of the Americans with Disability Act years ago, during the thirtieth anniversary of the ADA and a White lady quietly interrupted and said, “well that was back then, thank god things have changed!” At that time I was shocked – especially in the middle of Covid 19 where the Black community is one group hardest hit.

Twenty five years ago with Poor Magazine we came up with a powerful flyer of the Other Side of the ADA Rally by taking the cover of the law (the ADA) and we wrote on top of the picture of former President George Bush Sr. the question: Who is missing? If you look at the cover of the ADA you will notice that all the people surrounding Bush were all White. Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization had an arts arm named New Voices: Disabled Artists & Poets of Color where we wrote and publicly shared our songs and poems and many of us got that support under DAMO’s artistic avenue to publish books and for me, years down the line, I and Rob DA Noize Temple of New York City, created Krip-Hop Nation. an international network of Hip-Hop and other musicians with disabilities. Now it’s been almost twenty three years since I started Krip-Hop Nation and also like DAMO, Krip-Hop Nation has been educating and advocating that long history and more visibility of Disabled Hip-Hop artists. Although disabled musicians have been inside and outside of the music industry since the Blues; still today Krip-Hop Nation and our politics and theories are not being taken on in the mainstream music industry but we continue to push.

Disability Advocates Of Minorities Organization, DAMO, was not only an advocacy org but was a space for artistic expression and telling our stories for disabled artists/poets of color called New Voices where we would performed all over the Bay Area in bookstores like Modern Times bookstore to Different Light bookstore to the Oakland Asian American Museum to La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley from 1998-2002.

During the day Gary Norris Gray and I would be writing grants for our advocacy work in people of color communities in San Francisco and Oakland then at night or on the weekend New Voice would be in the community doing our art! On top of that Gary and I did a public access tv talk show, The Moore-Gray Matter Show. I have always wanted to somehow put all of the footage, audio and photos of that time together to tell the story of what we created for people of color with disabilities at that time.

Now in 2025 I am once again looking at old VH video tapes and looking at photos of DAMO and New Voices: Disabled Artists/Poets of Color.

 The Experiment in 1997, San Francisco Bay Area

In 1997, a year after coming home from London, UK witnessing a Black disabled movement, my friend and I decided to do a little experiment on a disabled organization in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area  where we had two of our friends, one White and other Black both dress nice to go in to see what kind of info they can get. 

Our White friend went in first and was in the disabled organization for almost two hours then came out with resources, and even an offer for a job. Then our Black friend went into the disabled org but came out only ten minutes later with nothing. 

I knew right then that I had to quit my job and start my own organization, Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, DAMO for people of color with disabilities that had an arts wing called New Voices: Disabled Poets & Artists of Color.  DAMO lasted four years with two grants and events all over the Bay.  We even had a public access television talk show in Berkeley, CA and had offices first in SF then in Oakland.  Now it is 2025 and I wonder if  my friend and I would get the same results if we did the same experiment today in 2025?

My ADA Story

Another anniversary


Let’s get down and dirty
I’ve an ADA Story 



Been unemployed for a century


Buildings not accessible in my community


Disabled brothers and sisters are in the penitentiary 


Facing police brutality

We even had a Black president

Faces in high places

Supreme Court keeps on smacking our faces

Water down enforcement

Can’t pay my rent with hope


Got to clean politician’s platforms so pass the soap

Sing off ADA titles I need to sweep the promises so give me a broom

My ADA story is like a frozen screen on zoom

My disabled brothers and sisters are living on the streets


The ADA has done nothing for me 



Listen to my life 

Got raped in the shelter


Got pop, pop shot on the streets


Three strikes and now I’m in prison for the life 



Time to educate
Always need to advocate


But there is no time to celebrate 



We’ve the highest unemployment rate


What’s going to happen to our fate


Our leaders are not awake 



Does anybody care


Disabled youth abuse in foster care


Segregated in schools and now I’m on welfare 



Don’t want to stray


From the old ways


No wonder our youth can’t relate 



Another year and another ADA celebration


Here I am telling you my ADA story


There you go playing down my contribution 



The movement needs an earthquake


While we blow out the candles on the cake


For God sake tell the truth for the youth sake 



It’s time to debate the stories behind the movement that created the ADA 



— Leroy F. Moore Jr.

p.s. Anybody want to help organize and digitize my archives?