Forty-Six Words That Changed History

Lennard J. Davis presents the history of disability activism in the United States in the context of its predecessor i.e. the human and civil rights movement and the emancipatory struggle of African Americans in the South before 1964. Davis investigates the history of the social movement and legislation at the federal level initiated by the introduction of the landmark Section 504 to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the title forty-six words prohibiting any discrimination against people with disabilities by institutions supported by federal funds) and culminated in The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.