A Brief History of the Disability Movement

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A Brief History of the Disability Movement

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According to the U.S. Census, there are more than 54 million people

with disabilities in the United States. Historically, the condition

of having a disability has been viewed as tragic. Through ignorance

and fear, people with disabilities were typically labeled beggars or

indigents. The word " handicap " itself is said to derive from " cap in

hand, " an activity familiarly associated with panhandling.

By the 19th century, it was common for people with disabilities to be

institutionalized, and they were looked upon as patients or clients

who needed curing. This practice had the effect of excluding people

with disabilities from the larger society and implied that something

was inherently and permanently wrong with them. It provided no room

for integration, and perpetuated myths of inequality.

In the first half of the twentieth century, as thou-sands of WWI

soldiers returned home, the first voca-tional rehabilitation acts

were passed in the 1920s to provide services to WWI veterans with

newly acquired disabilities. But perhaps the biggest changes within

the disability rights movement came with the civil rights movements

of the 1960s. As African Americans, women and other social minorities

gained political consciousness, so did people with disabilities.

In the early 1970s, people with disabilities lob-bied Congress to put

civil rights language for people with disabilities into the 1972

Rehabilitation Act. The Act was vetoed by President Nixon. After a

group of people with disabilities marched on Washington, a revised

1973 Rehabilitation Act was passed. For the first time in history,

the civil rights of people with disabilities were protected by law.

Parallel to the disability rights movement was a movement in the

1970s to provide access to educa-tional services for children and

youth with disabilities. The Education for All Handicapped Children

Act (P.L. -94-142) was passed in 1975 to ensure equal access to

public education for students with disabilities. The Act, renamed the

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, called

for a free and appropriate public education for every child with a

disability, to be delivered in the least restrictive environment.

Idea promotes the concept of inclusion, requiring that students with

disabilities be educated in general education settings alongside

students without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate.

Despite changes in rehabilitation and education law, people with

disabilities did not achieve broad civil rights until the enactment

of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. This landmark

federal anti-discrimination law ensures equal access to employment

opportunities and public accommodations for people with disabilities.

With this act, Congress identified the full participation, inclusion

and integration of people with disabilities into society as a

national goal.