Inequality of Physical Disabilities In some sense inequality is something that has always existed and will continue to exist. People need inequality to survive, if everyone was exactly equal chaos would break out because no hierarchy of power would exist. Unlike some methods of creating hierarchy, the hierarchy of ability is not man made, making physical disability seem like a easy way to identify people. Yet, the natural nature of physical disabilities makes it even harder to rid the world of this type of inequality. When looking at the inequality of physical disability, it is important to understand the definition of disability, how it affects people in both positive and negative ways, as well as where it originates from and how society …show more content…
However, the census no longer uses an overarching category for physical disability. Instead it is divided into hearing, visual, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care, and independent livings difficulties (US Census Bureau, 2014). Based on these two definitions, one can determine that ambulatory, self-care, and independent living categories of the census would make up the category of physical disability. According to a survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control, 22.2% of the United States population reported having some sort of disability (2013). While the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), acts to prevent the discrimination of people with physical and mental disabilities, it has been unsuccessful in erasing it all together. Almost a quarter of the US population is disabled, meaning that almost a quarter of the population face some form of inequality due to their physical …show more content…
People who have physical disabilities often experience negative situations and connotations that they must overcome to thrive in society. People who offer narratives about their disabilities often give the most accurate representation about the challenges those with disabilities face. Ms. Marenge, reported that one of the hardest things about leaving the rehabilitation center after becoming paralyzed was living in a house that was inaccessible, and having to rely on her family to carry her up and down the house (Casey Marenge, 2011). Similarly, a student with muscular dystrophy, says that she wishes more places were wheelchair accessible, because when they aren’t she feels that society is holding her back, and she can’t reach her full potential. Alisha also reported that t making friends is hard because some kids would ignore her at school because of her situation and she is often separated from the mainstream students at school. Alisha, doesn’t want to be defined by her disability, however, she believes that many people who look at her only see her wheelchair (Alisha Lee, 2011). Despite the many negative ways people who suffer from physical disabilities are affected, it is important to note that they don’t always feel bad for themselves, and that having a disability doesn’t stop them from loving
Systematic discrimination against women and girls with disabilities continues to result in the denial of the rights to experience their sexuality, to have sexual relationships and to found and maintain families. While the right to integrity and the right of a woman to make her own reproductive choices are contained in a number of international human rights treaties, women with disabilities continue to be denied these rights through practices such as forced sterilization, sexual violence and the removal of their legal capacity in many parts of the world. I have always been interested in those with disabilities. My parents used to run a home dedicated to taking proper care of those with intellectual and physical disabilities and I grew up being surrounded them. Many of them I am still friends with to this day and I find it interesting to see the stigma that surrounds those who are disabled, those who I call my friends.
A disability model provides a conceptual framework that supports our perception and understanding of disability, impairment and society (Wasserman, Asch, Blustein, and Putnam and Gordon, Finkelstein, Pinder). Three models of disability are examined below: the medical model, the social model, and the Human Rights Model of Disability (HRMD). The influence of the ‘capability approach’ on the HRMD will also be examined. Understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of these disability models and the capability approach is important because each model has implications in policy design, implementation and practice that affect disabled people (Trani and Bakhshi, Wasserman, Asch, Blustein, and Putnam). For example, the various conceptual frameworks underlying the identification of what disability entails, and how it is measured, has implications for the estimation of prevalence of disability, whether and to what extent it needs addressing through policy, and the validity of various forms of disability research. It is argued that the HRMD, which is a synthesis of other models presented, provides the most complete, coheren...
The Medical Model of disability has been the dominant paradigm of conceptualization disability: “For over a hundred years, disability has been defined in predominantly medical terms as a chronic functional incapacity whose consequence was functional limitations assumed to result from physical or mental impairment.” This approach to understanding disability tends to be more descriptive and normative by seeking out to define what is normal and what is not. Consequently, strict normative categories abound, namely the “disabled” and “abled” dichotomy. This model views the physiological difference itself as the problem, where the individual is the focus of that said disability.
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 this essay I would like to discuss the definition of disability with focus on medical, economic and socio –political models, evolution, and history of disability care, disability rights movements, marginalisation, oppression and barriers and strategies to dismantle barriers .I will illustrate these with the clear understanding of the concepts illustrated by Simi Linton, Colin Barnes and Lennard Davis.
In Rod Michalko’s “Disability Matters” he exposes the constant rejection of disabled people from the common understandings of humanity and what symbolizes the “good life”. He argues that the cultural assumption of “normal” being the good life and only life worth living is not true and that the word itself cannot be fully defined but based on personal preference. Rod Michalko goes deeper of what disability is and what it defines. He brings up an issue saying that Western culture is without some sense of what disability is and that is why no one is without some thoughts or feelings about it. However, the common stereotype about disability are typically negative and usually understood as a misfortune. He implies that it is precisely this “personal tragedy” conception of disability of what everyone thinks resulting in negative perception of being labeled disable. Furthermore, he claims disability is a personal tragedy wrought with problems, problems for which solutions must be sought. This misconception he challenges by substituting the word “disability” with “abnormal conditionings.” By doing so, he hopes that it will minimize the negative effects of disability and to help disabled people “fit” into “normal” society. “Michalko demonstrates that the Disabilities do not suffer our impairments so much as we suffer our society.” —Rosemarie Garland Thompson. The social and political construction of disability is an ongoing, changing process that people decipher based on the person’s knowledge and awareness of it. With that said, because the social and political construction of disability has no real defined answer, it creates change overtime and with that, we need to start accepting and seeing the Disabilities as the same human beings as us “normal”
At the end of 1995, it was estimated that one out of five people in the U.S had some level of disability, one of ten, severe. According to 1995 census data, the percentage of people between 22 and 64 years of age who live in poverty was 13.3%. But among the disabled it was 19.3%. Finally, and thanks in part to the inspiration provided by the civil rights struggles of the 1960's, disability rights advocates began to press for full legal equality and access to mainstream society.
The social model defines disability as a social construct that creates unwanted barriers for individuals, and a public concern, (Smart & Smart, 2006). Examples of these barriers include “inaccessible education systems, working environments, inadequate disability benefits, discriminatory health and social support services, inaccessible transport, houses and public buildings and amenities, and the devaluing of disabled people through negative images in the media, (Thomas, 2007, p. 13). Swain, et al (1993), states that “disability is not a condition of the individual. The experiences of disabled people are of social restrictions in the world around them, not being a person with a ‘disabling condition,’” (as cited by Lutz & Bowers, 2003).
A disability refers to a wide range of impairments that effects the way in which a human interacts with society, their surroundings, or themselves (ADA National Network). The reason this is noted in a society is because norms are set for all members in our society; disabilities are social constructs. To this degree all individuals are expected to be uniform physically, mentally, and socially. Deviations from these norms are often viewed negatively. This lead to an us/them mentality. A disability is seen as through the lens of pity and/or fear, not as a unique. By doing this society separates itself from what is does not understand, the uniqueness of the human condition. By doing so it socially and mentally harms the individual who does not
After a couple of hours investigating issues that affect individuals with disabilities, I learned some very interesting and saddening things. One of the most concerning things is that anyone can acquire a disability, and yet, the media and general public does not seem to respond the same way it does to similar issues.
This act established old age benefits and funding for assistance to blind individuals and disabled children and the extension of existing vocational rehabilitation programmes. In present day society, since the passage of the ADA (American with Disabilities Act of 1990) endless efforts of the disability rights movement have continued on the focus of the rigorous enforcement of the ADA, as well as accessibility for people with disabilities in employment, technology, education, housing, transportation, healthcare, and independent living for the people who are born with a disability and for the people who develop it at some point in their lives. Although rights of the disabled have significantly gotten better globally throughout the years, many of the people who have disabilities and are living in extremely undeveloped countries or supreme poverty do not have access nor rights to any benefits. For example, people who are in wheelchairs as a transportation device have extremely limited access to common places such as grocery stores, schools, employment offices,
Disability is defined as a long term condition that restricts an individual’s daily activities (Government of Western Australia Department of Communities, n.d.). A disability can be identified in numerous types which are physical, sensory neurological and psychiatric. Due to the assistance with appropriate aids and services, the restrictions experienced by individuals with a disability may be overcome. However, the ways society perceives disability may have a significant impact on individuals living with it and also families around them. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to reflect on the social construction of disability through examining the social model of disability and how it may impact on the lives of people living with disability.
In the essay “Disability,” Nancy Mairs discusses the lack of media attention for the disabled, writing: “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anyone’s life.” An ordinary person has very little exposure to the disabled, and therefore can only draw conclusions from what is seen in the media. As soon as people can picture the disabled as regular people with a debilitating condition, they can begin to respect them and see to their needs without it seeming like an afterthought or a burden. As Mairs wrote: “The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time.” Looking at the issue from this angle, it is easy to see that many disabled people were ordinary people prior to some sort of accident. Mairs develops this po...
What is disability? The Disability and Discrimination Act defines disability as “a person with a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities” (Discrimination and Disability Act 7). With this definition, it can be said that societies’ version of disability is wrong. If one were to imagine a moment, when one sees a man booming right in front of one’s eyes, starting to have uncontrollable jitters running through his body, and looking at one and asking “what is the matter?” without even noticing, most of us start to think what is wrong with him. And furthermore, one will unconsciously prescribe him as abnormal or disabled. Such scenarios are common and
Despite the passage of almost three decades since the enactment of Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States, individuals with disabilities are still underrepresented in the workforce, tend to hold lower status jobs, and receive lower wages. Disabled workers also continue to encounter more negative workplace experiences in terms of discrimination and injustice (Snyder, et al. March 2010).