Americans with Disabilities Act 25th Anniversary Timeline - Disability & Employment

Works Progress Administration Protests

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1935

A group in New York City called the League for the Physically Handicapped forms to protest discrimination by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The league's 300 people—most living with polio and cerebral palsy—had all been turned down for WPA jobs after the city’s Home Relief Bureau stamped their applications “PH” for “physically handicapped.” Members of the league stage sit-ins, first at the bureau and later WPA headquarters. These and other efforts eventually generate a few thousand jobs nationwide and draw attention to the issue of employment for people with disabilities.

Protesting the WPA. — National Library of Medicine