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.

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

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