Disability Protests: Contentious Politics, 1970-1999

Contents

Acknowledgments Vll Introduction xi Contents lOne History of Disability in America: How Collective Action Became Possible 1 2 Collective Consciousness and a Profile of Issues 31 3 The Social Basis for Movement Formation and Mobilization 57 4 A Profile of Contentious Actions: How Success Became Possible 66 5 Cross-Disability and Impairment-Specific Protests: Social Movement Unity and Disunity 109 6 Changes in Protests over Time: Increased Heterogeneity, Decreased Societal Attention 139 7 The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act: The Effects of Cross-Disability Successes 160 8 The Deaf President Now Protest: The Effect of an Impairment-Specific Success 192 9 Looking to the New Millennium 214 10 Conclusion: Against All Odds and Contrary to the Conventional Wisdom 222 Appendix A: List ofAcronyms 225 Appendix B: Methodology 227 References 243 Index 261 ...