Disability Resource Page
A growing collection of New America's writings, events, and other content about disability policy.
Collection
Dec. 1, 2020
Introduction
Over the past half-century, people with disabilities and their allies have galvanized support for a remarkable wave of policy change. Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, for example, created and extended civil rights for children and adults with disabilities in education, employment, and other settings; the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act—now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—mandated free and appropriate public education to all students with disabilities; and the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 (ADA) prohibited discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life.
But the passage of these laws has not guaranteed equality or justice for disabled people, who are routinely marginalized or altogether excluded from policy decisions in education, employment, housing, technology, civic participation, healthcare, and more. Across the nation, people with disabilities remain much less likely to complete high school and college and far more likely to live in poverty, without full employment or healthcare, and to face inadequate and uneven legal protections. The intersection of disability with race, poverty, and other factors further compounds these inequities.
New America is committed to advancing opportunity and justice for people with disabilities across its programs and in collaboration with other national policy and research organizations.