Is Section 504 Important?

National Council on Disability Releases an Examination of Section 504

Advocates block doors to get enforcement of civil rights laws aimed at providing equal access to the community.

Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was to protect people with disabilities from discrimination by the Federal Government. Simply reading the title of the National Council on Disability’s report, “Rehabilitating Section 504,” makes one question the effectiveness of 30 years of Section 504.

Likewise, the findings of the report do not seem to show that there is much serious enforcement and support of the equal rights regulations. The report notes that the Department of State has never allocated funds to enforce or even inform grant recipients of the legal requirements [p. 5].

Section 504 is not a powerless government regulation either. An entity that fails to comply with Section 504 can have federal funds terminated. “None of the agencies,” the NCD reports however; “have initiated funding terminations to enforce Section 504 against grantees that violate the law [p. 4].”

Thirty years of Section 504 and the feds have never turned off the money tap? The message to the disability community is that business comes before our civil rights. Likewise, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act has been only marginally more effective in getting governments to follow civil rights regulations. Here in Memphis, the ADA case Uttilla v. Memphis has been successful in getting thousands of curb-ramps and accessibility evaluations in public buildings, yet transportation advocates will remember that the Department of Transportation never considered sanctions to remedy the ADA violations of MATA (funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to a questionably accessible trolley system).

The NCD report also attempts to prove that 504 still has a vital role in civil rights protection. It is a mistake to believe that the ADA is comprehensive protection for people with disabilities. Section 504 applies to the federal government, while the ADA does not. Most importantly however, the report states that “Supreme Court decisions . . . limit the scope of private civil rights enforcement.” The University of Alabama v. Garrett decision has prevented individuals from recovering money damages from states.

Some general regulations from the report are:

• Conduct periodic and thorough Section 504 self-evaluations.
• Improve data collection and dissemination of data about Section 504 enforcement activities.
• Use funding sanctions to enforce Section 504.
• Direct agency civil rights enforcement by the assistant secretary.
• Increase funding for Section 504 enforcement.
• Improve leadership and guidance to agencies on Section 504 enforcement.
• Apply successful practices in Section 504 technical assistance and enforcement used by federal agencies.

You may get a copy of the National Council on Disability report from the NCD website: www.ncd.org