The Americans with Disabilities Act—marking its 25th anniversary this summer—didn’t require places of worship to make their spaces more accessible.
But congregations such as Bet Shalom, a Reform Jewish synagogue in Minnetonka, Minnesota, did it anyway.
In 2000, as they began planning for a new building, they appointed Jackie Hirsh—a longtime member with multiple sclerosis, who used a wheelchair—to serve on the congregation’s architectural advisory committee.
