Personal Reflection : Wheelchair And Accessible Public Buildings

The Act requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people, and also gives rights to them in areas such as employment and education;

In the video “Inclusion, belonging, and the disability revolution” (TEDTalks, 2014), speaker Jennie Fenton opens with describing situations where people with disabilities are segregated and excluded from their communities, sent to live together away from society, or even treated as lesser humans. She then proceeds to introduce her family, including her six-year-old daughter that was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Jennie admits to previously having negative or frightened thoughts about having a child with a disability, but with her “seven realizations,” she learned that her daughter was merely on a different path than others, but that no one should ever feel broken or not a whole person (TEDTalks, 2014). After she explains that there are roughly one billion people with a disability throughout the world, Jennie states that she believes in possibility over disability. If a person’s

In order to effectively embed disabled children’s participation, it needs to be fully accessible and inclusive. The social model of disability provides a framework for inclusive participation; by focusing on changing attitudes and removing or minimizing barriers that prevent disabled children accessing the same opportunities as other children and young people.

This would promote anti-discriminatory practice by not discriminating people with disabilities and giving them equal opportunities to do different activities, ensuring there are ramps in public places so people can have easy access to different areas etc.

Many places now have adapted well for those with disabilities and have for example opened up corridors and made slops for those using physical aids such as sticks, frames and wheelchairs enabling those with disabilities able to join in with social events with others.

A. Disability legislation increases the recognition of actively involving individuals with a disability into community based projects and adapting mainstream projects for the involvement of others with a disability. This encourages inclusion for disabled individuals into the community and helps with other factors such as disabled access for wheelchair users and individuals with impaired mobility in the likes of schools and universities as well as local shops and community centres. Encouraging inclusion of disabled individuals into the community “normalizes” disability and encourages a positive

The legislation requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. It also allows the government to set minimum standards so that people with disabilities can use public transport easily.

Understand the legislation and policies that support the human rights and inclusion of individuals with learning disabilities.

Identify four legislation and policies that are designed to promote the human rights, inclusion, equal life chances and citizenship of individuals with learning disabilities

If a child has a disability that restricts movement or requires them to use a wheelchair they will find it a lot harder to participate in the same activities as other children. This exclusion means that they will find it more challenging to develop relationships than their peers. If a child requires a wheelchair children may see them as different and may not want to interact with them in the same way they would with others. Consequently, they may find that they are being treated differently to other children. This will therefore harm the child’s social development and lower their self-esteem.

This was an eye-opener for us to advocate for public transportation especially the bus to be modified to accommodate persons with physical disability using a wheelchair. A lift or a ramp could be provided for easy boarding of the bus. Additional space

Another obvious physical disability is an individual's confinement to a wheelchair. People who cannot walk under their own power are usually at a great disadvantage. Many times there are no special considerations made for these people. Even some typical expressions demonstrate this lack of compassion, such as "I have to run to the store", or "I'm going for a walk." People in wheelchairs are often considered weak and unable to care for themselves. However, some advances have been made in our society that encourages the independence of these people. Wheelchair ramps, handicap parking, and cuts in the curb of sidewalks are just some of the more obvious changes that have been made to better accommodate these people. But some problems may still occur for people in wheelchairs. Some hallways and doors may not be wide enough for the chair to fit through and when it is icy outside it is very easy to slide if the pavement is not sanded properly.

It was warm that day. I walked to the bus with my hands shaking and eyes wide. I knew this was going to be a big day for me but I had no idea that Saturday would be the first day of the rest of my life. At first glance, this may seem like a big statement but my first day of volunteering with Camp A.N.C.H.O.R. (Assisting the Needs of Citizens with Handicaps through Organized Recreation) sent me on a journey with social justice that I am still taking. At 16 years old I thought I was going to go in and change lives but, the individuals I met ended up changing mine. I didn’t know what I was doing or much about the populations I was dealing with. However, I did know the individuals I was working with were incredibly funny, smart, talented, and had so much going for them except for one thing, their disability. I realized that these individuals were being portrayed as incompetent, unintelligent, and incapable because of one small aspect of their life. After speaking to some of their parents over the course of two years, I realized the immense difficulties these families go through. My initial reaction was anger, and then it dawned on me. If I want people to treat me like an individual and give me full human rights, have access to a public education, not receive discrimination during job interviews, they should have the exact same rights. This is not something they choose to take on each day. It is a part of their life that they deal with everyday as so many of us do with other

The central value of equality focuses on the attainment of an inclusive society that enables people with disability to reach their potential as equal, active and participating citizens while promoting equality of opportunities, financial stability, accommodation, employment and social participation. As a result of the value of human equality, social inclusion emerged as an essential value across policies. Social inclusion is recognised across policies as a foundational belief that disabled individual are active, included and valued members of society, therefore strategies have been implemented to increase their involvement in society. For example a central vision of the NDS aims for “people with disability to live in accessible and well designed communities with opportunity

The social model allows disabled to do things for themselves having full civil rights under the law (Disability Action in Islington, 2014). According to Madden (1999, p67) under Disability and the Law, The Employment Equality Act 1998 makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against a person on grounds of disability. Building Regulations 1992 says that buildings should be usable by disabled people.