It Has Been Widely Speculated By Many Concerned American

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

In the United States today, there are over fifty-one million disabled adults and children. Throughout our nation’s history, we have not allowed the best treatment and care for these numerous citizens. But, in the recent past, the government has passed laws, made exceptions, and thoroughly tried to provide accommodations to these people with special needs. While this is true, America, as a whole, still views this group as strange or different. Even though this is exceptionally normal, it is not correct. The United States needs to be opened up to the truth about their fellow American citizens. The people of America ought to understand that these disabilities affect not only those who are disabled, but that it affects the family and friends

Douglas C. Baynton argues in his article, “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History”, that the concept of disability is culturally constructed and has been paid little to no attention to throughout history. He also argues that the term disability plays an important role in justifying discriminations against minority groups, based on gender, race, and ethnicity. He states that “Disability has functioned historically to justify inequality for disabled people themselves, but it has also done so for women and minority groups. That is, not only has it been considered justifiable to treat disabled people unequally, but the concept of disability has been used to justify discrimination against other groups by attributing disability to them.” (Baynton 94) He used women’s suffrage, African American freedom, and immigration restriction as examples to show how disability played an essential role in illustrating how minorities who were labeled as disabled were treated with discrimination. As they were labeled with disability, discrimination against them became justifiable, which ultimately proves that discrimination against disabled was thought as justifiable and were looked over.

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

Over forty million Americans are disabled, whether it is a physical, sensory, cognitive, or mental disability. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was signed into law in 1973. This law states that no handicapped individual shall be disqualified from partaking, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program receiving federal financial assistance. The foundation of the Section 504 is from the language of preceding civil rights laws that sheltered women and minorities. Section recognizes that history proves that humanity has treated people with disabilities as second-class citizens based on previous stereotypes. These types of attitudes have translated into policies based on paternalism. Section has acknowledged

In recent news, the famous law firm, Seyfarth Shaw, claimed that the number of cases based on Title III of the Americans with Disability Act, have increased over the year by 63% in 2015. The act makes it illegal for the businesses to discriminate on the basis of a disability when they are open to general public for hiring. The law is applicable to a variety of general public direct interaction based industries including housing, construction, school, teaching and day care therefore, had the law been in real practice and implemented in force the discrimination would have not taken place. Discrimination is taking place at a much higher rate than ever before because of all the cases that are flooding the court system.

Today’s society is different in its thinking when dealing with people with disabilities. There had to be many changes made in its labeling, and approach when dealing with people who may have physical/mental differences. The ostracize behavior that people were known to disturb in society has changed a great deal, due to the many federal laws that have been put in place to insure the well-being of people that have disabilities. In 1972, one very well-known case is Mill vs Board of Education of the District of Columbia this case address how the constituted rights of students were not being meet by not providing them with a public education.” Many disabled children had been excluded from public education prior to 1975,24 Congress, through the Act, sought initially to set up a process by which states would find children in need of educational services and bring them into the system”(Kotler, p.491,2014).

Individuals with disability have had a long history of maltreatment in America. From being thought of as possessed individuals in need of exorcism, targeted for heinous experiments, unknowingly sterilized, being labeled imbecile, feeble minded, and retarded, to being shipped off to state schools or mental asylums, those with disabilities were given no consideration as a valuable and able to contribute member of society. In a speech to congress, Frank Bowe, a highly educated deaf-man highlighted this claim by stating, “we are not even second-class citizens, we are third-class citizens” (Bowe, F. 1977--need citation), and Jim Cherry (2001) furthered the ideal in his words, that prior to “1970 we [disabled citizens] had no right to education, to employment, to transportation, to housing, or to voting. There were no civil rights laws for us, no federal advocacy grants. Few people looked beyond our medical needs” (Cherry, J.L, 2001 http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/0701/0701cov.htm). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 attempted to fundamentally change how disabled people were reguarded.

In today's world, one would assume that America is hitting all the marks, when in reality we are falling short in what may count the most. We are not meeting the basic needs of our largest minority group, mentally and physically disabled people. Lack of accessibility is a difficult hurdle for both physically and cognitively disabled people. Lawmakers have a duty to everyone in America, not just the able, and encouraging accessibility in the public is the first step in the right direction.

Americans with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the United States. Approximately fifty million people in the United States live with physical or mental handicaps. This minority group is unique in that it is made up of people from all socioeconomic classes, genders and races. Mental and physical impairments do not discriminate. As with other minorities, Americans with disabilities face unique challenges and discriminatory behaviors. For centuries, disabled people had to battle irrational fears and stereotypes due to the lack of medical understanding. The first demand for equal treatment for disabled people came in the 1960s. The struggle for disability rights has followed a similar pattern to many other civil rights movements – first negative stereotypes must be challenged, followed rallying for political and institutional change and lobbying for the self-determination of a minority community. As a result the examples of the African American civil rights and women’s rights movements encouraged the disability rights movement, and after decades of campaigning and lobbying, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990.

American people deal with their each own disability each and every single day. Some disabilities are mental, while others are physical disabilities. There are even a few disabilities which are being argued if it is a true disability or not which is sad because some people can really fall short to this aspect. Despite this, the American people are still forced to cope with each others disabilities. There are many laws and court rulings that shape everyone’s views on disabilities this day in time and it will always be changing because there are constant cases that come up. 
There are laws that have been passed to help the disabled, which I see no problem in because that person can not help because of the disability upon them. Acts like the ADA,

According to an article in the Health Affairs Journal there are approximately 60 million American citizens covered by state based Medicaid and Medicare programs. These individuals are at the highest risk of facing chronic health issues and has issues with their ability to access quality health care services. Low income seniors and adults with disabilities make up the vulnerable population within the United States. These individuals are the sickest and poorest individuals within the community and are dually eligible for government assisted health programs, Medicaid and Medicare. Based on an article written by Rostai, Russell, Peng, Brickner, Kurowski, and Sheehan, within today’s society, caring for the vulnerable population is fragmented,

Since our election of President Obama in 2009 through September of 2013, 5.9 million people have been added to the Social Security Disability program (Finger, 2013.) That compared to the less than 2.5 million jobs created during this same period demonstrates a problem (Finger, 2013.) According to the Social Security Administration, Social Security Disability benefits have reached 10.9 million (Finger, 2013.) A record one in fourteen workers is now on the “Social Security Disability payroll” (Finger, 2013.) According to Congressional Research estimates, this program costs the taxpayers $128.9 billion in 2011 and was in a deficit of $25.3 million (Finger, 2013.) Funded by the 1.8% payroll tax and making up nearly 18% of

Although the right to vote is typically viewed as a fundamental human right, this right is not entirely enforced for citizens with disabilities. In fact, citizens with disabilities remain less likely to vote than non-disabled citizens. Lisa Schur and Meera Adya’s (2012) research examines whether people with disabilities are heavily involved in politics, or if they remain isolated in their political views and attitudes. It was found that citizens with disabilities are isolated in their political views, which led to 3.0 million fewer voters in 2008 and 3.2 million fewer voters in 2010 (Schur and Adya 2012). If people with disabilities were to participate more heavily in politics, it could have affected many political races and public policies.

All they want is to take part of society as a normal individual. The disability-movement has fought for the disabilities rights throughout the years and has achieved goals such as accommodation of architectural infrastructures to serve better people who are physical impairments. The public policies have been great accomplishments because it has helped people with disabilities to be part of society. The disability-movement points out the healthcare finance policies have taken freedom away from the disability community, “ Health-care financing policies force disabled people into Institutions and nursing homes rather than funding independent living. Income-maintenance and public health-insurance policies include “disincentives” that penalize disabled individuals for trying to work productively.”(p.4). The government has done a great job on protecting disabled individuals’ rights. However, the health-care system has isolated this group even more by restricting the level of productivity that they have within the system, as a result this medical model marginalizes this group of people and this program available for this community does not fully address their issues.