The Path to Enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the History of the Disability Rights Movement and Its Fight for Better Opportunities of equality, much like other minority groups. The disability community realized that the problem they were fighting against was discrimination. The disability community has found itself facing some of the same issues and challenges that anyone who is a minority faces. However, a person with a disability was not considered a minority and therefore could not benefit from the protections provided by the Civil Rights Act. A growing sense of unrest or changing moods has galvanized and empowered the disability community to fight for their civil rights. Federal laws enacted before the ADA set precedent for granting people with disabilities rights as a minority group under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Fair Housing Act of 1988. The 1960s The 1970s and 1980s were a period of growth for the disability movement, working its way toward comprehensive disability rights legislation in incremental steps. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs to help seniors and people with disabilities. At the time the ADA was enacted, the thinking regarding programs such as SSI and SSDI was that these programs created “disincentives” for people with disabilities to enter the workforce (NCD). In fact, in administrations beginning under President Nixon, such programs were subject to deregulation. President Nixon vetoed the Rehabilitation Act in 1972 and signed a weaker version of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973. It took until 1978 middle of paper .......com/ps/i.do? id=GALE%7CCX2687400149&v=2.1&u=cuny_baruch&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=8cf19a43ddef5ea2cb064ded30e16f8eGale Document Number: GALE|CX2687400149 “HR 2273 - 101st Congress: Americans with Disabilities Act 1 99 0. » www.GovTrack.us. 1989. December 1, 2013 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/101/hr2273 “S. 933--101st Congress: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.” www.GovTrack.us. 1989. December 1, 2013 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/101/s933United States. Congress. Home. Committee on Education and Labor. Legislative History of Public Law 101-336, Americans With Disabilities Act: Prepared for the Committee on Education and Labor, United States House of Representatives, One Hundred and First Congress, Second Session. Washington: USGPO, 1990. The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation By Doris Zames Fleischer, Frieda Zames