Happy Anniversary, ADA! The Journey Toward Equal Access

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990, but the fight for equal rights, access, and dignity didn’t start or end there.

Equal-Access Timeline: Part I

The civil-rights era helped spur disabled people to activism:

1962: Ed Roberts, who has quadriplegia, overcomes administrator objections to enroll at the University of California, Berkeley.
1964: The Civil Rights Act passes—without, however, specifying laws against disability discrimination.
1973: The federal Rehabilitation Act passes, including Section 504 which requires accessibility in federally funded programs.
1977: As the government stalls on implementing Section 504, disabled citizens stage sit-ins across the country. In April, Section 504 is officially signed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
1980s: Public demand grows for accessibility to all public buildings.
1990: March 12: Demonstrators stage a “Capitol Crawl,” dragging themselves up the U.S. Capitol’s steps without mobility aids, to protest delayed enactment of further legislation. July 26: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) becomes law.

Equal-Access Timeline: Part II

If progress toward physical accessibility was slow, things moved even slower for people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). Those with mobility, vision, and/or hearing impairments would occasionally show bias themselves, as in “It’s my body that’s disabled, not my brain.”

As diversity awareness grew, however, society became aware that a brain disability need not preclude getting a full education, holding a job, or speaking up for oneself:

1991: The federal government adds “autism” to the list of disabilities that qualify students for special education.
1993: The National Home of Your Own Alliance is founded to encourage independent living for people with developmental disabilities.
1997: The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) speaks against punitive discipline for classroom-behavior issues.
2001: Virginia becomes the first state to officially apologize for early-to-mid-twentieth-century “eugenics” laws, which used forced sterilization to keep people with mental disabilities from having children.
2008: The ADA Amendments Act mandates a broad legal definition of “disability.”
2009: New federal legislation requires government statutes to replace “mental retardation” references with “intellectual disability.”
2017: The children’s TV series Sesame Street introduces Julia, its first openly autistic character.

Equal-Access Timeline: Part III

Not only laws, but technologies have evolved. So have cross-cultural interactions, the public’s attitude toward disabled people, and disabled people’s attitudes toward themselves.

Some notable developments of the past 30 years:

1996: The Federal Telecommunications Act mandates closed captioning in broadcast programs.
1998: The first Assistive Technology Act passes, opening new channels for funding needed technologies.
2004: The first Disability Pride Parade is held in Chicago.
2006: The United Nations adopts the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
2008: West Virginia becomes the first state to require disability-history education in public schools.
2015: NPR dubs the ADA "one of America’s most successful exports," noting that 181 countries have passed ADA-inspired laws. July is designated Disability Pride Month.

Finally, this quote from a 2020 news spot (which also shares an excellent overview of what the ADA covers):

“The ADA is the floor, not the ceiling. If you can meet [basic accessibility needs], that’s great. But that’s really just like the bottom of things and then there’s so much further to go.”
–Jill Gibboney, vice chair of the Cincinnati Accessibility Board of Advisors

Here’s to future accessibility developments—and to everyone’s right to be their unique best selves!

- Katherine Swarts, BridgingApps, Digital Content Writer, Easter Seals Greater Houston