Title
Honoring and recognizing Stephen F. Gold, Esq. for his pathbreaking achievements in civil rights litigation, which have advanced the movement for disability rights and helped countless people to live with dignity and independence, as well as for his tireless and passionate support for social justice.
Body
WHEREAS, Stephen F. Gold, Esq., has advocated for disability rights in his home city of Philadelphia and throughout the country, won important federal civil rights cases that set precedents for U.S. Supreme Court decisions and subsequent widespread reforms, and remains active in broader advocacy for social justice; and
WHEREAS, Raised in Kensington, Gold is a lifelong Philadelphian, graduating from Central High School, La Salle University, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and
WHEREAS, Gold began his legal career as an attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, a preeminent nonprofit organization providing free civil legal representation to redress poverty and challenge systemic injustice, where he also served as Deputy Director; and
WHEREAS, Widely considered as "the foremost attorney in the Disability Rights Movement," Gold has primarily focused on ensuring accessibility and autonomy for those with physical and mental disabilities; and
WHEREAS, Gold's career in the disability rights arena began while he was in private practice, when he supported members of the National Federation of the Blind as they fought against employment discrimination in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Gold paved the way for street crossing accessibility across the country, establishing powerful precedent in the 1993 case Kinney v. Yerusalim, in which he successfully argued that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) required the City of Philadelphia to make sidewalks wheelchair accessible through the addition of curb cuts, improving the daily mobility of countless people to this day; and
WHEREAS, Gold helped establish a foundational legal right...
Click here for full text