Themes In No Pity, By Joseph P. Shapiro

In 1973 the rehabilitation Act was created. This act prohibits any discrimination against the disabled. It requires accessibility to employment, education, health, welfare, and social services.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was passed to promote equal access to federally funded programs for people with disabilities. It was focused on nondiscrimination in the programs or activities that receive federal funding. A person would be defined as disabled if they have physical or mental impairment, has a record of the impairment, and is regarded as having the impairment. Section 504 is used for students who do not qualify for special education and is most frequently used for students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and AIDS. To be eligible under Section 504 the child must undergo an evaluation with assessment tools that will accurately demonstrate the child’s specific area of educational need.

In her essay “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs presents her audience with an honest inside view of her life and perspective as a cripple, a word she openly uses to define herself. She brings her world to us by discussing a wide variety of things including language, family, and humor, and how these all relate to her life. Through various stories and insights, she allows her readers to gain an understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities. She examines the public’s view of the disabled, as well as the views they have of themselves, and compares them to her own. She makes it clear that she is not to be defined solely by her disability. In discussing honestly her views, as well as

In the book, The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s thesis is that there is more to people than their disabilities, it is not restricting nor is it shameful but infact it is beautiful in its own way. With a plan to travel the United States, Mooney decides to travel in a Short bus with intentions of collecting experiences from people who have overcome--or not overcome--being labeled disabled or abnormal. In this Mooney reinvents this concept that normal people suck; that a simple small message of “you’re not normal” could have a destructive and deteriorating effect. With an idea of what disabilities are, Mooney’s trip gives light to disabilities even he was not prepared to face, that he feared.

In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, an essayist with multiple sclerosis, writes about her experiences with her disease. She wants her audience of able-bodied people to stop pitying towards disabled people and instead show acceptance. Mairs achieves her purpose by presenting herself as similar and relatable to her able-bodied audience with many anecdotes and a blunt tone. This discussion of her condition removes the discomfort about disabilities felt by her audience and allows for them to accept disabled people. While Maris’s primary audience is an able-bodied person who supports disabled people, other readers, like someone with her condition, may be drawn towards this essay as well. Unlike an able-bodied person, a disabled person

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.

If you saw a person in the mall in a wheelchair, would you judge them? Or would you look at them like they are a normal human-being? People who have a disability whether they are physically disabled, mentally disabled, or learning disabled, are still themselves. Nancy Mairs was forty-three year old woman with multiple sclerosis. She wrote an essay, “Disability”, that explained her views of her physical disability.

Section 504 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that outlaws discrimination based upon disability. It is an anti-discrimination, civil rights statute that requires the needs of students with disabilities to be met as adequately as the needs of the non-disabled are met. Section 504 ensures that the child with a disability has equal access to an education. Section 504 does not require a public school to provide an individualized educational program (IEP) that is designed to meet a child's unique needs

Over 400,000 people in the U.S have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Every day they struggle walking, or they are spastic. Mairs has perfectly described her day to day struggle with M.S. which usually results in paralysis. Mairs does not like being called ‘Handicapped’ because she feels that can summarize many people under one word. The ailments that they are trying to conquer are completely different. Americans who are not disabled understand what it is like to have an ailment, and can imagine what their life consists of. Mairs has incorporated thoughtful allusions and her insightful feelings to aide the explanation of being crippled to a non-crippled reader in her memoir, “I AM a cripple”.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was a legal protection for people with disabilities. It is a civil rights law in which prohibits any discrimination against people in any programs from discriminating. Congressman Charles Vanik from Ohio, and Senator Humphrey from Minnesota, proposed this amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It is a civil rights mandate, not a special education law. When examining schools and educational systems, in the past, there seemed to be detrimental experiences in which students with a handicap and/or disability were discriminated upon. They needed a mandate and legal protection in which protected them in order to receive equal

The use of technology in educating children with special needs has widely grown in the past few decades, and has since has changed the way people with disabilities live, work, and learn” (Winzer, 2002, p. 98). Individuals with special needs are unique and all have different areas in which they need assistance. Due to the advancements in assistive technology, computer programs, software, and other technology tools, have helped people to find useful and easier ways to become educated.

Ed Roberts was the first severely disabled student to attend the University of California at Berkeley, studying political science, earning a BA in 1964 and an MA in 1966, and nurturing there a nascent revolution. At UC Berkeley, Roberts and a cohort of friends pioneered a student-led disability services organization, the Physically Disabled Program, which was the first of its kind on a university campus and the model for Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living (CIL), where Roberts served as executive director from 1972 to

Prior to the course, Perspectives on disability, my understanding of disability was a fundamental, concept of disability, in which I knew it existed, and also have seen and interacted with people considered to have a disability. I never took a deep look at all the social and political factors that exist within the spectrum of disability. This course has allowed me to examine all aspects of disability, which has changed my view and approach of what a disability is and how it is viewed. "Historically, disability has been viewed fundamentally as a persoal tragedy, which has resulted in diasbled people being seen as objects of pity or in need of charity. They have been subject to descriminatory policies and practices in which the predominant images of passivity and helplesness reinforced their inferior status"(Barton 4). Uncovering the framework of disability, by studying the historical, soicial political and educational standpoint, I see the intricacies in which gives me a greater understanding and awareness of the topic.

The use of technology in educating children with special needs has widely grown in the past few decades. Individuals with special needs are unique and all have different areas in which they need assistance. Due to the advancements in assistive technology, computer programs, software, and other technology tools, it has become much easier for people to find useful and easier ways to become educated. Because of this, “technology has changed the way people with disabilities live, work, and learn.” (Winzer,98)

For individuals without the proper aids, a physical or developmental disability can hinder their ability to live a productive life. In today’s technology-dependent world being unable to access a computer or other mobile device is not only inconvenient, it can seriously inhibit access to employment and services, as well as social media. Assistive software designed to bridge the gap between the user and the interface is crucial to helping those with disabilities gain access to the same prospects as those who are not disabled. Assistive software can take many forms, from dictation software that makes speech-to-text possible for those who cannot work a keyboard to screen readers that narrate text for those who