Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights

JCHS is pleased to present:

Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights

On display June 19 – August 31 at the Museum of Art + History

“In the face of government ignorance, we persisted and won. No one gave us anything.” - Organizer Kitty Cone

Discover a remarkable, overlooked moment in U.S. history when people with disabilities occupied a government building to demand their rights and won. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 made it illegal for any federally funded facilities or programs to discriminate against disabled people, but four years later, one missing signature stood in the way of the law taking effect.

At last, in April of 1977, frustration turned into bold action. A diverse coalition launched protests across the country, and in San Francisco, more than 100 people began a 26-day occupation of the Federal Building to insist on getting civil rights. On April 30, the occupiers emerged victorious from the longest unarmed takeover of a federal building in US history after the Head of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) had finally added his signature to the 504 regulations.

Patient No More provides content that is accurate, inclusive, and respectful. In addition, the traveling exhibit includes exhibition text in braille, large-print panels, audio description tracks, and audio-described and captioned videos to make the show as accessible as possible.

Themes explored include:

• Disability as a source of creativity and innovation, not pity or tragedy

• Daily life inside the building, including a calendar of activities of the 26 days of occupation

• How the occupiers built networks of support, from unions to the Black Panthers

• The national protests that occurred, with a focus on the SF occupation

• How protesters influenced the media, developing close ties with the press and changing the language of their coverage

• Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act

• The controversies of 504, especially in regard to race and deafness

Patient No More is presented by the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, made possible with support from California Humanities, and traveled by Exhibit Envoy. Learn more about the exhibit and the history of the 504 protests at patientnomore.org.