i.
Access: Access
continues to be a common problem for people with disabilities. A 2003
California Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Interagency Task Force
bulletin stated, “One of the fundamental rights of citizens in this
country is the opportunity to participate in government,” and yet access
problems often prohibit full participation by people with disabilities. Access
problems may be physical, and thus solved with installation of a ramp or wider
doorway, or access problems may be programmatic. Programmatic solutions require
more planning.
Access: Access
continues to be a common problem for people with disabilities. A 2003
California Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Interagency Task Force
bulletin stated, “One of the fundamental rights of citizens in this
country is the opportunity to participate in government,” and yet access
problems often prohibit full participation by people with disabilities. Access
problems may be physical, and thus solved with installation of a ramp or wider
doorway, or access problems may be programmatic. Programmatic solutions require
more planning.
A city council presentation, for example, might need to be
presented in formats accessible to someone who is deaf and blind.
ii.
Acceptance: Attitudes
often dictate acceptance or the lack of acceptance of people who are
handicapped. Attitudes influence whether they are merely tolerated or fully
included. Some countries, for example, may have an unemployment rate up to 80
percent among people who have handicaps, with some employers assuming those
individuals can’t work, according to the website of Enable, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Such an assumption not
only bars access to independence but belies an attitude that disability means
inability.
Acceptance: Attitudes
often dictate acceptance or the lack of acceptance of people who are
handicapped. Attitudes influence whether they are merely tolerated or fully
included. Some countries, for example, may have an unemployment rate up to 80
percent among people who have handicaps, with some employers assuming those
individuals can’t work, according to the website of Enable, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Such an assumption not
only bars access to independence but belies an attitude that disability means
inability.
iii.
Advocacy: A person
with a voice can advocate effectively. Many people with disabilities, sometimes
quite literally, have no voice and consequently are not heard. Until as
recently as 2009, schoolchildren with disabilities were at times injured while
subjected to restraint, seclusion and other aversive disciplinary techniques,
according to an investigative report by the National Disability Rights Network.
Because of mandated protection and advocacy services, such abuses are now
discussed openly. Few states enacted legislation to prohibit aversive techniques,
however. So the lack of advocacy in some schools and other arenas remains.
Advocacy: A person
with a voice can advocate effectively. Many people with disabilities, sometimes
quite literally, have no voice and consequently are not heard. Until as
recently as 2009, schoolchildren with disabilities were at times injured while
subjected to restraint, seclusion and other aversive disciplinary techniques,
according to an investigative report by the National Disability Rights Network.
Because of mandated protection and advocacy services, such abuses are now
discussed openly. Few states enacted legislation to prohibit aversive techniques,
however. So the lack of advocacy in some schools and other arenas remains.
