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504 - A Law Comes of Age At some point in the past 10 years, most people over the age of 30 have had the following experience: You're out in public, downtown, at the mall, at a sports event, at a county fair, and you notice that there are people with disabilities. You notice their wheelchairs, walkers, service animals, and white canes or you see them speak sign language. And you find yourself asking, where were all these people when you were younger? In 1950? 1960? 1970? What happened? People with disabilities didn't "appear" over night. So when did they become integrated into daily life? When did kids with disabilities start going to school with everyone else? Where were they before? How did the Americans with Disabilities Act come about? Who made it happen? Why are people with disabilities protected by civil-rights legislation? The premier broadcast of Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project coincided with the twenty-first anniversary of the historic signing of the regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504 was not enacted until 1977, however). This landmark legislation prohibits all recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of disability in their programs and employment practices. Simultaneously, the regulations for the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 were signed, guaranteeing children with disabilities the right to a "free, appropriate public education" in the "least restrictive environment." On June 2, 1997, President Clinton signed the most recent reauthorization of this law, which was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act subsequent to its original enactment. Though many Americans might overlook its significance, the effects of "504" are today visible everywhere -- not only in the ramps and curb cut-outs that make our environment accessible to all, but in the greatly increased presence of people with disabilities at every level of public life. This legislation set the stage for the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) in 1990, which stands with women's suffrage and the Civil Rights Act in the effort to bring fundamental rights and equality to all Americans. For the disability community and parents of children with disabilities, these events are the equivalent of Brown v. Board of Education and the repeal of Jim Crow laws. And although not all Americans with disabilities know about these events, they feel the consequences of the revolution: they, and their families, recognize that some profound change in the early 1980's allowed them to have far more access to the world -- curb cuts, handicap parking places, bathrooms, and more -- their expectations and opportunities grew. Details of the regulations: *504 obligates entities receiving federal funding to include universal design features in newly constructed and altered buildings (including accessible bathrooms, ramps, curb cuts, etc.), and to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from programs and activities on the basis of disability. *504 provided funding for the development of Centers For Independent Living (CIL). Only a few existed prior to 1977, today hundreds of them exist in rural and urban communities across the country. *The Education For All Handicapped Children Act began the process
of ending segregated schools for disabled children -- it guaranteed
disabled children throughout the nation -- for the first time in
our history and in any country in the world -- a right to a public
education. *The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a sweeping mandate to end discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, transportation, public accommodations, telecommunications, and state and local government. |