After the outbreak of the Vietnam War, America's youth erupted into an anti establishment and anti social norms movement. Previously marginilized groups, such as people of color and the LGBTQ community, made their presence felt on the political landscape by civil rights movements. The 60's and 70's were characterized by a reduction of stigma surrounding certain identity traits, so it's no surprise that the birth of the disability pride/rights movement was during this era.
During the early 60's disability rights actvists started to conform to the techniques of the general civil rights movements. Sit ins at inaccessible restaurants started to become common place, while activists gathered large crowds to advocate for measures that assisted people with disabilites to live independently. A submovement was formed under the heading of disability rights for individuals with disabilities who wanted a ban on institutionalization.
After nearly 17 years of protests, disability rights activists occupied federal buildings to force the government to enfore quality rehabilitation promised by the Rehabilitation Act. The government started to take notice after groups such as ADAPT (Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) formed in 1983. To quell dissatisfaction among the growing community, the Americans with Disabilities Act was created in 1990, along with the first disability pride movements. The ADA was mostly a huge success for the disabled community, preventing disability related discrimination and providing the foundation for future laws relating social welfare and education.
Disability pride movements have only continued since the first march in 1990 at the Boston city hall. New York City encouraged annual disability rights marches during the 90s, while Chicago became the first city to have a disability pride parade.
The culmination of disability pride occured in 2015, when New York City made disability pride month official in July. Disability pride has often been overshadowed by larger civil rights movements, but has been one of the more effective movements in inspiring meaningful policy change.
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