The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was the world's first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. It was signed into our country’s law by President George Bush on July 26, 1990. The ADA passed as the result of a decades-long fight for equal rights for people with disabilities.
It began late in the 1960’s as efforts in various locales across the country. Parents lost patience with the exclusions and educational barriers faced by their children with disability and adults with disability began protesting the barriers preventing them from access to public transportation and modifications and services that would allow them to live independently in their community.
In the 1970’s, the disability rights movement gained steam. Organizations such as Disabled in Action and the Independent Living Movement, staged peaceful protests and civil disobedience to fight the many barriers that prevented people with disabilities from full participation in society. “People with disabilities sat in federal buildings, obstructed the movement of inaccessible buses, and marched through the streets to protest injustice. And like the civil rights movements before it, the disability rights movement sought justice in the courts and in the halls of Congress.(1)"
A historic change in public policy occurred with Congress passing of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act that included Section 504. Section 504, for the first time, prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability in federal agencies and in programs receiving federal funds as well as federal contractors. Arlene Mayerson, a pioneer in disability law and one of the founders of the Disability Rights and Education Fund, has explained the significance of the passage of Section 504 as follows:
For the first time, the exclusion and segregation of people with disabilities was viewed as discrimination. Previously, it had been assumed that the problems faced by people with disabilities, such as unemployment and lack of education, were inevitable consequences of the physical or mental limitations imposed by the disability itself. Enactment of Section 504 evidenced Congress’ recognition that the inferior social and economic status of people with disabilities was not a consequence of the disability itself, but instead was a result of societal barriers and prejudices. As with racial minorities and women, Congress recognized that legislation was necessary to eradicate discriminatory policies and practices.
This recognition encouraged the further protests, lobbying and legal work that led to the passage of the Americans with Disability Act in1990 and further modifications and supplements in the years that have followed.
1. Mayerson, Arlene. The History of the Americans with Disability Act, 1992 on the website of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (www.dredf.org).
