Tag Archives: disability history

Article: “Before the ADA, there was Section 504”

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“When the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed to prohibit employment discrimination based on disability, it was supposed to protect disabled people and ensure their rights in the United States.

Libraries, schools, courtrooms, subsidized transportation and countless other resources were “available” to the public — but still not accessible to the millions of disabled people who lived in the United States. Richard Scotch, a professor of sociology, public policy and political economy at the University of Texas at Dallas, said that when Section 504 was drafted, it was a beacon of hope.” Continue reading or listening to this article at The New York Times.

Article: “One Laid Groundwork For The ADA; The Other Grew Up Under Its Promises”

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“We will no longer allow the government to oppress disabled individuals. We want the law enforced.”

Judy Heumann, a founder of the Disability Rights Movement

“Before the Americans with Disabilities Act granted people with disabilities greater protection and accessibility, a little-known law set the groundwork.

In 1977, Judy Heumann helped lead a peaceful protest that forced the government to follow through with Section 504. As part of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the law would force hospitals, universities and other public spaces that received federal money, to remove barriers to accessibility for all Americans. But its implementation was long delayed over the costs necessary to retrofit buildings to comply with the law.” Continue reading this article, which includes a 4-minute podcast of Judy Heumann speaking about the significance of The Americans with Disabilities Act, at NPR.

Article: “Campus archives reveal genesis of U.S. disability rights movement”

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“It was 1997, and Jane Rosario, a librarian at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, was on her way to visit Mark O’Brien, a former Berkeley student with an extensive literary collection of his own works. He was a poet and journalist and larger than life — and Rosario had the job of collecting his poems, essays and book reviews to include in the library’s archives on disability rights and the independent living movement of the 1960s and 1970s.” Continue reading this article by Anne Brice at Berkeley News.