Source:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/504-protest-disability-community-and-civil-rights.htm
The Section 504 Disability Rights Act.
The 1977 504 protests was a month-long continuous sit-in protest where roughly 100 people of various disabilities sat in at the UN plaza in San-Francisco, along with various other offices related to the government (though only the UN plaza lasted the entire month). The goal of the protest was to call the US government to action for not honoring section 504 of the Rehabilitation act of 1973, which goes as follows:
“No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 705 of this title, shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Though despite this being in writing since 1973, there were no regulations involved that could enforce anyone to change structures and programs to accommodate citizens with disabilities, and was practically useless. By sitting in and calling attention to their issue, leaders of the protest were able to travel to DC and eventually secure victory for enforcement laws for 504. The only way they were able to sustain such a protest was a strong community of hard working people that kept everyone healthy and safe while protesting.
