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The American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) was, in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, a national consumer-led disability rights organization called, by nationally syndicated columnist Jack Anderson and others, “the handicapped lobby”. Created, governed, and administered by individuals with disabilities – which made it a novelty at the time—ACCD rose to prominence in 1977 when it mounted a successful 10-city “sit in” to force the federal government to issue long-overdue rules to carry out Section 504, the world’s first disability civil rights provisions. ACCD also earned a place of honor in the disability rights movement when it helped to secure federal funding for what is now a national network of 600 independent living centers and helped to pave the way for accessible Public Transit in the U.S. After a brief and often tumultuous history, ACCD closed its doors in 1983. == History == The origins of ACCD are in local and state consumer-led groups. In 1970, for example, Max Starkloff founded Paraquad, a community living support organization, so that he and other St. Louis residents could move from nursing homes and other institutional facilities into neighborhood homes. That same year, Judith Heumann and others founded Disabled in Action to fight City Hall in New York City. The precursor of the nation’s first independent living center was established that year, as well, when Ed Roberts and other students at the University of California – Berkeley wanted personal care and other support services not available at the college. In 1974, Fred Fay was one of the founders of the Boston Center for Independent Living. All of these leaders were among the founders of ACCD in 1974, when 150 activists convened in Washington, DC, during the annual meeting of the President’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. Fay was ACCD’s first president (1974–1976). Its second was Eunice K. Fiorito (1930–1999), a disability rights activist and head of the Mayor’s Office for the Handicapped, in New York City. Tall, red-headed, and fiery, she was a visionary leader who understood how the human and civil rights concerns of individuals with any given disability were, at root, similar to those of persons with other disabilities. Others on the ACCD board during the formative years included Frederick Schreiber, executive director of the National Association of the Deaf (United States); Roger Petersen, of the American Council of the Blind; and Gini Laurie, editor of the Rehabilitation Gazette; as well as Starkloff, Heumann and Fay. Only Laurie was not a person with a disability. From 1974 to mid-1976, ACCD was a volunteer organization. Board members paid their own expenses to quarterly meetings, which were held at metropolitan areas around the country in order to expose Board members to local, state and regional issues and to raise the organization’s profile. In early 1976, Fay wrote a small grant proposal to the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the federal Health Education and Welfare (HEW) department. The purpose of the grant was to demonstrate coalition building. Grant award in hand, board members launched a search for the first ACCD staff member. Fiorito found him: at a conference in NYC, she heard a speech by Dr. Frank Bowe, a deaf researcher at NYU, and decided that he was the person. At its July 1976 meeting, the board agreed, hiring him as Director. That September, Bowe went to Washington, occupying a one-room office on Connecticut Avenue with an interpreter, Jan Jacobi. The organization’s annual budget in 1976-1977 was $50,000. Four years later, it was $2,000,000. The staff grew to 20, including attorneys, rehabilitation counselors, and educators. Some board members were troubled by the growth. Suspicion was particularly high about funding. When a company donated $10,000 to the coalition, for example, the board spent hours at its next meeting debating whether to issue press releases denouncing that company (to demonstrate ACCD’s independence). Other board members wanted the coalition to change its focus, from national advocacy to building up the capabilities of state and local coalitions. In 1981, after five years at the helm, Bowe departed. He was succeeded as Director by Reese Robrahn, a blind attorney. In 1983, its funds having dwindled to virtually nothing, the organization closed its doors. Explanations for its demise vary. The Reagan Administration was not interested in making grants to civil rights groups. Meanwhile, each disability group in the coalition – people with physical disabilities, the deaf, the blind, and individuals with cognitive limitations – responded to the threat posed by the Administration by retreating to protect its base. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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