White House Celebrates Anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act

On October 2nd, President Biden hosted an event for advocates and stakeholders, among them CEC’s Executive Director Chad Rummel, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act. Biden remarked that the law, enacted in 1973, “promoted equal access to — for communities — access to our communities — authorized independent living services and research that supports disabled people in living the lives that they want to lead.” Biden credited the intense advocacy of people including the late Judy Huemann for the progress that has been made to date in the lives of people with disabilities. He encouraged the audience to keep advocating, noting that there is still work to be done to close gaps in employment, access to voting, transportation, and more. Biden closed by stating, “I think someone is going to be standing here 20 years from now talking about how fundamentally it’s changed across the board — across the board.  We can never stop.”

To read the full remarks, go here.