Discrimination Against Disabled People With Physical And Mental Disabilities Essay

Everyone is going through a battle that we may not be able to see; however, “American society [is often] unaware or indifferent to the plight of people with disabilities” (Davis, 2013, p. 486). Ableism is one of the most ignored areas of social justice in America. Through my own experiences, I learned that the educational system in particular is not a very knowledgeable, or flexible environment in giving accommodations for students with disabilities. Those who are able-bodied, and do not have invisible disabilities, easily fit the paradigm of an able student in society, i.e., being able to walk to every building, climb stairs to get to class, complete assignments in the allotted time, etc. Our society has socially constructed disability

Ableism is defined as, “the all-encompassing discrimination and exclusion of people living with disabilities” (Adams et al, 461). However, in order to determine if ableism is occurring, then one must first know what constitutes a disability. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, someone has a disability if they have a considerable handicap that hinders the actions that are important for life, such as “walking, seeing, hearing, learning, speaking, breathing, standing, lifting, or caring for one’s self” (Adams et al, 461). Disabled people make up the largest minority in the world with their estimated population at 650 million people (Adams et al, 461). Of this 650 million people, 360 million people have some sort of disabling

“There's nothing more debilitating about a disability than the way people treat you over it.”( Solange Nicole) In today's God abandoning society there are many people voicing about equality. There are feminists, those against racism, those against homophobia, and those opposed to everything. Each group seems to have people standing up for them. Although when it comes to a group of cripples there's not many that can do the standing. Ableism: Discrimination in favor of able-bodied people. While many people don't know that word, or do not believe such a thing exists, there are many things proving that it does. It is easy to get caught up in life and not realize the difficulties people have, especially ones that could be easily fixed, just by

According to an overview of the Americans with Disabilities acts, "The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities "(2015). What this means is someone who has a serious disability such as being in a wheelchair or cannot see will not be judged or turned down from a job. Also, according to “The Rehabilitation Act and ADA Connection”, Section 504 ADA fought for people in regards of the possibility of being discriminated against where section 504 did not put their focus towards that part of the issue. (2009).

Ableism, is when an able bodied person has discrimatory feelings against a person who isn't able bodied. An example of ableism, Mary,who has worked at her job for thirty years has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Thyroid cancer and has to get one of her legs amputated. When Mary's boss found out about Mary's disease he immedatley fired her.

People who had ableism had to face challenges, such as a learning disability, being derogatory, or having a hearing disorder. In the classroom many students may struggle with a learning disability. It can affect how an individual learns and being able to understand information. When people think of a disability they may believe it is known as a derogatory rather than a learning or hearing disorder. Some things that derogatory individuals struggle with can be in ways like not being able to walk, or being in a wheelchair, which can make life difficult and a lot easier to give up on life.

Just like any other minority, the disabled have been discriminated throughout history. Disabilities can be composed of physical or mental handicaps and discrimination has always occurred for both. It has historically been difficult for the disabled to not only find employment, but also to keep acceptable employment. These individuals also have had trouble being treated properly on the job. Transportation has also been an issue because many of the disabled cannot move or get around as easily as others. There is a history of isolating or separating the handicap from society by not having proper access available or by not allowing them to participate in all government programs. People with hearing problems also have not been able to

All Americans deserve the right to receive the best medical treatment available, that includes those with disabilities. So what is ADA? What makes it so essential? ADA may seem like just a couple letters from the alphabet, although to a person that has a disability it means a whole lot more. ADA stands for Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mental and physical disabilities are often not well understood. With lack of understanding comes discrimination against people with disabilities. However a growing trend of awareness from the media, advocate groups and development of legal mechanisms have helped provide justice to these people and continues to improve the situation. 18.5% of Australia’s population (4.2million Australians) has a disability. This is a surprisingly large number, however only about 6% of the population has a severe disability. According to the World Health Organization “Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.” In the past we have had trouble understanding disabilities, particularly mental ones, causing a lot of discrimination and stigma against people. Education and the workplace are areas in which legal mechanisms have proven to be effective when providing justice for people with disabilities. Although an area which is still improving is law enforcement surrounding people with mental illness.

It has been over 2 decades since the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) was passed in 1990. The ADA “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications” (U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section. 2013). The term disability, very broadly, can include a physical, psychological, learning, sensory or neurological impairment. A disabled individual is defined by the ADA as “a person who has a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an

Disability inequality occurs if you are treated less well for a reason that relates to your disability than a person without disability in same situation. This attitude towards physically/mentally disabled is also called “Ableism”. Even unintentional ableism is illegal.

Did you know that about 1 in 5 people around the world today have a diagnosed disability? (“Amazing Ableism Statistics”) This statistic proves how ableism is vastly present throughout the world. This is significant because those who are disabled today unfortunately witness and experience discrimination as a result of their disability. Ableism is present throughout Elie Wiesel’s “Night”. Elie’s doctor prevents ableism by exhibiting respect and compassion towards those in need, and not replicating the attitude the officers have towards the disabled. Unfortunately, ableism is still present today in society and the workforce. Although ableism still currently remains, job opportunities for the disabled could counteract the discrimination by demonstrating the rights, respect, and responsibilities a disabled person deserves to possess. It is essential this issue is discussed because to mistreat and remove one’s rights due to disability is morally wrong, and is a work in progress to come to an end because the disabled are worthy of receiving the equivalent rights and respect that others possess/receive.

be protected by the A.D.A. this person must have a long standing record of this

Discrimination towards disabled individuals is prevalent society today. In this paper I will be discussing various forms of representation of disability in the media. I did my research on the examples by locating an organization known as Stop Ableism, which gave links and sources to various tokenistic and ablist representations in the media. I made the decisions on which section the examples would go into first by deciding if they were ablist and tokenistic or not, then figuring out how severe the discrimination toward the disabled people the examples were. If they were ablist and tokenistic, but with an attempt at being respectful to the disabled community, then I would categorize that as The Bad. If the example was very tokenistic or discriminatory toward disabled people without regard towards the feelings or rights a disabled individual, then I would categorize the example in The Ugly section.

It is human nature to despise those that are different than normal. Everyone has a different perception of normal and when someone cuts that boundary it results in discrimination. Some people also tend to dislike the disabled due to their own weaknesses, to hide their own failures they will look down upon the handicap to make themselves feel better. Some people's self-esteem is so tiny that they have to find someone "lower than them" to feel superior. Also society perceives the disabled as useless, powerless and inefficient human beings, which also contributes to the ideology that leads to the discrimination against the disabled. Psychological and cultural influences also result in discrimination against the disabled. Hence, we can conclude that the fact that the disabled are “different” is what leads to the discrimination against them.