How You can Advocate for Section 504

Disclaimer

The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice. Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.

Introduction

In the last episode of the Demand Our Access podcast, I discussed Texas v. Becerra, a lawsuit seeking to have Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) declared unconstitutional. If you want to learn more about the lawsuit, please listen to that episode or read the transcript of what I said about the lawsuit.

During the questions and comments portion of that episode, there was a lot of interest in advocating for the protection of Section 504. So, this episode will present strategies those of you living in the 17 states can take to try to protect Section 504 and things those of us who don’t live in one of those 17 states can do to be heard.

Before discussing how we can advocate to protect Section 504, I will discuss the next episode and let you know how you can contact me.

The Next Live Episode

The next live episode will take place on Saturday, April sixth at 2:00 PM EDT. In that episode, I am planning to continue my revisited
look at Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act, primarily covering state and local governments.

Comments and Questions

If you have any comments and/or questions about the Demand Our Access project, you can fill out the contact form on the Demand Our Access website or you can email me at Jonathan@DemandOurAccess.com.

How You Can Advocate for Section 504

If You Live in One of the 17 States

As a reminder, the 17 states suing to have Section 504 declared unconstitutional are as follows:

• Alabama

• Alaska

• Arkansas

• Florida

• Georgia

• Indiana

• Iowa

• Kansas

• Louisiana

• Missouri

• Montana

• Nebraska

• South Carolina

• South Dakota

• Texas

• Utah

• West Virginia

Contacting Your Attorney General

If you live in one of the 17 states, the best thing you can do is contact your attorney general and let them know why you support Section 504 and that you want them to withdraw from the lawsuit. In order to make contacting your attorney general easier, I have worked with ChatGPT to create a table of contact information for the 17 attorneys general involved in the lawsuit. The table provides the name, mailing address, phone number, and website for each attorney general. I didn’t include an email address and/or contact form, because those methods of contact weren’t consistent enough among the attorneys general for them to be easily included in a table. if you would rather send an email or complete a contact form, visit your attorney general’s website to see how you can do that.

I’m not going to read the names of the attorneys general and their
individual contact information. The table of contact information will be provided at the end of the transcript when this episode is posted to the Demand Our Access website.

What to Say

Obviously, you should voice your support in a way that is comfortable for you and that reflects your voice. So, I can’t tell you exactly what to say when contacting your attorney general. Also, I can’t provide a different script for every possible method of communication you may use to contact your attorney general. So, I have developed a short sample script that works whether you contact your attorney general over the phone, through email, by using a contact form, by writing a letter, or even if you meet them.

Before providing the script, I want to make one important point: the more personal your appeal the more likely it is to be heard. That doesn’t mean you should provide health information or anything else that you typically don’t provide strangers. What it means is that the more you can demonstrate how Section 504 has personally helped you, the more impactful your support of Section 504 will be when offered to your attorney general.

I say that because attorneys general hear from lots of people every day. Much of what they receive is from people who are simply regurgitating what one organization or another has told them to say by providing a template or sample script. While that will be what you will also be doing, you can make your support of Section 504 more impactful by adding some of your personal experience with Section 504 to what I will provide here.

In my view, the more personal information about how Section 504 has been a positive in your life really matters in this case because your attorney general doesn’t understand the benefits to those of us with disabilities that have been gained as a result of Section 504. Even worse, they believe it shouldn’t exist. This means convincing them to stop opposing Section 504 is an uphill job. The more they come to believe their voters support Section 504 for personal reasons, the better the chance they will realize their opposition to Section 504 is not smart.

Before providing the script of what you could say, I want to make one more important point: please contact your attorney general. Even if you aren’t comfortable sharing any personal experiences, contact them. Even if you don’t really know how Section 504 has benefited you, contact them. Even if all you are comfortable doing is using the below script, contact your attorney general if you live in one of the 17 states and ask them to withdraw from Texas v. Becerra.

The Script

For the purposes of developing a script, I’m pretending my name is John Smith, I live in Waterloo, Iowa, and that I’m calling the office of the attorney general of Iowa. Obviously, you should edit the script as necessary if you don’t live in Iowa. Now for the script:

My name is John Smith. I’m a resident of Waterloo. In the last election, I voted for Attorney General Bird.

As a person with a disability, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has helped me achieve things I would have never achieved without it.

I’m calling to ask Attorney General Bird to please withdraw our state from Texas v. Becerra. If Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is declared unconstitutional, those of us with disabilities will have even a harder time realizing our potential.

Something like that is all you need to do to let your attorney general know Section 504 is important to you and that you want your state to withdraw from the lawsuit. But I will include a script that has more personal details, in case that’s helpful to those of you who would be comfortable sharing some personal information.

A More Personal Script

My name is John Smith. I’m a resident of Waterloo. In the last election, I voted for Attorney General Bird.

As a blind person, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has helped me achieve things I would have never achieved without it.

When I was a child, my public school education was more accessible to me than it would have been had Section 504 not been the law. As an adult, Section 504 allows me to request accommodations from federal agencies I wouldn’t be able to request without Section 504. As a resident of Iowa, Section 504 means I can better participate in all programs offered by our state in ways I could never participate without Section 504.

I’m asking Attorney General Bird to please withdraw our state from Texas v. Becerra. If Section 504 is declared unconstitutional, those of us with disabilities will have a much harder time reaching our
potential.

As you can see, the more personal script is longer. It’s longer because it highlights ways Section 504 helps those of us with disabilities. If the generic examples I included in the more personal script doesn’t apply to you, or if you can think of state-specific examples that would resonate better with your attorney general, feel free to replace them with ones that better fit your life and represent the programs offered by your state that are more accessible to you because of Section 504. If you’re having trouble coming up with more personal ways Section 504 has helped you, discuss it with others in your state. Maybe others have ideas that sound better to you than what I included as examples here.

Other Things to Try

I have listed three items in this section based on the impact I believe they would have. The three things you can also try to protect Section 504 if you live in one of the 17 states are as follows:

1. Organize a protest

2. Contact the media

3. Tell your community

Organize a Protest

If you aren’t comfortable with the word “protest” think of what you will be organizing as an event in Support of Section 504 and the civil rights of those of us with disabilities. To be effective, this kind of protest, obviously, needs many participants. So, contact groups of which you are a member and/or those groups with which you have an affiliation and gage their interest. This could be as simple as a local chapter of ACB or a state affiliate of ACB deciding to organize a local event in support of Section 504. This could be ACB chapters and affiliates working in a cross-disability manner with other organizations of those of us with disabilities. Consider Blinded Veterans of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and others.

To give your protest even more of a chance at success, contact groups not specifically dedicated to increasing accessibility to those of us with disabilities. Think about teachers organizations and teachers unions. Maybe look at organizations of local government workers. In short, think which groups would be affected if Section 504 was declared unconstitutional and see if they want to work on a protest in support of Section 504.

Lastly, look at organizations in your community that may already be organizing protests in opposition to what is happening politically. Maybe there is a local organization of democratic socialists. Maybe
there is a group affiliated with the Democratic Party that is active in your community. You don’t have to agree with everyone who is interested in supporting Section 504 on every issue or even most issues. the only thing that matters here is building support for Section 504.

Contact the Media

Write letters to your local newspaper. Tell them how and why you support Section 504. The language from the sample scripts discussed above would be good starting points for letters to your local papers.

Call local and/or national talkshows and educate hosts and listeners about Section 504 and why you support it.

Contact local reporters, especially those covering politics and human interest stories, and see if they are interested in helping you spread the word about the threat to Section 504.

Talk to Your Community

Tell your family, friends, and members of any community groups of which you are a member about the threat to Section 504. See if they would be interested in coming to your protest or contacting the media too. The more people who know about and understand the threat to Section 504 and the civil rights of those of us with disabilities the better!

How you can Advocate if You Don’t live in One of the 17 States

Contact the Department of Justice

The Department of Justice still has not said how it is going to participate in the lawsuit. Even though getting the Department of Justice to side with those of us with disabilities is a long shot, it’s a shot worth taking. The threat to our civil rights is so real that I believe we should do all we can to try to protect Section 504 and through it our civil rights.

The Department of Justice has a Contact Us page you can use to find a link to a web form, a mailing address, a phone number, and more ways to make contact with them. The current attorney general is Pamela Bondi.

A Script for Contacting DOJ

I have written this script so it will work whether you call, complete the contact form, or send a letter. Obviously, if you are sending a letter through the mail, you will need to format appropriately. All I’m providing is what could be the main text of your letter.

My name is John Smith. I’m a resident of Winchester, Massachusetts. I’m writing to ask Attorney General Bondi to defend Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in the lawsuit Texas v. Becerra.

As a person with a disability, I have benefited greatly from the rights afforded me by Section 504. As a child, I benefited from a more accessible education because of Section 504. Thanks to Section 504, I can get accommodations from federal agencies I wouldn’t get without Section 504. Since Section 504 is the law, I can receive accommodations from the state of Massachusetts I wouldn’t receive without Section 504’s protections.

If the Department of Justice doesn’t defend Section 504, those of us with disabilities will be less likely to reach our potential.

That’s about all you need to do to let the Department of Justice know you support Section 504 and that you want them to defend it in court.

If you are willing, your examples could be less generic than mine were. Here, I was only trying to put together something that would work for most people. Again, the more specifics you provide about your life, without sharing things you wouldn’t share with strangers, the better.

Other Things You can do if You Don’t Live in One of the 17 States

If you don’t live in one of the 17 states, you can still contact the media and educate your community about the value of Section 504.

If you want to contact the media, I would focus on national outlets. For newspapers, think papers like the New York Times, USA Today, and the Washington Post. For talkshows, I would focus on shows with a national reach too.

For those of us not living in one of the 17 states, focusing on national media makes sense because there is a chance our thoughts will reach people in the 17 states. There is also a chance our support of Section 504 will be received by politicians and Department of Justice staff living and working in the DC area.

Conclusion

This is the end of my thoughts on how you can advocate for Section 504. If you have any questions about your advocacy efforts, please contact me.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Demand Our Access podcast. I appreciate your support.

Table of Attorney General Contacts

State	Attorney General	Phone Number	Address	Website
Alabama	Steve Marshall	(334) 242-7300	501 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36130	www.alabamaag.gov
Alaska	Treg Taylor	(907) 465-3600	P.O. Box 110300, Juneau, AK 99811-0300	law.alaska.gov
Arkansas	Tim Griffin	(501) 682-2007	323 Center Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201	arkansasag.gov
Florida	Ashley Moody	(850) 414-3300	The Capitol, PL-01, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050	myfloridalegal.com
Georgia	Chris Carr	(404) 656-3300	40 Capitol Square SW, Atlanta, GA 30334	law.georgia.gov
Indiana	Todd Rokita	(317) 232-6201	Indiana Government Center South, 302 W. Washington St., 5th Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46204	www.in.gov/attorneygeneral
Iowa	Brenna Bird	(515) 281-5164	Hoover State Office Building, 1305 E. Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA 50319	www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov
Kansas	Kris Kobach	(785) 296-2215	120 SW 10th Ave., 2nd Floor, Topeka, KS 66612	ag.ks.gov
Louisiana	Elizabeth B. Murrill	(225) 326-6705	1885 N. 3rd St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802	www.ag.state.la.us
Missouri	Andrew Bailey	(573) 751-3321	Supreme Court Building, 207 W. High St., P.O. Box 899, Jefferson City, MO 65102	ago.mo.gov
Montana	Austin Knudsen	(406) 444-2026	Justice Building, 215 N. Sanders, Helena, MT 59601	dojmt.gov
Nebraska	Mike Hilgers	(402) 471-2682	2115 State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509	ago.nebraska.gov
South Carolina	Alan Wilson	(803) 734-3970	P.O. Box 11549, Columbia, SC 29211	www.scag.gov
South Dakota	Marty Jackley	(605) 773-3215	1302 E. Highway 14, Suite 1, Pierre, SD 57501	atg.sd.gov
Texas	Ken Paxton	(512) 463-2100	300 W. 15th Street, Austin, TX 78701	www.texasattorneygeneral.gov
Utah	Sean D. Reyes	(801) 538-9600	Utah State Capitol Complex, 350 North State Street, Suite 230, Salt Lake City, UT 84114	attorneygeneral.utah.gov
West Virginia	Patrick Morrisey	(304) 558-2021	State Capitol, 1900 Kanawha Blvd E., Charleston, WV 25305	ago.wv.gov

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