The 1990s – CEID’s Teenage Years

CEID hit its stride in the 1990s – a decade that saw the country, and the disability rights movement, reach new heights.

In pop culture, MTV reigned supreme while Titanic became the highest-grossing movie of all time. In sports, Michael Jordan redefined excellence as he led the Chicago Bulls to two separate NBA Championship three-peats. In music, the success, and early demise, of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur rocketed hip-hop into the mainstream. Apocalyptic fears of Y2K dominated public conversation but ultimately would not come to pass.

The 1990s proved to be a pivotal decade as things that are ubiquitous in today’s everyday life – cell phones, the 24-hour news cycle, Google – began to take hold.

​Breakthroughs for the rights of people with disabilities came with the passage of the American with Disabilities Act in 1990. The ADA is a landmark piece of legislation that banned discrimination of people with disabilities in employment, transportation, telecommunication, and access to public services.