Physical Disabilities In America

A major issue in the United States of America is being physically disabled. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 1 in 5 people have a disability in the United States. Given by the U.S. Census Bureau: around 8.1 million people had difficulty seeing, around 7.6 million people had difficulty hearing, around 19.9 million people had difficulty lifting or grasping objects, and around 30.6 million people had difficulty walking or climbing. (US) The issue of physical disabilities can be prevented according U.S. Census Bureau which is why we should work to implement bionics to further advance the physically disabled. In Richard Nixon’s “Address to the Nation on Labor Day.”, a theme throughout the speech in equality for every person in the workforce.

(Nixon) If we are all entitled to equality in the workforce, people with physical disabilities should have a fair opportunity to work as someone who does not have physical disabilities. Derek Thompson, a senior editor at The Atlantic. In Thompson’s article A World Without Work, a common theme in the article is the desire to work but cannot be fulfilled due to limited jobs and high unemployment rates. Thematically, both articles share a commonality of every person being entitled to work. According to Marianne K. Dove PhD, professor in the Department or Counseling Special Education, and School Psychology at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, specializing in exceptional children, assessment, and child maltreatment, Dove says that technology plays a huge role in the lives of Americans. (Dove) By working together with the use of technology, we can better provide assistive technologies such as bionics to help people with physical disabilities have open opportunities to fully participate in education, employment, and daily life.
Firstly, bionics will most likely open opportunities for those with physical disabilities to be able to further advance in education.

By furthering education, people with physical disabilities will have more of a chance to pursue a career. It is estimated that 60% of disabled young adults make it to college after high school, yet nearly two thirds are unable to complete their degrees within six years. This is a significant problem we must alleviate because education is the foundation of one’s future. (S.e) In special education, physical disabilities are physical limitations or health problems that interfere with school attendance or learning to such an extent that special services, training, equipment, materials, or facilities are required. As said in an article, Many students with even severe physical disabilities can attend regular schools and classes, given improved accessibility of school buildings, the use of technologies of treatment and adaptive devices, and improved attitudes of acceptance of disabilities in the school. Some students need highly specialized medical care and are thought to need education in the hospital when they are being treated or in a special class or school. A controversial issue is whether to include disabled students in regular schools and classes. It is an issue because students who are near to death or have severe physical or cognitive disabilities can tend to be unresponsive to educational instructions. Thus, physically disabled students

will be left at a disadvantage in comparison to other students.
students who are near death or who have extreme physical and cognitive disabilities that leave them unresponsive to typical instruction. (Education) The difficulty to responding to instruction could be fatal to someone’s future. Which is why it is imperative for students with disabilities to be catered or helped until fully comprehensive of instructions.
Employment has been an occurring issue for those with physical disabilities. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 17.8 percent of people with disabilities were employed in 2011, in contrast to 63.6 percent of the population without disabilities who had secured work this is an inequity that must be rectified if we are to help all Americans reach their full potential in the workplace. This shows how a low percent of people with disabilities that have jobs compared to the 82.2% of those with physical disabilities were unemployed. (Albuquerque) With the use of bionics more people can have the opportunities to work, an obvious limitation is the price of bionics that is preventing the 82.2% of people with physical disabilities from not working. Stefan Isenberg of Georgetown was one of the 63.6 percent until 2009, when his leg was crushed by a large truck at work leading to an amputation and an uncertain work future. Thankfully, a year later with the help of prosthetists and revolutionary technology that allowed him to walk as if his legs were biological again, the 31-year-old man was back at work doing what he loves. (Albuquerque) This incident shows how people with a disability can easily solve it through bionics and get back to work.
A major issue that affects people with physical disabilities is their daily life.

Dr. Hugh Herr, associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and director of the Biomechatronics Lab at MIT Media Lab. Herr argues we must work to turn injury into success. “A double amputee at 17, Herr was fitted with his first prosthetic legs. He soon became acutely aware of their deficiencies. He claims his first set of prosthetic limbs were passive without any type of computational intelligence, sensors or muscle-type actuation. Overall, they were lacking any type of biological-like dynamics.” This shows his credibility by displaying he is disabled. He was missing both his legs below the knee. Herr developed his own legs to be able to climb and have similar maneuvers to legs. With his development, he displays a greater quantity of positives for being disabled “One of the greatest advantages of my climbing prosthesis was weight, they are much lighter than biological tissues and they allowed me to do more pull ups,” says Herr. “ Furthermore, I didn’t experience muscle fatigue from the knee down, which is very common in ice climbing.” He also states how he was able to climb better than his biological legs. Hence bionics should be better implemented by making it more affordable, so physically disabled people can have a chance to participate in daily activities. (Hock) C. Gobalakrishnan an assistant professor in the Sociology department at Periyar University says that

people with physical disabilities have difficulties partaking in daily acts that other people may take for granted.
In conclusion, people with physical disabilities have an equal opportunity to those without physical disabilities. With the use of bionics at a more approachable price, people have the ability to work. A definite limitation to implementing bionics at a more refined price is higher taxes which can be detrimental to taxpayers. If bionics were easier to approach, there would possibly be less unemployment rates, less death and suicidal rates, and less isolation. We must work together to better our communities and work to better integrate those with physical disabilities.