In this page, the author tells us that the PDSP first started because of an $80,000 grant that the Department of Education gave the campus for a few staff people to work in the PDSP; these staff members would provide referrals when needed, as well as one of a few wheelchair accessible restrooms nearby.

The author also discusses the fact that initially the wider disability community in the City encouraged and welcomed the creation of a disability center at Cal because they thought that such a service would be available to all disabled people. Due to a lack of resources, Cal soon made it clear that the only people who would be served were the registered students. After 1982, when the PDSP became the DSP the University continued to provide resources solely to registered students. After a short discussion in the 80s by the advisory board, it was concluded that the DSP does not have enough resources to provide for the disabled community in the City.