Accessibility is often discussed as ramps and captions, but it covers every part of public life: buildings, transit, websites, apps, documents, health care and events. About 28.7 percent of US adults, more than 1 in 4, reported a disability in 2022, according to the CDC.
The legal right to access was won through organizing. In 1977, disabled activists occupied a federal building in San Francisco for nearly a month to force enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 extended access rights to employment, public services and businesses. In 2024, the Justice Department issued a rule requiring state and local government websites to meet accessibility standards, but in April 2026 it extended the first compliance deadline to 2027.
Access is also a racial justice issue. Disabled people of color face higher rates of poverty and police violence, and many barriers overlap. Disability justice asks that access be planned from the start, not added later as an accommodation.