The Disabled Population At Risk

Ultimately, as Shapiro emphasized throughout the reading, the stereotypes that exist around the disabled population is that main perpetrator to inequity. The infantilization leads to “the paternalistic assumption that disabled people are not entitled to make their own decisions and lead the lives they chose.” Destroying the stereotypes that disabled people are incapable of living a successful, meaningful life without being the means of pity of inspiration will lead to the destruction of the systematic oppression disabled

The topic in regards to the disabled worker is of interest to the author. The commentary is titled “Accommodation for Disabled Workers: Knowledge of Rights a Good Start” at the Rand Corporation blog by author Kathleen Mullen. The article describes how employees quitting their jobs because of healthcare decline and applying for social security benefits. As a number of social security benefits increase it puts US funding at risk. The author knows several disabled workers that are faced with working with a health-related disability. Additionally, they are challenged to take care of their families in spite of their disability. The disabled subgroup often expresses that they feel misunderstood by the world. The disabled person is betwixt and in between.; society expects the

Expansion of the disability programs and the poor employment rates of adults with disabilities have become major concerns for Social Security and disability policy makers across the country. Disability law, culture, and policy, as reflected most directly by the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), has undergone a dramatic shift toward the equal employment of persons with disabilities. The ADA prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, governmental, and local services, public accommodations, insurance, telecommunications, and public transportation. Dramatic, positive changes affecting the lives of persons with disabilities are occurring in public attitudes and behavior toward individuals

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

What comes into one’s mind when they think of a disabled person? Most people feel pity and embarrassment, and feel these disabled people are nothing but useless. In “Disability,” writer Nancy Mairs discusses the experience of being a disabled person in a world focused on strong and healthy people. The danger in this single story is that people with disabilities are discriminated against and put away with forgotten care. Mairs states, how debilitated individuals are continually barred, particularly from the media. People with disabilities are the same as the average American person, but because they are disabled, they are seen as meaningless human beings and

More than fifty-six million Americans have one or more physical disabilities. Many of these individuals are physically able to partake in everyday activities, yet they are excluded from these opportunities (Crockett). People with disabilities are intentionally isolated by society due to a stereotypical assumption of their lack of abilities to participate and contribute (Harris 368). They are viewed as objects of pity, who are unable to work, go to school, or live on their own”(Crockett). Ed Roberts, an individual with a disability, clearly states, [we] “are considered the weakest, the most helpless people in our society, [but] are the strongest, and will not tolerate segregation, [and] will not tolerate a society which sees us as less than whole people” (Laney 21). He wants to “reshape the image that society” has on them and prove that people with disabilities are just as capable as everyone else. George H.W. Bush signed the American with Disabilities Act into law on July 26, 1990. (The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Brief overview). Bush knew that the act was “powerful in its simplicity” and that it would “ensure that people with disabilities [were] given the basic guarantees for which they have worked so long and hard” (Americans with Disabilities Act, Medicine 3). The goal was to help people with disabilities live the “American Dream” and be identified by their potential and not their inadequacies (Rodgers 2). Since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into

All throughout the 20th Century Americans have fought with endless vigor to gain equal rights. In many ways we've created new opportunities for minorities in America, but with each passing year new problems arise. For example, the American female community has made leaping bounds in the field of equality; this past election was the first time in history that a woman has made it to the position of presidential nominee. However, they still have struggles, as do many of the cultural groups living in America. A community that's currently facing equality struggles is the American disabled community. Many people with disabilities—mental and physical—have a harder time finding employment because of their health issues. Many activists of the disabled community such as Helen Keller (who is deaf and blind) and Judith Heumann (who has polio) have pushed to pass many disabled-rights laws (B4 Civil Rights). One such law is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which was passed in 1990 and made workplace discrimination against disabled people illegal (B4 Civil Rights). Americans have also tried to create a new amendment to the Constitution to end discrimination against the disabled, but it was never ratified (B4 Civil Rights). Although the disabled community faces struggles, they fight endlessly for their rights even today.

Despite many crucial developments surrounding acceptance of others there is still a long and arduous path ahead of our society. People with disabilities, whatever a given disability may be and mean for the individual, are frequently stigmatized. They are not always offered equal opportunities, nor are they always offered the proper support to fortify their capabilities so that the individual may be the best they can be. Because of this there are many people who never go or return to college, are unemployed, or are isolated from the community.

We encounter disability everywhere we go and we do not realize it. Prior to this assignment, I never acknowledged how frequently we encounter disability. Some of my encounters over this 24-Hour period have been positive ones, but some focused on disability in a negative way.

The next two stories follow a man in Alberta and his job search. The first story is called Lethbridge man living with disability: “I want to work with customers” (Komadina, 2016a) while the next story was a follow-up response titled Alberta man with Down Syndrome scores 2 jobs after handing out 32 resumes (Komadina, 2016b). The former article paints a picture Dutch looking for his summer job. His mother advocates on his behalf by supporting his eagerness to learn new skills. However, she also mentions that she had hoped that the process of Dutch becoming more independent and moving out would have been faster. The article does a good job at addressing and acknowledging that employers are hesitant about hiring people who are differently-abled because they are afraid of how it might affect their company or store. There is also a great emphasis placed on educating the general public to make sure that they are aware of the benefits that people with disabilities bring to their job. The latter article was written as a response to the original. Of the 32 resumes that Dutch handed out, he only received two job offers. This response focuses on Dutch’s own sense-of-belonging and his mother’s belief in him. He is happy and proud about his two new positions.

Forming stereotypes and myths about the abilities of persons with disabilities leads to few employment opportunities. Groups and individuals have overtime stereotyped and formed prejudice against persons with disabilities. Henderson & Bryan (2011) state several obstacles to employment of persons with disabilities in the forms of myths and stereotypes (pp.85-87). Listed below are summaries of these myths and

Throughout history, people with disabilities of all kinds in the United States have been given the short end of the stick in the work place. There are over 21 million working adults with disabilities in the United States, but out of all of those people “only four out of ten work full- or part time” (DePaul University). Even though forty percent of working-aged people with disabilities having some sort of employment does sound impressive, the nondisabled employment rate is now at a whopping eighty

In the past, many would believe that the disabled would not usually work. Before the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, many people who have disabilities were not targeted to get many competitive positions. The creation of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act has, led to decrease of employment discrimination and an increase for employment opportunities. This movement has continued to grow constantly not only in the United States of America, but also in various other countries. Work should not be determined by your disability, but your ability. The disabled community wants to work, but the barriers they face must be considered, and acted

This is not just a disadvantage to disabled people in the United States, it is a problem world wide. In the United Kingdom, only 6 percent of young disabled people are employed (O'mahony). All this leaving the United Kingdom with just “less than one in 20 people with a mental or physical disability are in paid employment”(O’mahony). Disabled people around the world in different nations are taken away the feeling of usefulness and the feeling of accomplishment. Affecting the disabled both financially but also emotionally.

One of the dilemmas we, as a society, are faced with is how to help our disabled population. There are many disable people in our country, both, physically or mentally, and they need assistance, and someone to help guide them in finding that assistance. It is my desire to become one of those individuals, providing assistance to those who need it.