National Disability Employment Awareness Month each October recognizes the societal and workforce contributions of people with disabilities. Congress designated in 1945 the first “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week”; the word “physically” was removed in 1962 to allow for the inclusion of all Americans with disabilities. In 1988, the week was extended to a month and changed its name to “National Disability Employment Awareness Month.”

Click the images below, or the following links, to expand the view or download a PDF: Disability Employment Awareness Month Timeline and Disability Employment Awareness Month Fact & Figures

National Disability Employment Awareness Month

1700s

1751 Pennsylvania Hospital, with help of Benjamin Franklin, creates nation’s first special section to treat mental illness and “mental retardation”

1773 Virginia establishes first hospital solely for treatment of “idiots, lunatics and other people of unsound mind”

1776 Stephen Hopkins, a man with cerebral palsy, signs the Declaration of Independence. He is known for saying “my hands may tremble, my heart does not”

1800s

1805 Dr. Benjamin Rush, considered the father of American psychiatry, publishes Medical Inquiries and Observations, the first modern
attempt to explain mental disorders

1817 First school for deaf in U.S. opens in Connecticut

1829 Louis Braille publishes raised-point alphabet

1907 Indiana becomes the first state to enact a law to sterilize “confirmed idiots, imbeciles and rapists” in state institutions. The law is
enacted in 24 other states

1900s

1918 Congress passes first major rehabilitation program for soldiers because of the large number of World War I veterans returning with
disabilities

1921 The American Foundation for the Blind is founded

1924 Virginia passes law allowing sterilization (without consent) of individuals found to be “feebleminded, insane, depressed, mentally handicapped, epileptic and other”

1927 U.S. Supreme Court rules forced sterilization of people with disabilities is not a violation of constitutional rights

1935 Social Security Act establishes federal benefits for elderly people, funds to states for assistance to blind individuals and children with
disabilities

1939 Nazi euthanasia program is instituted to eliminate “life unworthy of life.” Up to 250,000 people with developmental or physical disabilities are killed

1945 National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week is created

1950 Veterans and people with disabilities begin development of national standards for “barrier-free” buildings

1956 Social Security amendments create disability insurance for workers with disabilities 50–64 1958 Social Security amendments extend disability benefits to dependents of workers with disabilities

1960 Rome hosts first Paralympics Games

1961 Making Buildings Accessible to and Usable by the Physically Handicapped is published. Forty-nine states adapt accessibility
legislation by 1973

1962 Ed Roberts, a young man with polio, fights rejection from the University of California, Berkeley and later helps establish the first Center for Independent Living

1964 The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity or national origin, laying foundation for disability rights movement

1965 Medicare and Medicaid are established under Social Security Amendments

1970 Judy Heumann sues New York City Board of Education after application for a teaching license is denied because her wheelchair
is “a fire hazard”

1973 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination in federal programs and services receiving federal funds

1974 The last “Ugly Law” is repealed in Chicago. They had allowed police to arrest people with “apparent” disabilities for no reason

1975 The Education of All Handicapped Children Act requires free public education in least-restrictive setting for children with disabilities

1976 Amendment to Higher Education Act of 1972 mandates services for college students with physical disabilities

1978 Frank Bowe publishes “Handicapping America,” considered the text for the disability-rights movement

1980 Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act gives the Department of Justice power to sue state or local institutions that violate
the rights of people held against their will

1984 Voting Accessibility for Elderly and Handicapped Act makes polling places accessible to people with disabilities

1990 President George Bush signs Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requiring fair employment practices and protection from discrimination in employment, transportation, telecommunications, public accommodations and state and federal services

1992 United Nations creates International Day of Disabled Persons

2000s

2004 Army commissioned officer Tammy Duckworth loses lower legs after helicopter is hit by grenade, the first female double amputee from Iraq war. Receives Purple Heart and promotion to major in December; becomes disability activist 2006 First bill is passed that requires history of disability rights be taught to K–12 public-school students 2008 ADA Amendments Act grants broader protections for workers with disabilities

2009 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act protects employees/job applicants from genetic information discrimination

2010 President Barack Obama signs executive order calling for an additional 100,000 individuals with disabilities to be employed
by federal government over five years, and to increase retention of employees with disabilities, including employees injured on
the job

2011 New ADA rules come into effect for expanded accessibility requirements in recreational facilities and standards for mobility devices in public spaces, as well as clearly defined “service animal”

Sources: DiversityInc, disabilityhistoryweek.org, Temple University, whitehouse.gov, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD/Y), Ability Magazine