After some years into the Civil Rights and Disability Rights movements, the first federal act in an effort for civil rights protection for people with disabilities was signed into law in 1973, and it was known as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. What this law states is, “no otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States shall solely on the basis of his handicap, be excluded from the participation, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” (Cone). This essentially states that a program that runs under the funds from the U.S. government, can not discriminate against a person with a disability. At this time, while not discussed or even acknowledged, the discrimination of those with disabilities was prevalent in many aspects of society, such as housing, education, transportation, employment, and even access to public buildings or medical care. Section 504, forbade this discrimination. This law could be discussed in class to show that yet again, a group of Americans was fighting to obtain basic freedoms and liberties.
Once the law had been passed, there was the need to distinguish and set regulations of who was truly disabled. Between 1973 and 1977 no regulations were issued, but during that period, attorneys in the Office for Civil Rights were drafting strong regulations. These were sent to the Secretary of The Department of Health Education welfare (HEW) with a recommendation that they be published. At the same time, “opposition was developing on the part of covered entities — hospitals, universities, state and county governments and the regulations were not published. There was much delay; the disability community filed a lawsuit in federal court; the judge ruled that they must be issued but not when” (Cone). This fact can be used to help a class understand the predicament those within the disabled community were put in. The class can discuss and analyze how they would react if their access to public spaces or healthcare was opposed by many.
Due to this deliberation, the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) was formed. President Carter now entered office and it was clear that there was still no push for ensuring their protection with Section 504. “ACCD, realizing our civil rights protections were being gutted, demanded HEW issue the regulations unchanged by April 4, or action would occur. They called for sit-ins at eight HEW regional headquarters, April 5th if (HEW) didn’t comply” (Cone). This effort put in to enact the sit-ins should be discussed in a class and praised. This form of protest attracted those with physical disabilities, and in the seventies, with the lack of transport and convenient ways to get around, this sit-in meant people would go and stay, until the issue was completely fixed and ruled in their favor. These people were committed to their cause, the sit-in that took place in The San Francisco federal Building lasted 26 days. “The composition of the sit-in represented the spectrum of the disability community with participation from people with a wide variety of disabilities, from different racial, social and economic backgrounds, and ages from adults to kids with disabilities and their parents” (Cone). These protests and efforts that the disabled community went through to obtain their basic rights and access to society should be taught alongside with the efforts those made for progress in the Civil Rights Movements of the sixties. These instances of people working to be seen as equal and obtain the respect they deserve happened pretty recently in the timeline of history and should no longer be silenced as they have.
Article: https://dredf.org/504-sit-in-20th-anniversary/short-history-of-the-504-sit-in/