Some context on what is happening with Section 504

The Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund (DREDF) has a great write-up on what Section 504 is and what is happening here in the US, in the legal scene. In short: 17 States are suing the US government to get rights for students with disabilities taken away. This is devastating.

Why Section 504 matters to me

I would arguably not be alive today if it wasn’t for Section 504 and even if I was, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to have such a wonderfully fulfilling career at places like Apple, Adobe, Highsoft, Visa, and a PhD at one of the top computer science schools in the world. I have had such a wonderful life in recent years, but there is no way these things would have been possible without Section 504.

I missed over 90 days of school (more than half of the school year) during my junior and senior years. I have a debilitating condition where my immune system attacks my body. I’ve had numerous surgeries and I’ve had to have whole organs removed. But I wouldn’t have been able to finish school if there wasn’t a government-mandated set of rights and plans in place for disabled students like me.

In 2006, my mother was a (then newly-retired) school teacher who understood that I should have an accommodations plan made. She helped the district (who was quite resistant!) put it together for me. Even in a liberal town in the liberal state of Washington, Section 504 was hard-fought. But we got a plan in place.

My senior year (‘07 to ‘08) was when they enacted my alternative learning plan, which allowed me to work largely in an independent role from home, going to alternative school for a few hours per week. Negotiating for this kind of flexibility would have been impossible without it being enshrined with some degree of legal protection. I know this because during my time in industry, I was never able to really get the flexibility I needed. Companies, even during covid, weren’t too keen on people living a flexible life.

Section 504 is what mandated this as a right that I had, as a student in this country. This accommodation plan, no joke, helped pave the course of my entire life. I finished high school, albeit with bad grades but I finished. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Section 504.

My diploma was necessary for me to get into college at age 21 and then get a job with health insurance at age 26 (just after the Obamacare age cutoff). Any later and I would have had an insurance gap, which could very easily have been game over for me.

I want there to be future generations of Franks in the world who have a shot like I did. And attacking 504 will devastate so many students. It also is a moral stain on what our country should stand for. Laws that empower people are the kind of laws we need. 504 generated freedoms for me that I never would have had. 504 may have felt like “less freedom” for institutions, but laws should always serve people over structures. We need to protect 504 and even go further to strengthen it, make it better, and even have these rights spread into industry and corporate spaces.

What anyone can do (yes, even you)

Even if you don’t live in one of the 17 states that are trying to bring down 504, as long as you live somewhere here in the US, you can still reach out to your state’s attorney general to ask them to fight for Section 504.

I borrowed the exact email format that the DREDF suggests, which I have pasted below. You can take this, fill it out, and send it to your attorney general. I’ve done this already, and you should too.

Here is a document with a contact list of the attorney generals in all 50 states.

Example Letter / Email

Here is an example of an email to Alaska’s Attorney General asking them to drop out of the case (credit to DREDF):

To: attorney.general@alaska.gov

Subject: Stop Attacking Section 504! Drop Out of Texas v. Becerra!

Dear Attorney General [Treg Taylor],

[Say who you are] I live in Juneau, Alaska, and I have a disability. I am hard of hearing and use a wheelchair. I volunteer for the Southeast Alaska Independent Living Center. I go to college part time.

[Say why you support Section 504 and its rules] I care about Section 504. I can go more places in my wheelchair because of Section 504. I can go to the doctor and use a scale for people who use wheelchairs. I can get captions for my college classes. I support the updated Section 504 rules. The updated rules are stronger and give more examples of what disability discrimination is.

[Say why Texas v. Becerra is bad] I am very upset and angry that you have joined a case in Texas called Texas v. Becerra that goes against Section 504 and the updated rules. You are asking the court to get rid of the Section 504 rules and the entire law. If the court does what you ask, I will not be able to go to the doctor or my college classes and get equal treatment. I will not have equal rights. This will be true for all the other disabled people in Alaska.

[Say you want them to drop out of the case] I want you to drop out of Texas v. Becerra. You should support Section 504 and its rules. You should not be attacking our rights.

[Ask for a meeting] I want you to meet with me and other people with disabilities. We want to talk to you about the case and why we are so concerned about it.

Sincerely,

[Your name]