504 “sit ins”

The 504 sit-ins occurred in April 1977 at the offices of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle, demanding the enactment of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Most notable was the sit-in in San Francisco which lasted 25 days and consisted of a group of roughly 150 disability rights activists. The group took over the fourth floor of a federal building in San Francisco and refused to leave until the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) created regulations which would operationalise section 504. The activists were successful and instrumental in getting strong 504 regulations signed.