DENVER (KDVR) — The Regional Transportation District Board of Directors voted on Tuesday to rename the Civic Center Station in honor of a disability rights advocate who helped spark historic changes in public transit both locally and across the U.S.
Starting in 2026, RTD will implement the new name “Wade Blank Civic Center Station” on digital platforms and station signage as part of regularly scheduled service changes in January.
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The decision comes after a yearlong process of encouraging the community to propose honorary names for RTD properties based on historical contributions, public support and alignment with RTD’s mission, the agency said in a press release.
The station will be named after Rev. Wade Blank, who advocated for disability rights and was an important organizer of the disability rights and independent living movement, according to an RTD article.
Who is Wade Blank?
After seeing how disabled residents were mistreated while working at a nursing home in Denver in 1971, Blank co-founded the non-profit Atlantis Community Inc., a place where people with severe disabilities could live semi-independently. He moved people out of the nursing home by himself, according to the RTD article.
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Blank then co-founded a political offshoot of Atlantis, advocating for disability rights, called American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, or ADAPT. At the time, people with disabilities were often institutionalized, and everyday things like public transportation were not accessible…