Exhibit Envoy ~ Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Right

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Location: SJSU Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 2nd Floor ~ DiNapoli Gallery

Dates: March 3, 2026 through April 15, 2026

Audience: Student, Alumni, Faculty & Staff, General Public

The Accessible Education Center with support of Division of Student Affairs (Health, Wellness, and Student Success) are excited to present the Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights exhibition. 

About the Exhibition: Discover a remarkable, overlooked moment in U.S. history when people with disabilities occupied a government building to demand their rights and won. The exhibition uncovers the stories behind a turbulent April in 1977, when people with disabilities successfully launched protests across the nation to get Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 signed into law. Section 504 made it illegal for any federally funded facilities or programs to discriminate against people with disabilities, but as of 1977, one missing signature stood in the way of the law taking effect. After a 26-day occupation of the Federal Building in San Francisco, the occupiers emerged victorious from the longest unarmed take-over of a federal building in U.S. history when the Head of Health Education and Welfare finally added his signature to the 504 regulations. This paved the way for future disability rights, including the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 on July 26, 1990. Above all, this exhibition reminds all of us that disabilities are a source of creativity and innovation, not pity or tragedy. 

Learn more: Introduction to Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights 

 longmorelogo Exhibition credits: Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights is presented by the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, made possible with support from California Humanities, and traveled by Exhibit Envoy. Learn more about the exhibit and the history of the 504 protests at patientnomore.org.     
In partnership with:      
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