By Gus Albertsen

In the 1970s, solidarity was strong among fellow disabled individuals, which led to activism and protests to bring awareness of the discrimination suffered by the disabled community in the United States. Despite disabled activism, it took ten years for any valuable legislation to pass giving disabled individuals the freedom of access to public buildings and housing and a sense of inclusion in the community in the United States.

The documentary Crip Camp eloquently records the protest movement of the 1970s and demonstrates the solidarity experienced by the individuals involved in this vital movement. A summer camp for disabled young people in the 1970s was the foundation of community building that led to the activism to bring more equality to disabled individuals in the United States.  At the summer camp, disabled campers spent quality time together and established eternal friendships that they found nowhere else. 

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was one of the first U.S. federal civil rights laws offering protection for people with disabilities that did not discriminate against disabled people with respect to federal funding. In the 1980’s, the most important law passed, the Americans With Disabilities Act, which required public facilities and public transportation to be completely wheelchair accessible, alleviating many of the barriers which excluded disabled from participating in community life. Passage of the legislation was wonderful, emotionally inspiring, and provided the much needed freedom that the physically challenged community deserved, and put our community within reach of most life events and ambitions that ambulatory individuals take for granted. Freedom of choice for physically challenged individuals means independence and autonomy–independence to choose education, housing, and employment within the natural limits of availability, not limited by physical access. Mutual support brings independence (with assistance from aides and loved ones) to live life to the maximum extent possible.

Gus Albertsen is from Santa Barbara, CA, a senior majoring in Environmental Studies and focusing on sustainable communities. He is graduating this May 2023. Something that he would like to share is that he has a disability and is a disability advocate.