Remember Disability Rights In April
Protests and civil disobedience forced the signing of Section 504’s implementing regulations 34 years ago this month
On September 25th of 1973 President Nixon signed Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. In D.C. the Department of Health Education and Welfare began writing the regulations to ensure that the civil rights objectives of Section 504 could be enforced.
On April 5, 1977, thousands of “the disabled” converged on Department of Health, Education and Welfare offices around the country to demand that the equal rights legislation Congress had passed 5 years earlier be implemented. In San Francisco they took over the HEW Office and started what became the longest sit-in occupation of a federal building in U.S. history
At 7:30 A.M. on April 28, 1977 they celebrated victory. The rules implementing Section 504 were signed by HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil-rights provision. It does not provide funding for any programs or activities; rather, it is a requirement that accompanies federal funding to organizations such as schools and universities. Any organization that receives federal funds – for any purpose – must comply with section 504. Section 504 laid the ground work for the American’s With Disabilities Act of 1990 which established broad civil rights protections for individuals with disabilities. Between 1990 and 2008 the courts narrowed the protections of the ADA. Congress responded by passing the ADA Amendments Act Clarifying its intent that the ADA extend Section 504’s Federal fund dependent protections as broad civil rights for individuals with disabilities. In the past few months we have seen new regulations covering employment, commerce, public programs and government services
Justice William J. Brennan said that with Section 504
“Congress acknowledged that society’s accumulated myths and fears about disability and disease are as handicapping as are the physical limitations that flow from actual impairment.” Arline v. Nassau County, 1987
“The San Francisco 504 sit-in did not succeed because of a brilliant strategy by a few disability leaders. It succeeded because the Deaf people set up a communication system from the 4th floor windows inside the building to the plaza down below; because the Black Panther Party brought a hot dinner to all 150 participants every single night; because people from community organizing backgrounds taught us how to make collaborative decisions; because friends came and washed our hair in the janitor’s closet sink. The people doing disability rights work in the 1970s rarely agreed on policies, or even on approaches. The successes came because people viewed each other as invaluable resources working towards a common goal.” (Corbett Joan O’Toole, Ragged Edge Online October 19, 2005)
Resources
A Look Back at ‘Section 504’: San Francisco Sit-In a Defining Moment
http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/features/2002/504/
The 25 Day Siege That Brought Us 504
http://www.independentliving.org/docs4/ervin1986.html
The Section 504 rules: More to the story
http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/0102/0102ft6.html
A History: Disability at Ohio State
http://digitalunion.osu.edu/r2/summer06/kmetz/index.html
Disability Studies At OSU
http://disabiltystudies.osu.edu/
Planet of the Blind 