On July 26, 1990, the United States passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark law increasing access to basic rights for persons with disabilities in the country. The ADA’s passage was the result of decades of advocacy by citizens with disabilities, following other successful legal reforms such as Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, which established nondiscrimination of persons with disabilities in federally-funded programs as a right.
IFES hosted a side-event during the ninth session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the UN in New York. The panel, “How Regional Collaboration Can Lead to More Effective Implementation of Political Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the 2030 Development Agenda,” emphasized the importance of South-South dialogue and regional knowledge transfer to support political participation by persons with disabilities.