The Advocacy Opportunity of a Lifetime for an Attorney from the Bay Area--Birthplace of the Disability Rights Movement

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Michele Magar

A few short years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to the United Nations to help advocate for a strong and effective treaty to protect and advance the rights of people with disabilities. The experience changed my life.

Adopted by the United Nations on December 13, 2006, the treaty guarantees people with disability the rights to self-determination and equality. It covers every aspect of life, and gives people with disabilities the rights many of us take for granted, including the rights to vote, sign contracts, own property, work, marry, procreate, and retain custody of children. In May 2008, the treaty will become legally binding.

I learned about the United States disability rights movement 26 years ago when I became the first national news reporter to develop “disability rights” as a beat. In those days, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 did not exist, and few reporters showed up at press events organized by disability rights advocates in our nation’s capitol.

Back then, the disability rights movement in our nation was still new. It had its first coming-out party when people with disabilities grew tired of waiting for the federal government to issue implementing regulations to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. That simple but revolutionary law barred recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of disability.

But the law meant nothing without implementing regulations, and after four years spent asking the federal government to issue regulations, people with disabilities in the Bay area decided that a more forceful strategy was needed. They gathered in San Francisco, entered the federal building, and refused to leave until the federal government issued regulations.

Twenty-six days later, they won. Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano signed the Section 504 regulations on April 28, 1977. It was the first time U.S. residents with disabilities had staged such a powerful demonstration of their determination to eradicate discrimination based on disability. It won national news coverage, and marked the official birth of the U.S. disability rights movement.