Carrie Ann Lucas

Carrie Ann Lucas was an athlete studying sports medicine when after graduating from Whitworth College, she was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease. She was an ordained minister, graduating from the Iliff School of Theology, and also worked as a teacher while living in Saipan. As her symptoms progressed, she took a semester off from law school to study Braille and sign language, eventually graduating 15th in her class at the University of Denver Law School.

While working for the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, she was lead plaintiff for a class action suit against Kmart, one of the largest accessibility class action settlements to date.^[4] In 2004, Lucas founded the Center for the Rights of Parents with Disabilities. She was an advocate in the Disability Rights Movement with organizations such as ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, and the National Council on Disability for many years.^[5] She ran for public office in Windsor, Colorado in 2017.^[6]

Hard of hearing and legally blind, breathing through a ventilator and using a power wheelchair, she raised four adopted children with developmental and physical disabilities.

In February 2019, at the age of 47, Lucas suffered cardiac arrest and died from complications from an ensuing infection.^[7][8] Her friends and family claimed Lucas' death was hastened by her insurance company's denial of necessary medication.^[9][10]

Lucas was openly lesbian.^[11]

• Disability Pride, blog of Carrie Ann Lucas.
• Disabled Parents Rights