Patient No More: An Interactive, Multimedia Exhibit, Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability

‘Patient No More’: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights explores the nearly month-long occupation of San Francisco’s Health, Education and Welfare Building in April 1977 by a diverse group of people with disabilities demanding and ultimately getting civil rights. Some came on crutches or with canes, others in wheelchairs, some communicated using American Sign Language, others used augmented communication devices, still others said everything simply by showing up and saying nothing at all. Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was to grant equal civil rights to people with disabilities but the regulations awaited a final signature, and officials had gotten cold feet. Protesters occupied buildings across the country, and thanks to help from an improbable coalition - from Safeway to Black Panthers, the gay men’s Butterfly Brigade to labor unions - those in San Francisco stayed far longer. The 504 regulations would serve as the basis of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) thirteen years later, and the occupation that led to their approval would be a watershed personal and political moment, one that solidified the Bay Area’s key role in the struggle for disability rights.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will turn 25 on July 26, 2015. Such a big milestone in our nation’s history deserves a celebration that centers on the San Francisco Bay Area, the birthplace of disability advocacy. The mission of the ADA 25 Bay Area is to increase awareness and introduce visitors to local upcoming events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the ADA in the San Francisco Bay Area. ADA 25 Bay Area is hosted by a collaboration of disability advocacy and service agencies around the Bay Area.

Get Involved and Share - Tell us about your ADA Event, or How the ADA has Changed Your Life? so we can spread the word. Please watch the website for details of our big celebration at San Francisco City Hall in early July to kick off ADA Month. Join us in celebrating ADA 25 Bay Area! We encourage you to visit the website often to find out about disability events in the Bay Area and to celebrate our history at http://www.ada25bayarea.org/.