In 1973, Congress enacted Section 504 to the Rehabilitation Training Act, which prohibited disability discrimination by recipients of federal funding. When the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) delayed issuing regulations to implement the new statutory prohibition, people with disabilities organized, protested, sat-in, and crawled up the steps of the US Capitol. Eventually new regulations were issued in 1977.
After a long delay, DHHS has finally issued new and updated Section 504 regulations. The regulations, for the first time, address medical treatment, accessible medical equipment, internet access, and child welfare systems. They also make important revisions to existing sections on scope, definitions, employment, health care, service access, integration, mobility devices, and service animals.
Together with its partners in the Coalition for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD), CPR developed comments on the medical treatment and integration sections of the new regulations. Final regulations are due in 2024.