II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1863 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2015 

Mr. KIRK introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

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 06:41 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1863.IS S1863

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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 fought for and secured the right to 

5 higher education and mainstream education integra6 tion for millions of people with disabilities in the 

7 United States; 

8 (3) many of the architectural accessibility 

9 standards and laws of the United States trace back 

10 directly to innovations created by Nugent; 

11 (4) while at the University of Illinois, Nugent 

12 oversaw the development of adaptive sports pro13 grams accommodating athletes in wheelchairs; 

14 (5) Nugent founded the first higher educational 

15 program for wounded and disabled soldiers in the 

16 world after World War II; 

17 (6) in the years after World War II, Nugent 

18 confronted the bias of the general public in his ef19 forts to bring students with disabilities into the 

20 mainstream of college campuses and society; 

21 (7) Nugent disproved many people in the med22 ical community who believed that rehabilitation and 

23 sporting activities were harmful to individuals with 

24 such severe disabilities or that education was not 

25 necessary because of their belief that the lifespan of 


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1 persons with spinal cord injuries would be too short 

2 for them to benefit from college degrees; and 

3 (8) Nugent would be the first person awarded 

4 a Congressional Gold Medal for work on behalf of 

5 persons with disabilities. 

6 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

7 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

8 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem9 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

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

11 medal of appropriate design to Timothy Nugent, in rec12 ognition of his pioneering work on behalf of people with 

13 disabilities, including disabled veterans. 

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

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

16 Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

17 strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 

18 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

19 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

20 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

21 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

22 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

25 and the cost of the gold medal. 


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1 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

2 Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med3 als for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

4 States Code. 

Æ 


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