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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Timothy Nugent Con-
gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) Timothy Nugent is considered the ‘‘Father 
of Accessibility’’ and the ‘‘Godfather of Rehabilita-
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tion Education’’ on college campuses and has been 
a relentless innovator and advocate for disabled peo-
ple in the United States; 
(2) Nugent founded the first higher educational 
program for wounded and disabled soldiers in the 
world after World War II at the University of Illi-
nois at Urbana-Champaign; 
(3) under the leadership of Nugent, the Univer-
sity of Illinois became a pioneer of architectural ac-
cess, adding curb cuts and wheelchair-accessible bus 
routes that Nugent himself designed; 
(4) when ramps were needed in the place of 
steps, Nugent built the first ramps in his garage; 
(5) even today, many of the architectural acces-
sibility standards and laws of the United States 
trace back directly to innovations created by Nugent; 
(6) while at the University of Illinois, Nugent 
also oversaw the development of adaptive sports pro-
grams accommodating athletes in wheelchairs; 
(7) in the years after World War II, Nugent 
confronted the pervasive ableism of the general pub-
lic in his efforts to bring students with disabilities 
into the mainstream of college campuses and society; 
(8) sadly, many people believed that people in 
wheelchairs did not belong on college campuses, 
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studying alongside students without limitations in 
mobility; 
(9) many people in the medical community, 
whom Nugent proved wrong, believed that rehabilita-
tion and sporting activities were harmful to individ-
uals with such severe disabilities or that education 
was not necessary because of their belief that the 
lifespan of persons with spinal cord injuries would be 
too short for them to benefit from college degrees; 
(10) Nugent fought back and secured the right 
to higher education and mainstream educational in-
tegration for millions of people with disabilities in 
the United States; and 
(11) Nugent would be the first person awarded 
a Congressional Gold Medal for work on behalf of 
persons with disabilities. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 
medal of appropriate design to Timothy Nugent, in rec-
ognition of his pioneering work on behalf of people with 
disabilities, including disabled veterans. 
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(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 
and the cost of the gold medal. 
SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS. 
Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med-
als for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 
States Code. 
Æ 
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