In April 1977, disabled people—alongside allies—led and sustained the federal building at 50 United Nations Plaza in San Francisco. They stayed for nearly a month in what became known as the 504 sit-in, the longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in U.S. history.

Their demand: the federal government must finalize and enforce regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a law prohibiting disability discrimination in federally funded programs. Without regulations, the law had little impact. The protesters were cross-disability—blind, deaf, deafblind, wheelchair users, people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities—united in demanding equal access.

The 504 sit-in helped pave the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which has far-reaching global impact on disabled people’s lives. As Californians, we build on that legacy today, by examining how California civil-rights laws and Bay Area county initiatives shape access conditions in daily life for disabled people today and where they fall short. Bay Area Access is a cross-disability organization rooted in the experiences of blind and deafblind communities, but serving all disabled people.

The Unruh Civil Rights Act requires all business establishments in California to provide full and equal access and services to disabled people. This includes hotels, rideshares, restaurants, online services, and most nonprofits. It provides broad civil-rights protections that often exceed federal ADA standards.

The Disabled Persons Act guarantees disabled people equal access to transportation, housing, medical facilities, and places open to the public. Together with Unruh and the ADA, it forms a powerful set of protections.

The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination based on disability in employment and housing. It requires reasonable accommodations, protects against harassment, and provides enforcement pathways through the California Civil Rights Department.

California’s Building Code (CBC), particularly Chapter 11B, includes accessibility standards that often exceed federal ADA requirements. These standards govern public buildings, commercial facilities, public housing, restrooms, signage, paths of travel, and more. California’s updates frequently reflect real-world design issues identified by disabled people.

Assembly Bill 434 requires California state agencies to certify that their websites meet WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility standards. This creates accountability for ensuring that digital information is enforceably accessible to screen readers, magnification, and keyboard navigation.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), strengthened by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), requires that privacy notices and opt-out mechanisms be enforceably accessible to disabled consumers. This ensures that data rights are not restricted to nondisabled users.

Below, we briefly look at how Bay Area counties are demonstrating their commitments to accessibility.

San Francisco maintains multiple disability governance structures, including the Office on Disability and Accessibility (ODA), department-level ADA Coordinators, and disability advisory bodies. The city also supported the development of the Disability Cultural Center, honoring the legacy of the 504 sit-ins.

Despite California’s strong civil-rights framework, many disabled Californians—particularly those most marginalized—continue to experience systemic accessibility failures that basic legal compliance does not resolve. State research shows that a significant share of adults with disabilities impacted by systems that fail to deliver necessary supports with daily living supports, with many receiving no help or insufficient help despite clear need. Disabled Californians also experience persistently lower employment rates and higher poverty rates than the general population, reflecting systemic barriers to economic participation.

For blind and deafblind Californians, these gaps reflect deeper structural failures. Equal access cannot be fulfilled without ensuring that blind people have a real and sustained role in shaping how accessibility standards are implemented and how accountability is enforced. Too often, accessibility decisions are made without meaningful participation from those most affected, leaving enforcement reactive rather than preventative.

Likewise, deafblind people and others who cannot benefit from single-modality accommodations remain excluded when the state fails to implement supports that bridge communication, navigation, and daily access across environments. Although California law recognizes that violations of the ADA also constitute violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, this promise remains incomplete where the state has not taken affirmative steps—such as establishing a statewide Support Service Provider program—to make access meaningful in practice.

Bay Area Access exists to close these gaps. By watching how laws are implemented across counties and agencies, elevating blind and deafblind lived experience in governance, and insisting on accountability when institutions fail to deliver access, Bay Area Access works to ensure that California’s disability rights framework delivers not just formal compliance, but real, enforceable inclusion in daily life—setting standards that influence accessibility beyond California.

Alameda County voters strengthened enforceably accessible transportation through Measure B, expanding funding for paratransit from 1.5% to 10.45% of transportation sales-tax revenue. This funds ADA paratransit, city-based paratransit, and mobility programs across the county.

Contra Costa County created an Enforceably Accessible Transportation Strategic Plan through the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA). The plan addresses transit coordination, rider challenges, and system-level improvements for disabled and older adults.

Santa Clara County’s Office of Disability Affairs sits within the Division of Equity and Social Justice. It works to eliminate ableism, improve access across county services, and integrate disability into broader civil-rights and equity initiatives.