Part 2: History of Disability Civil Rights & Justice

When advocating for people with disabilities, it is important to develop a basic understanding of the history of this movement to understand where we have been and what work is still left to do. There are a wealth of stories and champions of the movement worth highlighting, but for the purposes of this toolkit we'll focus on the Section 504 Protests and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

^{Photograph by HolLynn D'Lil, distributed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.} 

Section 504 Protests

In 1973, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was passed into law, making it the first piece of federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities.¹ This landmark legislation dramatically challenged previous cultural perceptions of disability, shifting it from an individual problem to a societal and institutional one.

Although Section 504 passed, the necessary anti-discrimination protections were not being implemented on a national scale. In 1977, a fierce group of disability rights champions and their allies occupied the Health Education and Welfare building in San Francisco to demand the long-overdue implementation of Section 504. Their occupation of the building sparked a national movement, inspiring disability civil rights activists across the country to demand the protections promised by the legislation.² The activists in San Francisco became the symbol of this movement, maintaining their sit-in for 26 days.

Upon the signing of Section 504 in response to the 504 Protests, the disability civil rights movement solidified as a critical part of US history and demonstrated that disabled people can advocate for their own rights rather than wait for others to advocate for them. The motto of the movement was “Nothing about us without us,” which highlights the importance of including disabled people in the conversation and still rings true today.

Want to learn more about the 504 Protests? Watch this video:

Americans with Disabilities Act

Today, many people discuss the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in reference to the physical accessibility of a space (“Are there elevators?” “Is the ramp grade the right angle?” “Are there accessible bathrooms?”). However, many people do not realize that the ADA is also vital civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. With the passing of the ADA in 1990, the groundwork laid by Section 504 was expanded, extending the civil rights afforded in federally funded spaces to private entities as well.³

Modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, the ADA established that people with disabilities are a protected class in the United States. The ADA defines disability as a “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.”⁴ By including the “perception of an impairment,” the ADA makes a radical point, acknowledging the impact of social perceptions of disability—what people see—rather than solely protecting those who have a medical diagnosis.

Like other political movements, the fight for equality for disabled people continues to evolve. In recent years, members of the disability community have balanced gratitude for the efforts of the disability civil rights movement with critiques of the philosophy, focus, and representation of the movement itself. These activists represent a new wave of advocacy known as the disability justice movement.

^{Photograph of disability rights activists Leroy Moore and Patty Berne by Amal Kouttab.}

Disability justice movement

“A disability justice framework understands that all bodies are unique and essential, that all bodies have strengths and needs that must be met. We know that we are powerful not despite the complexities of our bodies, but because of them.”
–Patty Berne, activist and co-founder of Sins Invalid

This contemporary, intersectional approach to achieving access and liberation for people with disabilities was articulated by disabled activists of color, particularly three queer women of color: Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, and Stacey Milbern. The framework further evolved with support from Eli Clare, Leroy Moore, and Sebastian Margaret.⁶ This philosophy builds upon the work of the disability civil rights movement by addressing other systems of oppression that intersect with ableism, such as racism, sexism, classism, colonialism, and heterosexism.

Defining “disability” is, at best, a moving target. If you asked the members of your team to define the term, you will probably receive as many answers as you have team members. Given this spectrum of viewpoints and perspectives, it is critical to establish a common understanding of the term before embarking on any inclusion work. While they’re not the only models of defining disability, we will focus on the impact of the Medical Model and Social Model in creating an inclusive culture for people with disabilities.

Medical model⁹

This model emphasizes the role and impact of medical conditions or “problems” that individuals experience. In order to address these conditions, the medical model positions the medical profession as the authority figure of condition management and the individual living with the condition as a “passive recipient of medical care.”

Driven by diagnosis, this model focuses on “curing” the condition, attempting to achieve a sense of “normalcy” that is defined by society. If, through medical interventions, an individual with a health condition cannot attain this established norm, they are deemed “abnormal,” “dysfunctional,” or “disabled.”

Social Model¹⁰

This model argues that the medical model incorrectly focuses on the individual as the entry point to “fix” disability. Instead, the social model suggests that society is accountable for creating disability and that “disability results from the way society is organized rather than a person’s impairment or difference.”

This framework acknowledges that impairments are inherent to the human experience and proposes that certain environments may be disproportionately inaccessible or exclusionary to people with impairments than those without. One major benefit of this model is that by holding society accountable, individuals experiencing negative or limiting circumstances are no longer considered at fault or “the problem.”

This toolkit subscribes primarily to the social model of disability, since it lends itself well to access and inclusion work and explores the cultural norms and practices that impact community members’ sense of disability.

Want to learn more about the models of disability? Watch this video:

References

1. Cone, K. (n.d.). Short History of the 504 Sit in. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://dredf.org/504-sit-in-20th-anniversary/short-history-of-the-504-sit-in/

2. Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. (2010, August 22). The Power of 504 (full version, open caption, English and Spanish). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyWcCuVta7M&t=304s

3. ADA - Findings, Purpose, and History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.adaanniversary.org/findings_purpose

4. US Department of Justice. (2009). A Guide to Disability Rights Laws. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm#anchor62335

5. Sheber, V. (2017, December 16). Feminism 101: What are the Waves of Feminism? Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://femmagazine.com/feminism-101-what-are-the-waves-of-feminism/

6. Berne, P. (2015, June 10). Disability Justice – a working draft by Patty Berne. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://sinsinvalid.org/blog/disability-justice-a-working-draft-by-patty-berne

7. Sins Invalid. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2019, from https://www.sinsinvalid.org/index.html

8. Disability Justice Collective. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2019, from http://www.littleglobe.org/portfolio/disability-justice-collective/

9. Falvo, D., & Holland, B. E. (2017). Medical and psychosocial aspects of chronic illness and disability. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

10. Greens, T. A. (2018, August 12). We need to talk about disability. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3faUGgMsNI&t=2s&fbclid=IwAR2P_9iuv4pgQ9onXwnu2S8dV7uk0asQD3hCn1lKXJ7zeVanskL7yHAXApo

11. Marini, I., Glover-Graf, N. M., & Millington, M. J. (2018). Psychosocial aspects of disability insider perspectives and counseling strategies. New York: Springer Pub.

12. Keller, R. M., & Galgay, C. E. (2010). Microaggressive experiences of people with disabilities. Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact, 241-268.

13. Lambird, R. (2017, October 26). Let's talk about the Social Model of Disability [CC]. Retrieved February 11, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZCPztgvrqU

14. SAMHSA. (2016). Cultural Competence. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/capt/applying-strategic-prevention/cultural-competence

15. Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., Worthington Jr, E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2013). Cultural humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(3), 353.

16. Tervalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 9(2), 117-125.

17. Intersectionality | Definition of intersectionality in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/intersectionality

18. Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. U. Chi. Legal F., 139.

19. Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. John Wiley & Sons.

20. Desmond-Harris, J. (2015, February 16). What exactly is a microaggression? Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2015/2/16/8031073/what-are-microaggressions

21. Nadal, K. L., Issa, M. A., Leon, J., Meterko, V., Wideman, M., & Wong, Y. (2011). Sexual orientation microaggressions:“Death by a thousand cuts” for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. Journal of LGBT Youth, 8(3), 234-259.

22. TED. (2016, December 07). The urgency of intersectionality | Kimberlé Crenshaw. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o&t=4s

23. Decoded, M. (2018, November 02). 5 Phrases Disabled People Are Tired Of | Decoded. Retrieved February 11, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DSL-2hsRk8&t=4s

24. Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castaneda, R., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zuniga, X. (Eds.). (2000). Readings for diversity and social justice. Psychology Press.

25. About This Project. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://whatisableism.tumblr.com/about

26. Dcgovernment. (2014, October 02). Disability Sensitivity Training Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1aDEFlXq8