Rehabilitation Act Of 1973

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Terry Chen June 04, 2007 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The book centrals on the formation of the U.S Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the dramatic changes the law exerted among our society. As the Act was first implemented, it was vague. For several years there was no compliance and initiative to create Federal design standards for accessibility in public transportation, schools, work place and voting booths. After years of social movements and law suits Sections 501 – 504 were finally added. Those sections significantly expanded the disability rights. Section 501 and 503 prevents discrimination during employment. Section 502 forever changed the transportation and building structure to let the disabled travel with ease. Finally, the last and most important section 504 removed discrimination under federal grants and programs. This enabled disabilities to receive federal financial assistance (Fleischer and Zames 49). It was not just the disability rights activists that made a difference; without the faith and bravery of the common civilians the Rehabilitation Act today will still be in the dark ages. James L. Cherry was one of most influential person in the history of The Disability Rights Movement. He was not an activist but a common student at Howard University Law School during 1968. His disability gave him extremely hardship attending to classes. The school administrators however, rejected Cherry’s request for a closer parking space and access to elevator. During this time countless incidents like this happen all around the country but Cherry was the first one brave enough to stand up and file a lawsuit against Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Secretary David Mathews. In just a few months Cherry won the case and HEW was placed under a federal court order to develop and issue the Section 504 regulation. This winning of this case inspired the

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