Longmore Institute Documents Struggle to Enact Americans with Disability Act

SF STATE NEWS -- For many young people, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enacted 25 years ago, is an accepted and understood fact of life. But a new exhibit from SF State’s Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability provides a window into the struggles necessary to make the landmark civil rights law a reality. “Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights” is on display through December 18 at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley. “Most people think the ADA was handed down from government, but it has a deep grassroots history forged by disability rights activists right here in the Bay Area,” said Catherine Kudlick, a professor of History at SF State and director of the Longmore Institute. “This was the longest occupation of a federal building in U.S. history, and yet very few people know about this amazing story.”