Equal Treatment For People With Disabilities

Social values are an important part of society, but for centuries society has looked upon people with disabilities as an outsider. They have been perceived as people who were incompetent and diseased. People with disabilities would be treatedl out of ignorance of society not knowing the capabilities of a person (University of Florida, 2017). The term disability covers an array of conditions from down syndrome, autism, blind, deaf, loss of limb, and more. Some people are born with disabilities while other people acquire conditions from injuries or chronic illiness (Krahn, Walker, & Correa-De-Araujo, 2015). In 2015, the United States estimated 12.6 percent of the population was living with a disability. The rate in which people are affected by

Organizations were created as early as the 1850s to bring awareness of discrimination against people with disabilities. Sit-ins were established around the Great Depression era to protest unfair treatment by the government. After World War II ended, soldiers returned home with extensive amount of injuries. This added to the enormous rate of unemployed workers with disabilities (Creamer, 2009). At the same time, self-help groups were being set up for survivors of polio and spinal cord injury and they were seeking equal justice for the rights to live and work within their communities. Motivated by the civil rights movement and women’s rights, people with disabilities started to demand more rights (Creamer, 2009). Since the early 1970s, advocated for disability rights have scored significant gains starting with Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The ruling stated states are to evaluate school-age children for mental disabilities and place them in proper educational settings (Arocho, 2012). Another equally important ruling was in 1990 when people with disabilities scored big with the passing of the ADA (Creamer,