Section 504: the History and Current Risk

We are witnessing a coordinated effort to weaken protections for people with disabilities. Section 504 was born from protest, it must be defended with the same urgency and collective action today.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is the first federal civil rights law to protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination. Its passage represented a profound shift in how society regarded disability. For the first time, public policy treated people with disabilities not as objects of charity, but as individuals with enforceable civil rights. Section 504 established that exclusion, segregation or denial of opportunity based solely on disability was not “unfortunate,” but rather, unlawful.

Today the accommodations Section 504 (see 504 Frequently Asked Questions) enables are largely taken for granted by the general public, and all those who benefit from it daily.
Ramps into buildings. Captions on videos. Accessible public transportation. Modified bathrooms. Braille signage. Elevators. Videophones for the Deaf. Adaptive testing for students. A break to use an inhaler. The right to be a part of a community and not be institutionalized. These rights did not always exist. They were hard-won by people with disabilities and their allies through relentless advocacy, legal challenge, and at times, direct civil disobedience.