"The history of the ADA did not begin on July 26, 1990 at the signing ceremony at the White House. It did not begin in 1988 when the first ADA was introduced in Congress. The ADA story began a long time ago in cities and towns throughout the United States when people with disabilities began to challenge societal barriers that excluded them from their communities, and when parents of children with disabilities began to fight against the exclusion and segregation of their children."
- Arlene Mayerson, Directing Attorney of the Disability Rights, Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
- Arlene Mayerson, Directing Attorney of the Disability Rights, Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
The First Fighters
(1900 - 1950)
Reforming for the World Wars' Disabled Veterans
"As a result of advances in medical care, especially the discovery of penicillin, more people were surviving formerly fatal injuries and diseases, and thus the number of veterans with disabilities grew exponentially." - Actions for Access, Missouri History Museum
^ Click Photos to Enlarge ^
"American veterans became the driving force behind change following the two world wars, leading the fight for equal treatment and access to society for people with disabilities... These men expected to return home and participate in society, not be locked away..." "These first federal rehabilitation programs [created for veterans] laid the foundation for future programs for civilians."
- Actions for Access, Missouri History Museum |
The Depression's Reform
"In 'sheltered' workshops, sighted workers were generally not employed; the jobs and tasks given were simple and repetitive, and done on frequently old and broken machinery, while the managers and supervisors were almost always sighted and earned far more than the workers". - At Issue Newsletter, 2008/2009 |
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"Organizations of the blind had attempted, unsuccessfully, to gain collective bargaining rights in the workshops for a number of years. Although the employees of the workshops were denied the right to unionize, strikes did occur." - The Disability Social History Project
The Triumphs of 1935
During 1935, the growing disability community achieved several important goals
in their battle for equality.
in their battle for equality.
Click Photo Below to Enlarge
"An act to provide for the general welfare[, Social Security established] a system of Federal old-age benefits, and [enabled] the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, [and] dependent and crippled children".
Protesting Employment Discrimination
"The League of the Physically Handicapped was formed in New York City in May 1935... The league's first action was a sit-in of the office of the [Home] Relief Bureau in New York City... The Bureau [was unwilling] to refer people with disabilities to the Works Progress Administration for employment." - The Disability Social History Project |
"The Home Relief Bureau of New York City, which was supposed to forward their job requests to the WPA, was stamping all their applications 'PH' for physically handicapped. That was a signal to the WPA not to give these people jobs".
- Paul Longmore, League historian
To protest, members of the League posed a sit-in.
League Protest Flyer
- The Disability Social History Project
"After six... months of unrest, and another three weeks of picketing toward the end of that time, WPA director Mr. Victor Ridder promised to hire around forty league members..." - T. Weiss, disabilities historian
"The league remained active in New York City, opposing job discrimination and working to open the public sector to workers with disabilities. At their peak, the league had forced the WPA to hire almost fifteen hundred handicapped workers in New York." - T. Weiss, disabilities historian |
Unfortunately, "like many groups struggling for economic and social justice [during the depression,] the League of the Physically Handicapped was accused of being 'reds'. The group dissolved in the late 1930s."
- The Disability Social History Project, 2009
- The Disability Social History Project, 2009
However, their actions had brought needed attention to disability discrimination, aiding the movement unceasingly in the future.
The Ugly Laws
Found in large cities, the Ugly Laws were the cruelest ableist American law in history.
“No person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person to be allowed in or on the public ways or other public places in this city, or shall therein or thereon expose himself to public view, under a penalty of not less than one dollar nor more than fifty dollars for each offense.”
- Chicago Municipal Code sec. 36034 |
- The Music Within (movie trailer)
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Small Steps
Franklin D. Roosevelt, paralyzed by polio, was elected president of the United States in 1933.
Original Caption: One of only two known pictures of Franklin D. Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Roosevelt perfected ways of disguising his impairment, never being photographed in his wheelchair, because he believed the American public would never vote for a president who was a cripple. (British Film Institute on Disabling Imagery)
"The March of Dimes [was] originally founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1938 to eradicate polio." - Ashley Wiseman, physically disabled However, "By arousing the public's fear of the handicap itself, the [March made] viewers more afraid of handicapped people".
- Evan Kemp Jr, executive director of the Disability Rights Center |
- The March of Dimes Organization (Historical Footage)
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"Playing to pity may raise money, but it also raises walls of fear between the public and us". - Evan Kemp Jr, executive director of the Disability Rights Center |
"Pity leads to lowered expectations, which in turn leads to institutionalization, segregated education, and discrimination in the workplace, with the economic consequence of trapping people with disabilities in poverty. In effect, these attitudes can be more "disabling" than physical and physiological impairments." - Ashley Wiseman, physically disabled
Though significant efforts to reform disability treatment were made in the first half of the century, disability communities and resources would expand more rapidly after 1950.