Kirk Tcherneshoff

John Kirk Tcherneshoff, Jr. (‘Kirkus’, ‘Frosty’, ‘Heinz’) passed away peacefully on the night of February 21, 2023, holding hands with his wife, sitting near his daughter and one of his sisters. Kirk was born on August 2, 1959, in Chattanooga, Tennessee (but don’t hold that against him—he was raised in Fort Payne, and he was an Alabama fan and boy to his core!). Kirk’s goofiness began shining through as a child: in almost every photo of him he was making a silly face or cracking that big grin he's known for. His creative ways to make people laugh, and his love of doing so, was a highlight of his life, especially when it came to his daughter, Kristen. He was the master of storytelling, and loved embellishing them to make them funnier with each telling—as he always said, it was his lie and he could tell it how he wanted!

When Kirk wasn’t cracking jokes, he was an avid activist for equal access and social justice. Kirk became a quadriplegic in 1977, following a car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury. In 1981, while working on his degree in social work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Kirk and several other students founded an advocacy group known as the Fellowship of Rehabilitation Counselors, Educators, and Students (FORCES) to help eliminate barriers on the UAB campus. Kirk would get to class by driving his wheelchair down the middle of University Boulevard in downtown Birmingham. When a school administrator offered to show Kirk a map of the campus to identify which intersections needed a curb ramp for wheelchair users, Kirk explained that a map was not necessary because people in wheelchairs deserved to have a curb ramp at every intersection. During this period, Kirk met his future wife, April, where they quickly became friends and co-activists, creating a peer-mentor group for newly injured people and their partners at Lakeshore Rehabilitation Center.

After graduation, Kirk continued his advocacy work at United Cerebral Palsy. He then went to work for the Birmingham Independent Living Center where, as Programs Coordinator, he took measurements of colleagues’ wheelchairs, the widths of vans and lifts, and measured heights which could be reached when seated. Many other measurements were gathered by sampling different people with disabilities with varying body sizes and the equipment they used. This information was sent to the U.S. Access Board to provide comments on what would eventually grow into the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

During the summers of 1992 and 1993, Kirk was trained under a special initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on the regulations and standards of the ADA. He was one of only 200 people with disabilities nationwide to finish both courses of study. Following this training, Kirk started an ADA consulting firm in 1996 called Tcherneshoff Consulting, Inc.

Over the next 26 years, Kirk surveyed or conducted ADA Plan Review for over 1,500 facilities across every industry. From barber shops to large resorts, restaurants to sports facilities, city parks to entire municipalities, Kirk was involved in ADA compliance in almost every state in the country (47/50 he was proud to share!) and across the Atlantic, in Denmark. He worked with lawyers, architects, business owners, and other individuals with disabilities to help facilities become compliant with the ADA and bring about policy changes in the way businesses relate to and provide services to individuals with disabilities. Although his extensive knowledge of the ADA was almost unfathomable, he was quick to remind his audiences that the ADA was not created as a set of building codes; it was created as civil rights legislation. The humanitarian aspect of his work was at the heart of everything he did.

Kirk also served as a guest lecturer in numerous graduate level social work courses. He would start his lecture by asking the students to stand up and then sit back down in their seats. His point was that most of us have the ability to sit in a chair, and it is not a particularly impressive accomplishment—certainly one that does not define our character. If we want to admire Kirk Tcherneshoff for something, admire the fact that he graduated from college with a degree in social work. Or that he raised a remarkably talented daughter. Or that he built and ran a successful business. Or that his love for his family knew no bounds (except during the Iron Bowl). Or that he did the best karaoke rendition of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,”—whistle part included. Admire him for who he was and what he accomplished, not for his mode of transportation. People frequently asked him what he wanted to be called – disabled, differently abled, wheelchair user, etc. His answer was simple: “Just call me Kirk.”

Kirk is survived by his wife, April Brandin Tcherneshoff and daughter Kristen Tcherneshoff (Tommi Heikkinen); mother and step-father Sara Isbell Quinn and John Quinn; siblings Susan Tcherneshoff Dougherty (David Dougherty), Amy Shipp (Eric Schulz), and Andy Quinn (Susan Quinn); brother-in-law Wes Brandin (Betty Porras Dolorier); nephew Will McCurdy (Lana McCurdy); nieces Tanairi, Danica, and Suzette Vildoso; step-mother Pat Rice Tcherneshoff; and many other beloved extended family relatives and close friends. Kirk was preceded in death by his father, John Kirk Tcherneshoff Sr. The family would especially like to thank his attendants - and dear friends - Teresa Hall and Kim Buchanan, along with the team at Tidewell Hospice, for their love and support.

In lieu of flowers Kirk had requested that donations be made to either the Wings of Life foundation (https://www.wingsforlife.com), which supports spinal cord research, or Wikitongues (https://www.wikitongues.org), which is his daughter’s nonprofit—and although he was never entirely sure what her confusing job consists of, he always loved supporting and championing her work.

The family invites you to join them in a celebration of Kirk’s life at a relaxed memorial service at the Kiwanis Pavillion in Fort Payne, Alabama on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 1:00 PM. Suggested attire, per Kirk’s request: Hawaiian shirts, Alabama gear (especially if you’re an Auburn fan!), and absolutely NO t-i-e-s.