History: The 504 Demonstrations

[SARN Memo for March 3, 2010]

In 1976, Jimmy Carter was running for president. He promised to sign certain regulations into law: rules that would stop discrimination based on disability.

After he took office, Carter broke that promise. He signed a watered-down version instead. So disability groups got busy. They held big rallies. They staged sit-ins across the land. The San Francisco sit-in lasted a whole month.

The protests worked. Carter gave in. He signed the original language.

1. More About the Section 504 Protests
2. Group Activity: What Can We Learn from this Story?
3. Resource

• Respond to this memo!

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1. More About the Section 504 Protests

The regulations Carter finally signed were Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. They say that any group that gets federal money cannot discriminate based on disability. These regulations comprise one of the pillars of civil rights law in the US. Here’s more from a story on National Public Radio.

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2. Group Activity: What Can We Learn from this Story?

We live in a time when we could use some strong support from our elected leaders. Disability services are under attack. Our protections are being watered down again.

1. Read the above story out loud. Ask the group one or more questions: What can we learn for our time? …about campaign promises? ..about how to respond to broken promises? …about our power as people with disabilities? …about our role in the current debates about health care in our country?
   After each question, go around and give each person a chance to say something. Write their ideas/thoughts down on poster paper.
2. Send your ideas to SARN (click “Respond to this memo”). We’ll post your ideas. If you are an old-time disability rights activist and remember this part of our history, tell us what you remember.

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3. Resource

Know Your Rights
Your group can use this kit to practice understanding disability rights laws in the US and how to use them to build self-advocacy. Everyone in your group will be the judge and the jury. Someone will tell about a case and you decide if something sounds illegal. If it sounds illegal, you pound the hammer and call out illegal, then try to explain why. You will have fun as you learn together about the three main disability laws!

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