DRM Part II: 1960s – 1980s

• Advocacy and activism

• New federal laws• Issues about the enforcement of these laws• Court cases (about the rights of ppl with dis.)

Advocacy and activism• Continued work of organizations centered on one disability:

– United Cerebral Palsy Associations, NARC, Natl Fed Blind, etc.

• New cross-disability organizations:– American Coalition of Citizens with Disab. (ACCD)– Consortium for Citizens with Devel. Disab. (CCDD)– Disabled in Action (DIA)

• New approaches: lobbying, marches, letter campaigns, filing lawsuits in defense of civil rights, sit-ins, protests and non-violent civil disobedience (blocking traffic, crawling up stairs, daring policemen to arrest them – inaccessible jails)

Relevant laws

• 1968 Architectural Barriers Act

• 1973 Rehabilitation Act

• 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act

• 1975 Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act

1968 Architectural Barriers Act

• Any public buildings that are used or financed by the federal government and are new or undergoing renovation must be made accessible to people with disabilities.

• 1967 State of Illinois had already passed a similar law relative to public buildings that benefited from state funding.

1973 Rehabilitation Act

• First federal law to recognize that people with disabilities have CIVIL RIGHTS

• First to recognize that if accommodations were made (in workplaces, in schools, in other programs), then ppl with disabilities could participate, earn an education, work, etc.

• It united many different segments of the disability rights movement.

• It applied to many different places/settings.

• It provided a clear definition of disability:– A physical or mental impairment which substantially

limits one/more major life activities(eating, dressing, walking, working, learning, etc.)

• The protection of this law applied to anyone who – Has a disability– Has a record of having a disability– Is regarded as having a disability

1973 Rehabilitation Act

• Divided into “sections:”– 501– 503– 504[+ later: 508]

• Sections 501 and 503 require employers of federal agencies and federally funded projects to actively hire, support and promote workers with disabilities

Section 504 of Rehab Act

• No qualified individual with a disability shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of or subject to discrimination under any program or activity that receives federal funds or is part of the federal government.

[echoed language of the 1964 Civil Rights Act]

Section 504 of the Rehab Act

• Also created the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, to help ensure that recipients of federal funds were actually modifying buildings and public transportation systems so that people with disabilities could use them.

• 1968 Architectural Barriers Act had failed to create an effective system for enforcement.

What kinds of programs/agencies received federal funds?

• Schools, colleges, universities• Day care centers, after-school programs• Health care centers, hospitals• Public transportation: airports, train stations• Public facilities: libraries, parks, playgrounds

Key to success?

• Agencies and programs were dependent on federal funds.

• In order to maintain access to that funding, they would have to make changes: organize and run their programs and activities in

such a way that any citizen could participate in and benefit from them

But for a law to be effective, it must be enforced. Who would enforce it?

• Congress: “This is the job of an executive department!” the Dept of HEW(Health, Education and Welfare)

• HEW officials got together with a coalition of people with disabilities to work out

regulations (rules for applying the principles of the law in various kinds of settings).

• 1973 Rehab Act was signed into lawbut four years later…

• 1977 regulations were still not in effect! Jimmy Carter had been elected President

a new administration was in place

HEW Sec. Joseph Califano was stalling

• April 1977 “occupation” of HEW offices by activists, many with phys. disabilities

Victory!

• Under public pressure, Califano was forced to sign the regulations.

• In 1977, with the signing of the Rehab Act’s regulations, a new era of accountability and accommodations began.

Early – mid-1970s

• Parent advocates and associations, esp. the ARC, had been looking for ways to file a lawsuit calling for a child’s right to an education.

• Pennsylvania ARC v. Pennsylvania (1972) challenged the constitutionality of state laws that for years had excluded people with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other disabilities from public schools.

• The success of this lawsuit emboldened advocates to push for a new federal law…

1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act

• All American children have the right to a FAPE:FREE, APPROPRIATE, PUBLIC EDUCATIONprovided in the “least restrictive environment” possible

1990 this law was expanded and renamed: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

• With this law in place, public school systems really began working to meet the needs of children with disabilities:– They could not reject anyone as “uneducable.”– Under IDEA, they had to develop an IEP – an

individualized education program – for each child with a documented disability.

– The IEP was like a contract between the school and the child’s family (a right, not a service).

1975 Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act

• Created more means of oversight and further protections of people with disabilities who lived in institutions

• Gave federal government the right to investigate claims of abuse, neglect, mistreatment of residents

Self-advocacy movement

• 1970s – 1980s Self-advocacy movement developed: people with disabilities speaking for themselves, about their own experiences and interests (vs. others advocating for them)

• There was a gradual movement away from large, isolated institutions and towards smaller and more diverse community-based options:– Centers for independent living (started in Berkeley)– Group homes

Laws and regulations helped but..

when a population has been historically marginalized, uneducated and unable to work and live independently, it takes a long time to bring about real change.

The challenge of “Reaganomics”

• 1980 Ronald Reagan was elected President

• His “new federalism” called for a loosening of government regulations:

“Leave businesses and states alone, and everyone will benefit.” “People will become more self-reliant.”

• But this was certainly not true for people with disabilities!

• It was only when the federal government forced businesses, agencies and states to comply with new rules and regulations that the worlds of work and education would be accessible to people with disabilities.

Without that access, they could not become self-reliant and independent!

A need for continued activism

• Early 1980s The Reagan administration tried to weaken government regulations related to disability access and accommodations.

• Activists kept the pressure on, until Reagan realized that he needed their support to be re-elected.

So when you think of the second part of the DRM (1960s – 1980), what comes to mind?

Part II of the DRM (1960s – 1980s):

- New federal laws- Issues about their enforcement

- Advocacy and activism: it’s a question of civil rights for people with disabilities

- Court cases used to argue that these are issues of civil rights

“Big ideas”

• People with disabilities are citizens. They have civil rights that are being violated.

• People with disabilities can learn, work and do much more than has been assumed for a long time. But in order for them to live up to their potential, schools, workplaces and public facilities will need to make accommodations.

• Even with new laws and regulations, activists and self-advocates cannot become complacent about their rights.

• In the 1980s, they will continue to push for the passage of a truly comprehensive law protecting the rights of people with disabilities ( the ADA).