The Fight for Disability Rights Lesson by Junior Scholastic

The Fight for Disability Rights

*This lesson was developed by Junior Scholastic and links to an external source.

Summary:
A lesson plan based on the Scholastic article “The Fight for Disabiility Rights” where students learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Subject and topic: 

Social Studies/History/Civics, Disability History

Grade level:

6th to 8th grade

Duration: 

1 class period

Our notes for teaching this lesson:

• Take note that the link to the article is not included in the lesson plan itself, The best link to find all resources is the one we’ve linked to below.

• This article doesn’t discuss Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which was an important action that we recommend discussing as well.

  • We have some lessons and resources you may want to use for this addition:

  • The photo used of Judy Heumann at the top of the article is from the 504 protest so a good opportunity to expand the conversation to include this event.

• Instead of having students interview a random disabled person who may not be informed about disabiltiy rights movement, may prefer not to be singled out and/or prefers to keep their disability private, we recommend contacting a local Center for Independent Living (CIL) to invite someone to speak to your class about how the ADA has influenced their lives.

• This article and lesson were written in 2021 so some of the dates and details need to be updated.

  • The ADA passed in 1990 so July 26, 2025 is the 35th anniversary for example.

  • Judy Heumann died on March 4, 2023.

    • There are a few books about Judith’s life that are now available.

The article with lesson plan can be found here: https://junior.scholastic.com/pages/promotion/031521/the-fight-for-disability-rights.html?language=english#1140L

Resources, including the lesson plan are found at the end of the article.