"Father of Section 504"

Frank G. Bowe (1947-2007) was the Dr. Mervin Livingston Schloss Distinguished Professor for the Study of Disabilities at Hofstra University. As a disability rights activist, author, and teacher, he has strung together a series of firsts: Hofstra University is a private institution of higher learning located in Hempstead, Long Island, New York (USA) founded in 1935 on the basis of the estate of wealthy lumber magnate William Hofstra and widow Kate Davidson. ...

Dr. Bowe was the first executive director (CEO) of the first national cross-disability consumer advocacy organization, the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD). The Coalition’s signature achievement was securing the long-delayed implementation of Section 504, the world’s first civil-rights provision for persons with disabilities. Bowe conceived and led the nationwide protest that led to issuance of landmark regulations for Section 504 in 1977. A year later, he wrote the first full-length text on social policy and disability, Handicapping America (Harper & Row). In 1980, Dr. Bowe was the first person with a disability to represent any nation in the planning of the United Nations (UN) International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP-1981). Today, many countries are represented in key UN committees by persons who themselves are individuals with disabilities, including 14 who are, as Bowe is, deaf. The American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) was, in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, a national consumer-led disability rights organization called, by nationally syndicated columnist Jack Anderson and others, “the handicapped lobby”. Created, governed, and administered by individuals with disabilities – which made it a novelty at the... The American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) was, in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, a national consumer-led disability rights organization called, by nationally syndicated columnist Jack Anderson and others, “the handicapped lobby”. Created, governed, and administered by individuals with disabilities – which made it a novelty at the... The 1973 Rehabilitation Act was an American piece of legislation that guaranteed certain rights to people with disabilities. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... The year 1981 was proclaimed the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) by the United Nations. ... Disabilities are limitations in activity and/or functioning that are attributable to permanent medical conditions in physical, mental, emotional, and/or sensory domains and, significantly, are also due to societal responses to those limitations. ...

In the mid-1980s, he chaired the U.S. Congress Commission on Education of the Deaf. COED made 52 recommendations for improving education and rehabilitation, many of which have had long-lasting effects. What is not well-known about that work is that he was, in 1986-1988, a highly visible chairperson who was deaf and who appointed deaf persons as COED staff director and chief counsel. COED issued a public draft of its final report in January 1988. The example he and COED set was not lost on the students at Gallaudet University across town when, in March 1988, they launched their famous Deaf President Now protest. Deaf President Now (DPN) was a student strike at Gallaudet University, the liberal arts university for the deaf in Washington, DC, pushing for the universitys selection of a deaf president. ...

Section 504 led, in 1990, to the Americans with Disabilities Act. That same year, Dr. Bowe was the principal architect of the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, which was sponsored in the Senate by Tom Harkin (D-IA) and in the House by Ed Markey (D-MA). The act requires that TV sets receive and display closed captions. The 1996 Telecommunications Act took it a step further, mandating that broadcast and cable programs themselves be captioned. More recently, in 2005 and 2006, Bowe gave invited testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce and conducted demonstrations of high-speed broadband communications for both the House and the U.S. Senate. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is the short title of United States Public Law 101-336, signed into law on July 26, 1990 by George H. W. Bush. ... Closed captioning allows deaf, hard of hearing / hearing_impaired, and other people to read, through captions, a transcript of the audio portion of a video that they cannot hear. ... The House of Representatives is the larger of two houses that make up the U.S. Congress, the other being the United States Senate. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ...

Dr. Bowe’s textbooks are in use at colleges and universities around the country and in several other nations. Making Inclusion Work (Prentice Hall) and Early Childhood Special Education (Thomson Delmar Learning) are two examples. He is also author of Universal Design in Education (Greenwood Publishing), of the encyclopedia entries on deafness and disabilities in Scholastic’s New Book of Knowledge, and of several hundred articles in professional journals in public policy, special education, rehabilitation, and technology. Pearson can mean Pearson PLC the media conglomerate. ...

In Disability in America 2006, a policy paper addressing health care, employment, and entitlements, Bowe outlined disability policy goals for 2006-2008. Disability advocates concerned about health insurance coverage for individuals with disabilities who could work are excited about the possibilities he suggests (e.g., [1]).

Selected Quotes

Among the quotes most associated with him are:

America handicaps disabled people. And because that is true, we are handicapping America itself. (Handicapping America, 1978, p. vii)

The present status of education for persons who are deaf in the United States is unsatisfactory. Unacceptably so. This is the primary and inescapable conclusion of the Commission on Education of the Deaf. (Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf, 1988, p. viii)

"SSDI and SSI... the rapid escalation of costs and the narrowing of employer [health insurance] coverage ... and other factors ... keep the American Dream out of reach for many Americans with disabilities." ("Disability in America," 2006)^[1] For specific national programs, see Social Security (United States), National insurance (UK), Social Security (Sweden) Social security mainly refers to a field of social welfare concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized needs, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ... The initialism SSI can mean: Samsung Semiconductor Inc. ...

"...take some of the money now spent on entitlements and turn it, instead, toward postsecondary education and vocational training for Americans with disabilities. ... take some (much less!) of it and put it toward real enforcement of ADA title I by the EEOC. And ... take some (more) of it and partially subsidize employer-provided health insurance, as an incentive for hiring adults with disabilities." ("Disability in America," 2006)^[2] Look up ADA and Ada in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... External link: Official site Categories: Stub | United States federal agencies ... It has been suggested that Health plan be merged into this article or section. ...

Teaching

As a professor at Long Island’s Hofstra University, Dr. Bowe has helped to prepare more than 2,000 special-education teachers. He was given the Distinguished Teaching (University Teacher of the Year) Award in 1996. The Schloss distinguished professorship is another indication of his long-time excellence in higher education. For five years, he was program director for special education. He has also chaired several committees at Hofstra and served on doctoral dissertation committees at NYU and other universities. In 2006, he spearheaded a campus-wide project to make information and instruction more accessible to and usable by students, faculty, staff and alumni at Hofstra. The professor serves on the editorial board of five professional journals and as governmental affairs consultant for the National Association of the Deaf (United States). The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was founded in 1880 as a non-profit, advocacy organization for the American Deaf community. ...

Awards

Dr. Bowe is named in numerous Who’s Who publications, including Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in Education, and others. In 1994, Dr. Bowe was inducted into the National Hall of Fame for Persons with Disabilities. In 1992, he received the Distinguished Service Award of the President of the United States, signed by then-President George H.W. Bush. Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born...

Education

His Ph.D. is in educational psychology (research) from New York University. He holds a M.A. from Gallaudet and a B.A, summa cum laude, from McDaniel College (nee, Western Maryland College). NYU gave him a Distinguished Alumni Award, Gallaudet awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), and McDaniel College has recognized him with two alumni achievement awards. New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university in New York City. ... Gallaudet University was the first school for the advanced education of the deaf and hard-of-hearing. ... McDaniel College is liberal arts college in Westminster, Maryland, located 30 miles northwest of Baltimore, with a branch college in Budapest, Hungary. ...

Links and Sources

"Disability in America" [2]

"Disability Meets the Boom" [3]

"The Time Will Come to Rise Again" [4]

Television Decoder Circuitry Act [5]

Pennsylvania bios (PSU) [6]

List of disability rights activists A disability rights activist or disability rights advocate is someone who works towards the equality of people with disabilities. ...

Disability rights movement The disability rights movement aims to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. ...

List of disability rights organizations This is a list of disability rights organizations. ...