Disability Rights DBQ

The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, was officially created after a long

withstanding movement for disability rights, which was brought about by communities all across

the United States (Source 1). As defined in the Guide to Disability Rights Laws, the ADA

“prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government,

public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications” (Source

3). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 50 million Americans have disabilities,

represented as 18% of our population (Source 6). Under the ADA, there are two basic parts to

having a disability, which include that one “must actually have what is considered to be a

‘physical

According to an essay from

the Boston University Law Review, there were a number of similar tactics used when comparing

the civil rights movements to the disability rights movements, as stated:

Like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA was intended to express a national sentiment

that people with disabilities were to be brought into full citizenship. It required employers

and privately owned places of public accommodation to think about disability inclusiveness

in different ways, and it asked them to make certain accommodations and changes, at their

own expense, in the name of bringing people with disabilities into the fold (Source 2).

In terms of legal perspective, a shift in disability public policy occurred with the passage

of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act (Source 1). The 1973 Rehabilitation Act prohibits

discrimination on the basis of disability regarding programs that exist in part with federal

agencies; including those “…conducted by federal agencies, in programs receiving federal

financial assistance, in federal employment and in the employment practices of