Americans with Disabilities Act
Windows Sticker
1995
MHS Collections
In many ways the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 which provided “injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations,” paved the way for many individual groups to push for more explicit equal protection under law. One such group actively pursued legislation that would guarantee the civil liberties of American citizens living with a disability.
The Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act was created by Congress in 1990 “to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability.” Prior to this congressional intervention, the approximately 43 million men and women with physical or mental disabilities had to navigate through daily life with few assurances that they could readily gain access to public services and public spaces.
Like other individual groups seeking greater explication of civil rights, the ADA utilized icons of liberty like the stars and stripes to stress that what is good for Americans living with disabilities is good for America at large. As seen in this window sticker, the ADA proclaims that when rights are extended to all of its citizens “America Wins.”
Organized by the Virginia Historical
Society with additional support from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Foundation and the
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Changing Exhibitions Fund, American. Support
in St. Louis is provided by The Stanley and Lucy Lopata Foundation
This exhibition has been made possible in part
by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Great Ideas Brought to Life.
