Persons with Disabilities Pride Month: The American ADA and Modern History of Disabled Rights
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signed the law on July 26, 1990 after years of advocacy in the disabled community. This landmark civil rights legislation prohibits discrimination on a disability basis in all aspects of public life, thus promoting equal education, employment, transportation, and other public places and services. Due to the implementation of the ADA, buses have wheelchair lifts, and the cinema has closed subtitles and audio description services. However, the American history of people with disabilities’ rights, including 35 years since the ADA was adopted, has made it clear that ADA alone is not enough to meet the commitment of equal opportunity, independent living and full participation of people with disabilities in the United States. Advocates of the disabled community see ADA as a basic victory, but not a complete victory. On the contrary, further protection and reform are urgently needed.
The historical background of ADA
In the decades leading to the passage of the ADA, the Disabled Rights Movement has been organizing more inclusiveness and adaptability in public life. From the late 1940s to the decade that followed, the polio outbreak and the return of World War II service members greatly expanded and changed the American population with disabilities. In the meantime, protests were held in the civil rights movement led by black activists in the 1960s, and protests against institutionalization were raised in the community of people with disabilities, raising awareness of the discrimination faced by historically stigmatized and isolated people.
In fragmentary places, the ADA's pioneer reform was passed: the Voting Rights Act of 1965 clarified the right of persons with disabilities to receive accommodation in voting venues, and the Building Barriers Act of 1968 required newly built federal facilities to access those with disabilities. These measures provide accommodation for disability voters and are expanded by the ADA and ensure access to public buildings.
Physical protests in the disabled community delayed the federal disability rights legislation on the finish line.
Physical protests in the disabled community delayed the federal disability rights legislation on the finish line. In 1977, seeing a month-long sit-in of 504, participants occupied federal buildings to put pressure on legislators to sign section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first federal law named disability as a civil rights category. During the March 1990 Capitol crawl, disabled activists climbed the Capitol steps to visually demonstrate the inaccessibility of public buildings to persons with physical disabilities. It works – when summer, the ADA is signed into law.
However, due to its landmark access, the ADA often lacks the ability to protect the rights and access to persons with disabilities. Experts point out that there is insufficient education around ADA policies to prevent people with disabilities from recognizing when their rights are violated. There is no dedicated federal agency to manage and hold the agencies responsible for it, thus making the ADA regulations burden the person with disabilities themselves, and they themselves often lack time, resources, and community support. However, the landmark Olmstead case is a lawsuit against two disabled women in Georgia.
ADA policies do not have adequate education to prevent people with disabilities from recognizing when their rights are violated.
Olmstead decides
In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled that the most important ADA lawsuit to date, now known as the Olmstead ruling (Olmstead v. LC). The case was filed by two women diagnosed with developmental disabilities who have limited success with fully hospital-based treatments and therefore asked Georgia to build community-based support for them. Although their doctors believe women’s needs will be best met in their communities, the state has delayed community-based care for years, forcing them to remain in quarantine and segregation from the community.
The Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead that persons with disabilities have the right to receive care in their communities.
The isolated experiences of these women echo the country’s long history of mental illness and other disabilities. The ADA regulations on community integration, the right of persons with disabilities to remain in their communities, explicitly recognize and attempt to make up for this history of discrimination. The Supreme Court, citing the ADA's ruling, ruled in Olmstead that, given that the person with disabilities has the right to receive care in his community, is appropriate, unopposed by the patient, and is reasonable in the context. The execution of the Olmstead decision has enabled thousands of people to live happier, healthier and more independent lives in their communities.
Comprehensive community through Medicare and Medicaid
Olmstead’s decision fundamentally changed the landscape of long-term service and support (LTSS), bringing many disabled people back to the community from institutional care. As of 2024, one in four Americans live in people with disabilities, and about 5.8 million people have received LTSS through Medicaid. Nearly two-thirds of all limited liability spending is spent on Family and Community Services (HCB), aiming to provide inclusive, sustainable and culturally competent care. This can take many forms, including direct support for professionals, home health assistants and nursing homes in the community. The HCB can be obtained through state-level Medicaid waivers in all 50 states, but further improvements are needed to make the program truly accessible. HCBS coverage has not yet been mandatory for Medicaid benefits, and visits vary widely between states. Many patients struggle on a long wait list and receive insufficient services to help them reintegrate into the community. The out-of-pocket costs of HCB are still unaffordable for many people; at the same time, direct support professionals who support the daily lives of people with disabilities are among the lowest-paid workers in the country.
Further improvements are needed to make the program truly accessible.
The current government’s position on health care is far less than that of supporting these needed reforms, threatening the health and safety of people with disabilities. The recently passed budget bill cuts billions of Medicaid and Medicare, threatening the feasibility of HCBS programs, especially in states that are already under financial pressure from hospital closures. The Department of Health and Human Services’ move to demolish the Government of Community Living (ACL) has also dealt a huge blow to people with disabilities who are receiving support from ACL services to fully participate in their communities and access public services. Advocacy in the disabled community is clear: ADA and other laws and programs that support community integration need to be implemented, strengthened and expanded, rather than limited or watered.
The name of July as the month of Pride for People with Disabilities must not only commemorate the 1990 ADA adoption, but also a reminder of the unremitting efforts and activism of the disabled community. Before and after the ADA, the history of persons with disabilities’ rights in the United States shows that civil rights and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities have been won and defended time and time again through collective and powerful actions. Because disability is a natural component of human experience, many people will navigate at some point in their lives, and the right to disability benefits everyone. Supporting and expanding the movement toward the rights of persons with disabilities is not only about solidarity; it is about building a more inclusive and accessible world for us all.
