An Unfinished Journey:

Key Federal Laws

Between 1973 and 1990, Congress enacted three important federal laws protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities. But passing the laws was just the beginning of the fight to secure those rights.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Section 504")

Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in federally-assisted programs or services such as schools, colleges, and hospitals.

BUT: It took almost four years for the government to put the law into effect. In 1977, disability activists used civil rights movement tactics, organizing demonstrations and sit-ins across the country. This activism finally led to the enforcement of Section 504.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") [1975]

This law guarantees children with disabilities the right to a "free and appropriate public education" in the least restrictive environment.

BUT: In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court had to clarify that a school must give enough support and services to children with disabilities so that they can make "appropriately ambitious" progress, not "merely more than de minimis" progress. Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District.  

The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") [1990]

This law prohibits employers from discriminating against people with disabilities. Services and spaces that are open to the public must be accessible to people with disabilities. People with disabilities can't be excluded from services, programs, or activities of a public entity. This includes access to courts and juries, treatment by law enforcement officials, access to voting, emergency preparedness plans, and even the use of U.S. currency.

BUT: Before the Act passed, protestors with disabilities abandoned wheelchairs and crutches at the bottom of the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, crawling up the steps to dramatize their exclusion. And not until 1999 did the U.S. Supreme Court interpret this to require states to give people with disabilities the right to live, work, and receive services in the "most integrated setting" possible—that is, in the community, instead of institutional settings. Olmstead v. L.C., ex rel. Zimring.

Photo: One individual is facing the camera and is crawling backwards up the capitol steps, and the other individual is facing away from the camera and is crawling up the steps facing upward. The United States Capitol is in the background and there are 78 steps to the top. Photo courtesy of Tom Olin.

Photo: In a Minnesota Capitol hearing room, a man with short brown hair, casual clothes, and using a wheelchair has extended his left arm to do an air bump with his fist. US Senator David Durenberger, a man with white hair, glasses, and a blue suit sits behind a desk extending his right hand in an air fist bump. Photo courtesy of Tim Lewis.

Link to Caromin case PDF: https://disabilityjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/Caromin-Case-Minnesota.pdf