The path to implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the story of the disability rights movement and its fight to achieve greater opportunities for equality not unlike other minority groups. The disabled community realized that the problem they were fighting was discrimination. The disability community has come face to face with some of the same issues and challenges that every minority individual faces. However, a disabled individual was not considered a minority and therefore could not benefit from the protection provided by the Civil Rights Act. A growing sense of unrest or change in mood galvanized and empowered the disabled community to fight for their civil rights. Federal laws enacted before the ADA set precedent for granting rights to disabled people 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 which is making its way towards comprehensive disability rights legislation in incremental stages. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs to assist the elderly and people with disabilities. The view regarding programs such as SSI and SSDI at the time the ADA went into effect was that these programs created “disincentives” for people with disabilities (NCDs) to enter the workforce. Indeed, in administrations since that of President Nixon, deregulatory programs such as these have come under fire. President Nixon vetoed the Rehabilitation Act in 1972 and signed a weaker version of the Rehabilitation Act into law in 1973. It took until 1978 in... middle of document.......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 of 1990.” 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. House. Education and Labor Commission. 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 First Congress, Second Session. Washington: USGPO, 1990. The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation By Doris Zames Fleischer, Frieda Zames