Summary Of Disability And The Justification Of Disability In History

In the book “The disability rights movement” I learned the history and process people with disabilities have been going through in order to obtain an equality of rights in the United States. The book was written by Doris Zames Fleisher and her sister Frieda Zames as a way of raising awareness of the reality of people with disabilities. Frieda Zames an activist in favor of the American disabilities act, wrote this book to tell the story of civil rights movement and to make people aware of the struggles that people with disabilities go through at the same time raising the word for equality. The book demonstrates how grievances regarding medical issues can be addressed in a democratic society by giving examples such as the life of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As a significant figure in this movement, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president with disabilities, who contracted polio eleven years before he became president. He was a significant figure in the movement because he served as an example of the capabilities a person with a disabilities can have. He was also an advocate of

“The medical model is presented as viewing disability as a problem of the person, directly caused by disease, trauma, or other health condition which therefore requires sustained medical care provided in the form of individual treatment by professionals. In the medical model, management of the disability is aimed at a "cure," or the individual's adjustment and behavioral change that would lead to an "almost-cure" or effective cure.” (Langtree, 2012)

Author of disability Nancy Mairs who’s a feminist and a cripple, has accomplished a lot in writing and teaching. Her remarkable personality shows in many of her essays especially in Disability which was first published in 1987 in the New York Times. In this essay, Nancy Mairs shows how disabled people are constantly excluded, especially from the media. By giving out facts and including her personal experiences, Mairs aims for making some changes regarding the relationship between the media and people with disabilities. Mairs thesis is shown implicitly in the first

Author of disability Nancy Mairs who’s a feminist and a cripple, has accomplished a lot in writing and teaching. Her remarkable personality shows in many of her essays especially in Disability which was first published in 1987 in the New York Times. In this essay, Nancy Mairs shows how disabled people are constantly excluded, especially from the media. By giving out facts and including her personal experiences, Mairs aims for making some changes regarding the relationship between the media and people with disabilities. Mairs thesis is shown implicitly in the first and last

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.

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.

For starters, disabled people in the United States were not always treated equal, as they are today. As recent as the mid 1900’s, disabled people were stripped of their rights and experimented on. From 1950 to 1972 the Willowbrook State

After the world wars and Vietnam War, there were many disabled American veterans who faced challenges and prejudice they had not experienced before. Alongside those fighting in the Civil Rights Movement were disabled veterans and other people with disabilities. They too were fighting against inequalities and discrimination. The Disability Rights Movement occurred due to several issues rooted in structured inequalities. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an example of inequality built into legislation as it prohibited discrimination based on “race, color, religion, or national origin”(Cornell), but did not address discrimination based on disabilities. Inaccessibility and negative societal views excluded those with disabilities from their rights. There was a need for a policy written specifically for the protection of persons with disabilities.

As the American political landscape continued its transformation from generation to generation, the focus of the era was on the best possible implementation of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the interpretation of its language. This focus became a clear codified interpretation in 1990, following the same strain of thoughts as the Civil Rights Act of the 1960’s, advocates of the disabled community lobbied for the equal protections that had been previously granted to racial minorities. In subsequent acts, the disabled constituency had gained protections in 1973 with the amendment of the Fair Housing Act and again in 1988 with the Rehabilitation Act. The final step for equal protections came in 1990 under the 101st

In 1973 the section 504 rehabilitation act banned discrimination on people with disabilities. “For the first time, the exclusion and segregation of people with disabilities was viewed as discrimination” (Mayerson). People thought that people with disabilities that were unemployed and uneducated was “inevitable” (Mayerson). People fighting for the disabled proved that this was wrong and needed to be changed. The Americans with Disabilities act changed nothing for the employment for them, and by 2018 people with disabilities were still getting wages 40 percent below a “healthy person’s” (Picker). But, despite some unchanged discrimination the fixing of the equality between the disabled and nondisabled, right now, is that the Americans

Nonetheless, this is the reality of the disabled in U.S. history, just as discomfort and marginalization exist today. The 20th century contains many examples of how the disabled were abused, from the harsh restrictions for immigrants to the outright murders of disabled babies. Much of the blame for this must be laid at the door of eugenics, an unconscionable “science” seeking to promote human perfection. It is the essence or ultimate expression of the society's plain dislike of the disabled, and the ideologies behind it only further the universal bias against this population. Progress has been made and there is greater awareness today, but it remains arguable that the culture's emphasis on beauty and physical skill only perpetuates the eugenics rationale. Ultimately, the idea of eugenics itself translates to an ongoing and unconscionable marginalization of the disabled, and because the concept reduces disabled human beings to only their

From my understanding, in the eighteenth thru mid nineteenth century inequality and disability coincided with one another. A person who did not fit into society’s norm (Caucasian male), were viewed as being inferior and often labeled as being disabled whether or not they actually had a disability. In the reading, Baynton discussed society’s justifications of discrimination towards the disabled, women, and minority groups by attributing disability to them. For instance individuals who had a physical impairment or intellectual disability were believed to display signs of reverting back to evolutionary times.

First of all, why do you think disability has been left in the margins? Baynton describes three groups that have suffered from the concept of disability, but who do you think benefits from this concept? Baynton also criticized the strategy of the Women's Health Foundation because they worked within the boundaries of disability instead of questioning the hierarchy itself, what would you recommend they do differently? In Molina, it is important to note that the significance of labeling a group as disabled is just as significant as the omission of this labeling, what were the advantages of omitting Mexican workers as disabled? Were all Mexicans cleared of this labeling? What contributed to the labeling of this group after 1924? Comparing Baynton

Despite the response to disability varying greatly between times, places and cultures (Barnes, 2012), there is no doubt that disability has an immeasurable impact on people’s lives. Disability affects an individual’s identity and their ability to work, socialise and be involved in society. In this essay I will discuss how approaches to disability have changed over time, specifically how approaches to disability have developed in recent centuries. I will start by discussing the medical model before moving on to its direct challenge in the social model. Finally I will discuss responses to the social model, in particular the biopsychosocial model.

In this report, the Medical and Social Models of disability are explained, the relevance of both and their importance in society. My own personal views on both are contained throughout and within the conclusion, based on research, referenced and listed in the bibliography.