The Legal Protections For Disabled People

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Disability in America Legal protections for disabled people in America are essential because disabled people face overwhelming discrimination, and the legislation helps provides equality in an unfair world.

Imagine driving home late at night, falling asleep behind the wheel, and swerving into oncoming traffic. When you wake up in the hospital, you can’t use your legs. You might not be disabled today, but what about tomorrow? Some people are born with a disability, and some people become disabled. Some disability rights activists use the term temporarily-abled to describe how there isn’t a line set in stone between “us” and “them”. Disabled people face discrimination because they are dehumanized and seen as lesser than abled people. As a result, politically correct terms used to describe disabled people change frequently, an example of the “euphemism treadmill”. Ableism is when disabled people are seen as broken and able people are seen as superior, which results in words used to describe disability becoming insults. When a child calls someone stupid, or retarded, or dumb, or an idiot, or lame, or moronic, they aren’t thinking about how the words they are using oppress disabled people by turning who they are into an insult. Our society raises children to believe that some people are better than others, an example of the entrenched discrimination disabled people face. Only 45 countries in the world have laws that specifically protect disabled people (CITE), but disabled
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