Disability awareness wasn’t around in the 1920s and 1930s so they were was treated like dirt at the time.
Americans with disabilities was segregated from society and didn’t have their constitutional rights like every other american (Faville). They were treated with so much disrespect similar to Lennie in “Of Mice and Men”. In the book he was treated the wrong way because he kind of commited sexual harassment by grabbing a lady’s dress but he didn’t know any better (Steinbeck).
Curley is also an example because he hated lennie just cause the fact he was big he even hated him more after he crush his hand and he killed his wife (Steinbeck). Americans with disabilities lacked identity and cohesiveness needed to bring about widespread change until the 1960s. In the 1960s people with disabilities began a campaign for legal protection against discrimination. In 1962, Ed Roberts, a quadriplegic became the first severely disabled to admitted to the University of California. There were protests, and sheer persistence, by americans with disabilities who challenged the power structures that preserved inequality. In the 1960s through the 1970s disabled americans had the right to attend desegregated schools and the freedom to enjoy pleasures such as taking a train downtown or shopping in a supermarket.
“Several pieces of legislation created new regulations for schools, public and commercial buildings and transportation.”(Faville). Even with all this progress discrimination still ran rapid. Disabled americans was passed over for jobs, forbidden to live in certain neighborhoods and housing developments. They were also denied service or charged premium for things like plane tickets or restaurants meals.
By their early success they continued to campaign for reform. Activists realized that they represented a powerful voting block. Congress also realized that so they then passed the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) (Faville).
