New Exhibit Highlights Overlooked History
Park City Museum’s upcoming traveling exhibit is bringing light to a previously overlooked moment in U.S. history. Launching February 12th, Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights, highlights the Spring of 1977 when people with disabilities successfully launched protests nationwide in order to get section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 signed into law.
Park City Museum’s Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Courtney Titus says the exhibit stood out to her “because it’s a story of determination and persistence, a fight to make the world a better place for all, and a celebration of human rights.”
Presented by the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University and traveled by Exhibit Envoy, Patient No More invites visitors to stop by and discover how protestors built networks of support, influenced media coverage of their protests, and learn more about the controversies surrounding 504.
Section 504 made it illegal for any federally funded facilities or programs to discriminate against disabled people, however four years later the legislation was still missing one signature. Following the 26-day sit-in demonstration by 150 disability rights activists at San Francisco’s Federal Building in 1977, the Head of Health Education and Welfare added his signature to the 504 regulations– allowing 504 to finally take effect.
To continue learning more about Section 504, the sit-in demonstrations, and a brief history of civil rights protections for people with disabilities click here.
You may find that familiar faces such as Judith Heumann pop up as you're making your way through the exhibit. A highly regarded disability rights activist, Huemann was also featured in the documentary Crip Camp that originally premiered at Sundance back in 2020.
Detailing the lives of campers at Camp Jened, a camp designed for teens with disabilities, Crip Camp follows the campers as they become activists for the disability rights movement. The Academy-Award nominated documentary is still available to watch on Netflix.
Titus is hopeful exhibit visitors will “think about the injustices in the world, what makes them personally “patient no more” and what small steps they can take in their own lives to make a change for the better.”
For additional Utah-based resources, Art Access Utah is a great place to start. Based out of Salt Lake City, Art Access Utah is a nonprofit organization that promotes accessibility in the arts through creating opportunities for artists with disabilities and providing education for community and cultural organizations.