How did something as obscure yet historically pivotal as a landmark ’70s sit-in by disability rights advocates end up on the brilliantly skewered TV show, Drunk History?
The short answer is, “Hey, it’s Hollywood. It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
A wonderful woman named Candace Cable — nine-time Paralympian, eight gold medals, first woman to medal in both the summer and winter Para games, writer, speaker, educator — had an idea. Her sister was the costume supervisor for Drunk History, now in its fifth season on Comedy Central, and Candace was hanging around the set one day when a light bulb went off in her head. What a perfect format to tell one of the central tales of the rise of disability rights in America: the nationwide sit-in of federal buildings in April, 1977, to force the government to enact the first major anti-discrimination law allowing people with disabilities unencumbered access to all government facilities. The part of the law in question was called Section 504. The main sit-in, in San Francisco, lasted 28 days and remains to this day the longest non–violent occupation of a federal building ever, by anyone. In the end, the occupiers got what they came for. They changed history.
Candace and I are friends, so she called me with this idea. Not only did I think it was brilliant, I had connections. Jeremy Konner, the co-creator and director of Drunk History, just happened to be the son of Ronnie Konner, a charter member of the group I chair, the Writers with Disabilities Committee at the Writers Guild of America. I knew the guy’s mom! I call Ronnie, Ronnie calls Jeremy, Jeremy says, “Freaking A!,” and we’re off!