I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3223 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Timothy Nugent, in recognition 

of his pioneering work on behalf of people with disabilities, including 

disabled veterans. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2015 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Timothy Nugent, 

in recognition of his pioneering work on behalf of people 

with disabilities, including disabled veterans. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Timothy Nugent Con5 gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) Timothy Nugent is considered the ‘‘Father 

9 of Accessibility’’ and the ‘‘Godfather of RehabilitaVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:12 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3223.IH H3223

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1 tion Education’’ on college campuses and has been 

2 a relentless innovator and advocate for disabled peo3 ple in the United States; 

4 (2) Nugent founded the first higher educational 

5 program for wounded and disabled soldiers in the 

6 world after World War II at the University of Illi7 nois at Urbana-Champaign; 

8 (3) under the leadership of Nugent, the Univer9 sity of Illinois became a pioneer of architectural ac10 cess, adding curb cuts and wheelchair-accessible bus 

11 routes that Nugent himself designed; 

12 (4) when ramps were needed in the place of 

13 steps, Nugent built the first ramps in his garage; 

14 (5) even today, many of the architectural acces15 sibility standards and laws of the United States 

16 trace back directly to innovations created by Nugent; 

17 (6) while at the University of Illinois, Nugent 

18 also oversaw the development of adaptive sports pro19 grams accommodating athletes in wheelchairs; 

20 (7) in the years after World War II, Nugent 

21 confronted the pervasive ableism of the general pub22 lic in his efforts to bring students with disabilities 

23 into the mainstream of college campuses and society; 

24 (8) sadly, many people believed that people in 

25 wheelchairs did not belong on college campuses, 


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1 studying alongside students without limitations in 

2 mobility; 

3 (9) many people in the medical community, 

4 whom Nugent proved wrong, believed that rehabilita5 tion and sporting activities were harmful to individ6 uals with such severe disabilities or that education 

7 was not necessary because of their belief that the 

8 lifespan of persons with spinal cord injuries would be 

9 too short for them to benefit from college degrees; 

10 (10) Nugent fought back and secured the right 

11 to higher education and mainstream educational in12 tegration for millions of people with disabilities in 

13 the United States; and 

14 (11) Nugent would be the first person awarded 

15 a Congressional Gold Medal for work on behalf of 

16 persons with disabilities. 

17 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

18 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

19 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem20 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

21 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 

22 medal of appropriate design to Timothy Nugent, in rec23 ognition of his pioneering work on behalf of people with 

24 disabilities, including disabled veterans. 


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1 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 

2 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

3 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec4 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

5 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec6 retary. 

7 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

8 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

9 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

10 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

11 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

12 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

13 and the cost of the gold medal. 

14 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

15 Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med16 als for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

17 States Code. 

Æ 


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