Disability Rights

  • On a BART train, a man with long hair and a helmet sits in a power wheelchair with two bags hanging on the handles.

    Hale Zukas – Disabled Advocate & Leader

    By Corbett O’Toole Hale Zukas, a pivotal leader on accessible public transportation, architectural barriers, data related to disability and personal assistance services, died this week. Hale did the grueling work…

  • An African American woman holds two paintings, one a self-portrait and the other a white man.

    Lois Curtis, Disability Rights Activist Who Won a Landmark Civil Rights Case (1967 – 2022)

    Fighting for the right to live in the community and establishing the right of people with disabilities to live independently Lois Curtis was a disabled African American woman who lived…

  • Disabled protesters in the 1930s.

    Disability Militancy – the 1930s

    Sit-in at the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s (origin unknown). Background The 1930’s were a time of great social unrest and increasing militancy among what one historian has termed…

  • Disabled Women at the 4th World Conference on Women – 1995

    Beijing, China. In conjunction with the UN conference a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Forum on Women was held from August 30 through September 7. Disabled women organizers strategically scheduled the First…

  • A group of disabled teen girls gather on the lawn.

    Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

    This 2021 Oscar-nominated film features a group of teens with disabilities at a groundbreaking summer camp in the 1970s. The camp galvanizes the teens to help build a movement, forging…

  • Black Panther News: Handicapped Win Demands

    The 504 Protests and the Black Panther Party

    “Black Panthers saved the 504 sit-in.” Corbett O’Toole, participant in the 1977 504 protest in San Francisco During the 504 protests at the San Francisco Federal Building in 1977, the…