1927 – Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes Georgia Warm Springs Foundation.
1932 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president of the United States, the first and still the only president with a physical disability.
1945 – President Harry Truman signs a law calling for the creation of an annual “National Employ the Handicapped Week.”
1952 – Hugh Gallagher (who later drafts the laws that make public buildings accessible to the handicapped) contracts polio.
1953 – Ed Roberts (who later becomes father of the “independent-living movement”) contracts polio.
1962 – Ed Roberts, in an iron lung, becomes the first person with a severe disability to attend the University of California at Berkeley.
1968 – The Architectural Barriers Act (written by Hugh Gallagher) is passed. It mandates that federally funded buildings be accessible to people with physical disabilities.
1973 – First “handicap” parking stickers issued in Washington, D.C.
1974 – The Education for All Handicapped Children Act is passed. It establishes that children with disabilities have the right to attend regular public schools.
1976 – Ed Roberts establishes the Westside Center for Independent Living in Los Angeles, California.
1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act is signed by President George H. W. Bush. It mandates that businesses, government programs, public buildings, communication, and transportation be accessible to people with disabilities.
1990 – The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is passed, guaranteeing federal funding to schools for education of children with disabilities.