For years, Dale Coski came to work every morning at the Denver Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships and rolled his wheelchair toward the door until someone opened it.

“We would come pick him up and he would say, ‘Oh, thanks for opening the door,’” said longtime colleague Lorrie Kosinski, laughing at the memory.

The routine began with the agency moving from a public office to a badge-only floor; this was cumbersome and inaccessible for wheelchair users like Coski.

According to friends and former co-workers, Coski’s tenacity, passion and kindness made lasting impacts on Colorado’s disabled community and the people who knew him. He died on September 26, aged 67, after an illness.

Coski’s career fighting for disability rights began in 1983, while working as an officer with the Denver Police Department, when he was hit by a vehicle and lost his left leg and suffered a closed head injury.

Coski was assisting a stranded motorist when he was struck and the injury left him with quadriplegia. according to his obituary.

Her friend and colleague Kathy Hulse, clinical care manager and social worker at Craig Hospital, said spinal cord injuries are a challenging and all-encompassing condition.

“Dale chose to return to work and create a position for himself that would serve the community and people with disabilities,” Hulse said. “He did this before the Americans with Disabilities Act; he was truly a pioneer.”

Coski is not one to talk about his accomplishments, but his impact is clear, Kosinski said.

He developed Denver’s disabled parking practices that would become a national model. He helped establish the city’s disabled parking enforcement program and, along with his own service dog Perseverance, or “Persey,” the first service dog in Colorado, testified in support of state laws granting access to service dogs.

Julie Reiskin, co-executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, said Coski has the uniquely challenging and vital role of advocating for disability rights from the inside.