History

The first Client Assistant Project was established to advocate for clients of state vocational rehab agencies

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (nation’s first civil law for people with disabilities) passes.
o Section 501 protects people with disabilities in the federal workplace and any organization receiving federal funds
o Section 503 supports employment and education for members of traditionally disadvantaged minority groups
o Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 passed into law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in federally assisted programs or activities and
providing free appropriate public education for K-12 children with disabilities.

P&A concept triggered by series of investigative reports by Geraldo Rivera at Willowbrook in 1972

First ever Citizen Advocacy office created in Lincoln, NE (Mirdza Kains, CEO)