Outline 1. Life before the 1970s 2. Paradigm Shift: The - - PDF document

9/17/2015 1 Including Persons with Disabilities in “We the People”

A Short History of Disability Rights In the United States

Mid-Atlantic ADA Update Conference September 18, 2015

John L. Wodatch

Outline

• 1. Life before the 1970’s
• 2. Paradigm Shift: The Architectural Barriers Act

and the Rehabilitation Act

• 3. Lessons of Section 504
• 4. Trends Leading to the ADA
• 5. Getting the ADA Enacted
• 6. ADA: Setting Up Enforcement
• 7. 25 Years of Enforcement
• 8. Success of the ADA

9/17/2015 2

Life before the 70’s

• Era of stereotypes, stigma, exclusion

– Few accessible buildings – Little accessible housing – Children with disabilities in separate, inferior schools – Restrictive employment opportunities – Little accessible public transit – Persons housed in separate, underfunded, warehoused facilities

Paradigm Shift

• Architectural Barriers Act
• Title V of the Rehabilitation Act

– 501: affirmative action in the Federal government – 502: creation of the Access Board – 503: employment in Federal contracts – 504: recipients of Federal financial assistance prohibited from discriminating on the basis of disability

Paradigm Shift

• After four years, no final Federal regulations

issued

• In 1977, people with disabilities participated

in “sit-ins” at Health Education and Welfare federal buildings throughout the country

9/17/2015 3

HEW Protest 1977 Paradigm Shift

• The longest took place in the HEW Building in

San Francisco and lasted 28 days.

• It still stands as one of the longest sieges of a

federal building in American history.

9/17/2015 4 HEW Protest 1977

Lessons from Section 504

• 1. Expansive definition of person with disability
• 2. Notion of “positive steps” in

nondiscrimination

• 3. Integration
• 4. Full coverage of employment
• 5. Role of persons with disabilities
• 6. Effective enforcement
• 7. Idea: disability rights are civil rights

Trends Leading to ADA

• Rich history of Federal civil rights laws
• Returning veterans from war in Vietnam
• Success of EHA: Education of the

Handicapped Act, now IDEA

• Organized disability rights movement
• Model of other US civil rights movements

9/17/2015 5

Trends Leading to the ADA

• Watkins Report on the AIDS epidemic
• National Council on Disability: “Towards

Independence”

• Presidential endorsements in ‘88 Campaign
• Federal agencies with a stake in disability
• Economics: Federal budget and waste of

valuable human resources

Getting the ADA Enacted

• Senate Negotiations: Role of Attorney General

Dick Thornburgh

• Leadership of Sens. Kennedy, Hatch, Harkin
• Leadership of Pat Wright, Ralph Neas
• Role of the organized disability rights groups
• Final Negotiations in the House of

Representatives: Steny Hoyer and Steve Bartlett; Boyden Gray at the White House

Crawl up the Steps of the US Capitol

9/17/2015 6

Signing of the ADA ADA: Setting Up Enforcement

• Drafting guidelines, standards, and

regulations: DOT, Justice, EEOC, Access Board

• Setting up Federal enforcement agencies
• Active Technical Assistance Program

– Grants, Contracts, Manuals, Telephone Information Line – Creation of the DBTACs, now the ADA Information Network

25 Years of Enforcement

• Enforcement Efforts at Justice
• Litigation by Private Disability Entities
• Important Supreme Court Cases

– Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey 1998 – Bragdon v. Abott 1998 – Casey Martin v. PGA 2001 – Barnes v. Gorman 2002 – Olmstead v. L.C. 1999

9/17/2015 7

25 Years of Enforcement

• Sutton Trilogy: 1999

– Sutton v. United Airlines – Murphy v. United Parcel Service – Albertson v. Kirkingburg

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams 2002
• ADA Amendments Act of 2008

– Construed broadly; overturn Supreme Court decisions: major life activities, substantially limits – Mitigating measures; Regarded as

More at the Supreme Court

• Constitutionality of the ADA

– How does ADA apply to activities of the States? – Board of Trustees of Alabama v. Garrett 2001 – Tennessee v. Lane 2004 – U.S. v. Georgia 2006

Success of the ADA

• Built Environment
• Transportation
• Education
• Health Care
• Telecommunications
• Information Technology
• Integration
• Attitudes