Councilman who uses wheelchair says he was humiliated at debate due to stage without wheelchair access: "I felt like a circus clown"

Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds says he felt humiliated when he was forced to crawl onto a debate stage because it isn't wheelchair accessible, CBS Colorado's Michael Abeyta reports.

Hinds doesn't hide that he uses a wheelchair. 

"I've been a disability advocate for years. All my material has my wheelchair in it," Hinds told CBS Colorado. 

So, he says when he showed up Monday for a debate required under Denver law, at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance school, he was surprised its staffers were surprised. 

"The first person who greeted me said, 'Oh, I didn't know you were in a wheelchair,'" Hinds recalled.

The stage where the debate was supposed to take place didn't have wheelchair access. 

Hinds says the first solution proposed was unacceptable if not impossible: lifting him and his chair onto the stage. 

"I said, 'This wheelchair is 400 pounds and I weigh close to 200 pounds,'" Hinds said. 

So, he left his chair, hoisted himself onto the stage and crawled.

He says he felt humiliated.

He told The Denver Post, "It was a choice between my campaign's viability or my dignity."

"I was effectively just lying on the stage," Hinds told CBS Colorado. 

The debate was eventually moved to the floor in front of the stage, but Hinds says the damage was done.  

"I felt like a circus clown," Hinds said.

Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez said his office doesn't plan, advertise or facilitate debates and that Cleo Parker Robinson signed an application stating it was basic ADA compliant. 

In a statement, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance said, "There were no requests for additional or enhanced accommodation." 

Hinds says they should have known.

"Someone didn't do some just basic research," he asserted.

Officials of the school also says if they'd more time, something could've been figured. Hinds arrived just before the debate started. 

"That's unfair because they're telling me that I should have been more prepared when clearly they were unprepared," Hinds said. 

Lopez says he's reached out to Hinds to apologize. 

"I don't think anybody should have to go through that," he said. "We're going to be making sure that we're working with any one of the folks that are sponsoring debates to make sure that they understand those ADA requirements." 

Hinds says he hopes this never happens again. 

"I hope that the takeaway is that we need to learn from this and understand why it's so important that we have disability representation," he said. 

Cleo Parker Robinson officials say they were already working to make sure their stage is more accessible in the future when the debate took place. 

CBS Colorado reporter and anchor Justin Adams was the debate's moderator but had no hand in planning the event.