Civil rights leader Rev. Dr. William Barber is calling for more awareness and justice for disabled people following his ouster from a Greenville, North Carolina, movie theater last week. Barber said staff at the AMC theater confronted him over his use of a specialized chair he carries with him and needs to use due to an arthritic condition he has had for decades. The reverend was attending a screening of “The Color Purple” with his 90-year-old mother. Rev. Barber says his removal was a violation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act as he addressed the incident at a press conference this week.

Bishop William Barber II: “The ADA act owes its birthright not to any one person. People worked for years. They sent alerts. They drafted legislation. They testified. They negotiated. They filed lawsuits. They stood up in places. They sat down in places. They wouldn’t move from places. They fought. They stood. They engaged in nonviolence to say, 'You will not push to the corner. You will not block us from coming just because we're differently able.’ They built a movement. They built a movement.”

Bishop Barber met with the head of AMC yesterday and said he plans another meeting with him.