The Need for Legislation
Throughout American history, lack of accommodation, as well as discrimination, extensively limited people with disabilities in society. Earlier social movements and legislation failed to create opportunities and progress. Leadership was inexperienced and early legislation lacked enforcement mechanisms.
Earlier Legislation
The copious, piecemeal legislation, focusing on different objectives for individual areas of disability, limited progress. Additionally, the ambitious yet ambiguous language of this early legislation, as well as the lack of enforcement mechanisms, rendered these efforts ineffectual.
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"In the 1980s, disability activists began to lobby for a consolidation of various pieces of legislation under one broad civil rights statute that would protect the rights of people with disabilities, much like the 1964 Civil Rights Act had achieved for Black Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or gender, but people with disabilities were not included under such protection." |