Utah Women are Determined

April 2021

This month’s theme is “Utah Women Are Determined!” Our history definitely backs up this claim. This month’s calendar features Barbara Toomer, a powerhouse in the disability rights movement. She was determined to make a difference.

One of many causes Barbara fought for was accessibility. She planned demonstrations called “crawl-ons” to show that people in wheelchairs couldn’t board UTA busses. She bragged that she had shut down every bus route in Salt Lake City, and she was jailed more than 35 times for these protests! But Barbara eventually triumphed when UTA was forced to comply with ADA accessibility standards.

Download a PDF version of our April calendar here! Illustration by Brooke Smart, graphic design by Michelle Proctor.

Other determined women we’ll feature this month:

Elizabeth DeLong, a deaf advocate, educator, and suffragist born on April 2, 1877.

And Betty Miller, who took off from California in April 1963 and became the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific.

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