A Brief History of Accessibility

People with disabilities have existed throughout history, but disability rights and accessibility are relatively modern with the Social Security Act of 1935 being the first federal program for people with disabilities.

Even in 2025, people with disabilities continue to fight for their civil rights and equitable access. In education and in life, students, faculty, and staff might encounter physical access barriers (such as doorframes that cannot accommodate a walker), digital access barriers (such as documents which are not compatible with screen readers), or inequitable access (such as an elevator requiring a special call and a wait for someone with a key).

While the last 100 years have brought some rapid change, there is still much to do to as we strive to create inclusive and accessible spaces by identifying and removing barriers.

Some ancient civilizations considered people with disabilities to be inferior, unclean, or disfavored by deities, leading to ostracism or even euthanasia. Even as some attitudes changed with time, people with disabilities were still not considered equal humans and were considered to exist for non-disabled people to provide service. Royal courts kept people with disabilities as the court “fool” or “jester” to provide entertainment for nobles.

• Early Middle Ages: Churches began to provide refuge for people in need, including people with disabilities.
• 1563-1601: Queen Elizabeth I of England shifted more responsibility of caring for people in poverty to the government, which again included many people with disabilities who couldn’t work. However, the poorhouses were not regulated and care and service varied wildly.
• 1792: French physician Philippe Pinel unchains mental patients from physical restraints and approaches treatment medically and with talk therapy. Pinel also classified types of mental illness.
• 1805: Rush Medical Inquiries and Observations is the first modern attempt to explain mental disorders.
• 1817: first school in America for people who are Deaf founded by Thomas Gallaudet.
• 1829: Louis Braille invents the railed point alphabet, although not widely used in the US until 1860.
• 1927: US Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell declares that forced sterilization (compulsory sterilization) is constitutional, leading to an estimated 70,000 forced sterilizations primarily in people with disabilities and minority populations.
• 1935: President Roosevelt (FDR) signs the Social Security Act, a major social welfare program that benefited people who are Blind, people who are elderly, and children.
• 1939-41: The Nazis enact Aktion T4, murdering over 70,000 children and adults with disabilities. Historians estimate all phases of the Nazi Euthanasia Program murdered 250,000 people.

• 1954 – First Vocational Rehabilitation Program provides support for college students with disabilities
• 1962 – Ed Roberts, who used a wheelchair, became the first student with a significant disability admitted to a US university (University of California, Berkeley). His advocacy work led to many considering him the “father of the independent living movement” supporting people with disabilities the choice to live independently and not in assisted living homes.
  
• 1964 – Civil Rights Act of 1964 (prohibiting discrimination based on race in public accommodations, employment, and federally assisted programs) served as the starting point for all equity laws. No provisions made in this Act for people with disabilities.
  
• 1968 – Architectural Barriers Act requires federal and federal-funded buildings be accessible, although this would not be supported or enforced for years, leading to Section 504 (below, 1977).
• 1970-1973 – Station ABC began rebroadcasting “World News Tonight” with open captions (captions which are always on and visible to everyone), the only timely newscast accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing audience.
• 1973 – After two vetoes, President Nixon finally signs the Rehabilitation Act, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability for federal institutions and funding.
• 1974 – Last “Ugly Law” repealed in Chicago, which had allowed police to arrest and jail people for being “disfigured” or demonstrating disability.
• 1977 – Section 504 (of the Rehabilitation Act) sit-in, led by Judy Heumann, a disability rights activist who is widely regarded as the “mother of the Disability Rights Movement”. The 504 sit-in was protesting the lack of standards and enforcement for physical accessibility for federally funded or public buildings. The 26 day sit-in with participation across the nation led to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act being signed into law.
• 1990 March – Capitol Crawl. After over 1,000 people marched from the White House to the US Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), about 60 activists cast aside their wheelchairs and other mobility aids and crawled up the Capitol steps as a blunt demonstration of inaccessible architecture.
• 1990 July 26 – ADA signed by President George H.W. Bush, providing civil rights for people with disabilities by “guaranteeing” a standard of life in all aspects of living. The ADA expands the scope from the Rehab Act to the private sector as well.
  • 2008 – Broadens language for disability
  • 2011 – Revisions and expansions; scope expanded to include more public spaces including webspaces. 
  • 2024 – Title II update with regulations for web content and mobile applications.
• 1998 – Section 508 of the Rehab Act requires all federal electronic content to be accessible
• 2017 – American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) advocacy group stage “die-ins” by lying on the ground in politician’s offices to save the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.

1939, Joe Arridy: “The happiest man on death row.”

Born in Pueblo, Joe Arridy was wrongfully arrested as a suspect in a murder case and executed in 1939. Arridy had cognitive disabilities and was estimated to have the cognitive ability of a child around 6 years old, but seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be arrested and coerced into a false confession. Although the police had another suspect in custody with supporting evidence, the Wyoming sheriff in charge of Arridy’s arrest lead him to a false confession. This resulted in Arridy’s imprisonment and eventual execution, although attorney Gail Ireland had managed ten delays of execution. Arridy’s last meal was ice cream, and the priest who delivered last rites had to guide Arridy through the prayer two words at a time because Arridy couldn’t remember more than two words.

Coercion and false confessions remain a risk for defendants with disabilities.

In 2011, advocate work finally lead to a posthumous pardon for Arridy by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.

1975 – Atlantis Community

Founded in Denver by Reverend Wade Blank with the goal of allowing every disabled individual, regardless of the extent of their disability, the same rights and responsibilities of their non-disabled peers, including the freedom to choose a lifestyle and fulfill personal goals in education, employment, and personal growth. Atlantis sought to facilitate freedom from nursing homes and from being segregated from the non-disabled “mainstream” society.

1978 – The Gang of 19

The people who became known as the Denver Gang of 19 were disability advocates who used mobility aids such as wheelchairs. In July 1978, the Gang of 19 protested RTD’s inaccessible city busses by blocking traffic for two days, citing “taxation without transportation” and the high-cost and difficulty of scheduling accessible public transportation. The Gang of 19 lead to Denver becoming one of the first major cities to provide accessible public transit with a third of the bus fleet to include wheelchair lifts.

1983 – ADAPT

The Gang of 19 starts the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) (formerly Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit). ADAPT uses tactics similar to the Gang of 19 protest around the country at both city transit and interstate services like Greyhound. ADAPT’s work was instrumental in the development and enactment of the ADA in 1990. ADAPT continues to protest and fight for disability rights.

2021 – CO House Bill 21-1110

CO House Bill 21-1110 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, specifically with regards to government information technology. As a state university, MSU Denver falls under HB 21-1110, and the institution is actively working towards inclusive digital spaces.

While the wording of HB 21-1110 might sound intimidating, the CO Office of Information Technology website notes that public entities should focus on progress, not perfection, meaning that OIT recognizes the huge task of creating inclusive digital space. “However, they must show they are making progress toward accessibility and make it easy for people with disabilities to request assistance.” For faculty, this means being proactive while creating new materials by following accessible best practices, and remediating older material still in use as time allows.

The Instructional Accessibility Group encourages faculty to focus on inclusion, not compliance, meaning that if faculty approach course material creation with inclusion and accessibility in mind, they will be in compliance with the law. Here are some ways faculty can approach accessibility from an inclusion perspective:

• Apply the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines to identify barriers and take steps to remove them
• Take an asset based approach: focus on what can be done to make the course/content more accessible
• Establish methods for students to identify and report barriers
• Celebrate small wins: every little bit helps

A quote by disability advocate MisaOnWheels illustrates the importance of proactive accessibility: “When accessibility is an afterthought, the message becomes ‘We tolerate you’ rather than ‘We welcome you.'”

The IAG provides accessibility guides here on our webpages and offers our 30-minute Accessibility Bytes live virtual trainings throughout the fall and spring semesters to support faculty on their quest towards accessible courses.

• Atlantis Community.
• Britannica, Philippe Pinel.
• Disability Social History Project.
• Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, Parallels in Time.
• National Park Service, Disability History.
• Temple University, disability rights timeline.
• US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Euthanasia Program.