Paulo Freire and a Manifesto for Disability Pedagogy

The History of Disability Activism in America

Before we begin to revolutionize disability activism, we may first need to understand our beginnings and our foundation. Significantly, much of the revolutionary efforts of the disability rights movement were born out of the model for social justice that was forged by the civil rights movement in the 1960s. For decades, disability activists like Justin Dart, Judy Heumman, and Ed Roberts protested, rallied, and lobbied for change on local and national levels for the removal of physical and attitudinal barriers.

In the 1960s, while activists were working toward accessibility and policy change, parent advocates lead the first charge for the deinstitutionalization movement to remove their children with disabilities from the inhumane conditions of institutions like Willowbrook State School. The values of community-based living in the movement would later manifest in the Independent Living Movement founded by Ed Roberts, grounded in the idea that people with disabilities were experts on their own lives and should make decisions about their own care: Nothing about us without us.

By the 1970s, activists marched on Washington, demanding that Congress include civil rights for people with disabilities into the Rehabilitation Act. In 1973, the legislation was passed and provided equal opportunity by prohibiting discrimination in employment based off of one's disability. However, it wasn't until 1977 that the government approved the issuance of regulations to actually legally implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. It was achieved by the longest federal sit-in in history by disability activists nation-wide.

In San Francisco, disability activists occupied the federal building for 28 days. To this day, the 504 Sit-In is one of the most famous moments of disability activism in history. By 1980s, activists lobbied for various pieces of disability rights legislation to be consolidated into one primary statute of civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. After a decade of activism and advocacy, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed in 1990. The ADA was intended to prohibit discrimination in the areas of employment, services by state and local governments, places of public accommodation, transportation, and telecommunications services.

This is only a brief history of disability rights meant to familiarize you with the traditional methodology of disability activism. It was grounded in protests, rallies, and lobbying. We examined the activism of Stella Young. But, what does activism look like today in its most revolutionary sense? Where do we go from here and why is our history important?