By Menachem Rephun, Communications Manager, Creative Spirit
After the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 is one of the most important disability rights laws in U.S. history. Though less well-known than the ADA, Section 504 has been just as vital in protecting millions of Americans with disabilities from discrimination in education and employment. As part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 prohibits all entities receiving federal funding from discriminating against people with disabilities. The enactment of Section 504 was the result of hard-fought efforts by disability rights activists like Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, Kitty Cone, and Brad Lomax, who famously staged a sit-in in 1977 to protest the U.S. government dragging its feet on the enforcement of Section 504. Almost 50 years later, it’s incumbent on all of us, both in the disabilities community and outside of it, to ensure the progress they fought so hard for is not undone. Together, we must stand up and defend the basic civil rights that Section 504 has protected for so many decades.
The urgency of protecting Section 504 was driven home as recently as September 2024, when a group of 17 state attorneys, led by Texas AG Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit against a Biden Administration rule updating disability discrimination regulations under Section 504 to include gender dysphoria. The first two counts of the suit (State of Texas v. Becerra) are centered on language in the new regulations’ preamble that suggests gender dysphoria may constitute a disability depending on the individual facts (New America.org points out that gender dysphoria is mentioned only in the preamble, but not in the new rule itself). The third count goes further, asking the court to find Section 504 unconstitutional. Its request that the court offer “permanent injunctive relief against Defendants enjoining them from enforcing Section 504” has been viewed by many disability rights activists as effectively calling for the elimination of Section 504. The suit blasts Section 504 as “coercive, untethered to the federal interest in disability, and unfairly retroactive.” In its article “Disabled Americans Fear Losing Protections If States Lawsuit Succeeds,” As the Washington Post points out, the updated regulations focus mainly on ensuring equal access to medical treatments and websites, integrating disabled people into society, and providing accessible communications.
The attack on Section 504 has raised alarm bells among disability rights activists and has left many people with disabilities justifiably concerned about the survival of Medicaid services, which are protected under the anti-discrimination mandate of Section 504, and the future of education and employment for millions of Americans with disabilities. “I’m basically fighting for my life,” Jennifer Kucera, an Ohio resident with muscular dystrophy, was quoted as saying by The Washington Post. “It’s frightening because this lawsuit could affect everything.” Despite the severe language of the lawsuit, some of the 17 attorneys general behind it have insisted their goal is not to overturn Section 504 or to have it deemed unconstitutional. According to the Washington Post’s report, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) wrote that the intent of the lawsuit “was never to ask the Court to declare all of Section 504 unconstitutional or to in any way reduce funding for disabled children and their families.”
Many disability rights activists are unconvinced. Claudia Center, legal director for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, derided the AGs’ comments as “mealymouthed,” saying they were intended to “confuse people and mislead people to think that this is a narrow challenge, and it absolutely is not.” In its own words, the lawsuit seeks to challenge “any purported application of [the law] to funds that are not authorized by the Rehabilitation Act.” Alison Barkoff, a disability law expert at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, says this would obstruct the application of Section 504 in schools, hospitals, and public transportation. According to Barkoff, the lawsuit is suggesting “a complete change from how Section 504 has been applied for 50 years.” New America.org writes that Section 504 serves children with ADHD, asthma, diabetes, anxiety, and dyslexia. It also covers children who may need some support to succeed in school, but may not need an Individualized Learning Program (IEP) plan or the learning support provided by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Texas, the state leading the lawsuit, has over 400,000 children protected by Section 504 as of 2024, according to New America. Eliminating Section 504 would jeopardize education for all of those students. The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) elaborates on how removing Section 504 would adversely impact students with disabilities. “Students in K-12 public schools would no longer have 504 plans for accommodations in school,” they write. “Students could try to get an IEP under the IDEA. If they did not qualify for an IEP under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), they could seek accommodations under Title II of the ADA. Title II is a strong law. However, the regulations and guidance documents published by the U.S. Department of Education that help schools know how to comply with the law are all about Section 504, not Title II. This could cause a lot of delay and confusion.”
There are a number of ways individuals can take action to protect Section 504. The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) has an “action alert” that allows people living in any of the 17 states that filed Texas v. Becerra to contact their Attorney General about protecting 504 and removing their state from the lawsuit. The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) also encourages individuals to contact state Attorneys General using the NCIL Advocacy and Action Center, asking the AGs to drop out of Texas v. Becerra. Individuals can also share personal stories about how Section 504 has impacted their lives, an example of how they were harmed before it became law, and how they’d be harmed if it had never become law. Ultimately, the attack on Section 504 is not merely about reversing legislation but undoing decades of social progress in ending the exclusion and marginalization of people with disabilities in American society. As disability rights advocate and author Rebekah Taussig writes, the activists who fought for the enforcement of Section 504 were doing more than just supporting a specific policy. Rather, they were sending a clear message to the general public and the powers that be that the rights and lives of people with disabilities matter just as much as the non-disabled, and that their voices deserve to be heard.
“They’d been given a story that their lives did not matter,” Taussig writes. “they were expendable, they didn’t belong. But Ed [Roberts], Brad [Lomax], Judy [Heumann], and Kitty [Cone] didn’t buy it. Instead, they and many others set to work putting a different story into the world – a new way of thinking about disability. While the rest of society located the problem in their paralyzed legs, their deafness, their low vision, their speech, their cognitive impairment, they shifted the focus and pointed to the built environments and social stigma as the problem we should be trying to fix. People started to gather around this new story, and it sparked a movement.”
In short, the activists were advocating for the social model of disability, which views society as the obstacle, rather than people with disabilities, in contrast to the medical model, which demands that people with disabilities adapt to a society not designed for their needs. Thankfully, the efforts of those activists are still very much alive today. As in 1977 and at many other points throughout American history, efforts to suppress the basic civil liberties and rights of people with disabilities and other marginalized groups can be a catalyst for pushing back and achieving change. Once again, we are presented with a historical turning point and an opportunity to achieve change for the better. And once again, it falls on us to come together and make our voices heard, forcing those in positions of authority to listen.
Sources:
- Morris, A. (2024). Disabled Americans fear losing protections if states’ lawsuit succeeds. Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/03/11/disability-rights-section-504-rehabilitation-act/
- Taussig, R. (2025) A Lawsuit Threatens the Disability Protections I’ve Known My Whole Life. TIME Magazine. Retrieved from: https://time.com/7258245/disability-protections-section-504-texas-v-becerra-essay/?utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-daily-spotlight&_bhlid=4d27f39ed628b4c816f46af0ed6a1595b450cdff
- Silva, R. (2025). Section 504 Under Threat, What the Texas v Becerra lawsuit means for students with disabilities. https://www.newamerica.org/. Retrieved from: https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/section-504-under-threat/
- National Council On Independent Living (2025). Action Alert: Help Save Section 504. National Council On Independent Living. Retrieved from: https://ncil.org/news/announcements/action-alert-help-save-section-504/
- NDSS (2025). Take Action to Protect Section 504 and Civil Rights for People with Disabilities. NDSS. Retrieved From: https://ndss.org/news/take-action-protect-section-504-and-civil-rights-people-disabilities
- Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF). Texas v. Becerra: What It Is and How You Can Help Stop It: https://aahd.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Section504-Texas-v-Becerra-DREDF-FAQs-02142025.pdf
