Inspiration
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What is the Disability Rights Movement?
In America, there was a disabilities rights movement and this was nothing but a group of approximately 40.7 million people with disabilities. But today they are leading self-affirming and independent lives and they have defined themselves with their own personhood. They define themselves according to their own beliefs, ideas, dreams, and hopes and these all go beyond their disability.
From the mid of 1900s, there were any movements towards fighting the recognition of disability to be treated as an aspect of identity. This identity is supposed to experience and influence an individual but not restricted to the sole definition of a person’s features.
What they were fighting for?
So, what were all these people with disabilities fighting for? They have battled against harmful stereotypes, biased assumptions, and irrational fears. There was stigmatization of the disability and that resulted in the economic and social marginalization of the Americans generations with disabilities. For example, similar to many other kinds of oppressed minorities, even disabled people were left with a extreme state of impoverishment for a long time. So really they are fighting for equality in all respects. The tech industry as a whole has been a great ally for people with disabilities. Even hookup apps like free fuckbook offer support and promotions for them under the belief that anyone should be allowed to meet n fuck. Other adult dating platforms like AdultFriendFinder have followed suit. However unlikely adult companies that are often shunned and stigmatized themselves contribute to a lot of activism and philanthropy.
Tragic and Meager
Till the 1800s, disabled people were actually treated as pitiful, tragic, and meager individuals. They were actually considered unfit for society since they were believed to contribute nothing to society. They were always treated and told to serve as ridiculed objects just for entertainment in the exhibitions and circuses.
Disabled people were actually considered as abnormal and assumed to be feeble-minded. There were many disabled people who were forced to experience sterilizations as well. The worst condition was people with disabilities were actually forced to get to institutions and in asylums. The majority of the disabled people spent their entire lives there itself away from families.
When some people requested for segregation and purification of these disabled people it was considered as a merciful action. People with disabilities always wanted to be invisible and hide from this society since they were biased and fearful.
World War I
All these biased treatments continued until World War I. At this point, veterans with disabilities requested rehabilitation from the US government for the exchange of their service for their nation. Later by the year1930s, the United States introduced a lot of new technological advancements and along with that government assistance towards contributions for disabled people. This helped disabled people in achieving self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
What Happened after These Advancements?
Even after all these initiations took towards self-reliance and independence, people with disabilities were not able to access public transportation. They had no access to bathrooms, telephones, and stores. There were many offices with stairs and worksites and these were all not reachable for people with disabilities. The worst thing they faced was high attitude employers. This was the biggest barrier in their journey. Hence even after all these advancements; there were many eligible and talented people with disabilities who were away from the best opportunities.
Finally, in 1970, activists of disability rights were able to lob the Congress and they decided to march on Washington. This movement was all about the inclusion of civil rights language for all the disabled people right into the 1972 Rehabilitation Act.
Later in the year 1973 the Rehabilitation Act was finally passed. By this, they achieved a major milestone and through this, it was guaranteed that the civil rights of disabled people were protected by law.
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Prominent Disability Rights Activists
Disability rights activists are people who fight for equal rights and opportunities for the person. They fight for equal rights in employment, education, housing, and freedom from breach of other rights and the same opportunities in the physical environment, safety etc. The disability activists are fighting to break the societal and institutional barriers which prevent disabled people from living a healthy life.
A large part of disability activism has been related to employment and getting companies to hire and advocate for employees with disabilities. The tech industry has been a large proponent of this movement. Many tech companies are powered from behind desks and computers allowing them to easily onboard disabled employees.
IBM and Intel are some big names that are well regarded for their support of employees with disabilities. Other startup tech companies in the dating space such as Happn and Hinge have also been noted for their focus on disability advocacy. As unexpected as it may seem many adult entertainment and adult dating companies employ many disabled workers. Companies like LocalSex App, an adult app that promotes hookup culture helping people find partners to “fuck now” actively recruit programmers and IT employees with disabilities along with other overlooked work force populations.
Disability Rights and the Disability Rights Movement
Disability rights are the human rights of a physically or mentally disabled individual who are or can be violated on societal terms by the people of society. The disability rights movement was first started at the 1960s with in the USA after that it started spreading in the whole world. It is the fight for human rights and equal opportunities conservation for a person who is mentally or physically disabled in some terms. The fruits of this movement are the Americans with Disabilities Act and the same rights among the people.
The pioneers
Ed Roberts Edward Robert was the first person to start the disability rights movement during the 1960s in America. He started his activism from an early age when he was denied his diploma because he did not complete his physical and drivers education. He was the first person to analyze disability with a political view. One of the most significant achievements of his is the MacArthur Fellowship. He is called the father of the independent living rights movement due to his works.
Roland Johnson (left) Roland Johnson is the second most famous activist in the USA. He worked with Edward Roberts in his work and helped in increasing employment the disability movement.
Current disability rights activists
Javed Abidi Javed Abidi is one of the most famous Indian disability rights activist known for his serving in the National Centre for Promotion of employment for disabled people. He was born and foundation of Disability Rights Group. He was born in Aligarh, India, with Spina Bifida. During the treatment, he suffered nerve damage. He first worked for Sonia Gandhi in Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s disability unit. A year later, when he met an advocate group where his actual work started. One of the most significant works of Abidi is the protest in front of parliament which pushed them to pass the Persons with Disabilities Act. He has worked for equal rights to employment, housing, etc.
Virali Modi Virali Modi is one of the youngest disability activists. She was born and raised in the United States. She was normal by birth, but after she lost her ability to walk during the visit to India because of malaria. During this time, she got to know the struggles of being disabled. This brought the idea in hers of starting the fight for implementation of disabled-friendly measures in railways. The success started with wheelchair ramps installation in several railway stations and airports. She is on her way to activism and fighting for the further development of disabled people.
Now, after reading this article, we hope you are well aware of some of the disability rights activists and their success and achievements. We hope you got the knowledge and information you needed. Thank you for visiting us.
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What is The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990?
The Americans with Disability Act was passed in 1990 and is the USA’s first civil right law that addresses the welfare of people with disabilities. It mainly prohibits the discrimination of disabled people in public services, employment, public accommodations, and telecommunications.
The enforcement authority for the Title I of the Act was given to the EEOC as well as the discrimination provisions. The US Congress provided or allowed the Title I a time period of two years to come into effect as the Commission needed extensive time to develop regulations and even get the technical assistance. Also, it needed a good amount of time to do a proper public education program on the brand-new disability law and even employees required some time to adjust to the new requirements.
Comprehensive Law
No doubt the ADA is one of the most comprehensive national disability laws. As per this law, it provides the right for any individual suffering from a disability to get reasonable and proper accommodations for working and participating in all aspects of society. In short, it avoids any kind of discrimination for individuals suffering from a disability.
Sections In ADA
The ADA has four major sections which are known as Titles. The Title I will cover details about employment, Title II covers about public transportation and entities, Title III will describe the details about commercial facilities and accommodations and Title IV will talk about telecommunication. Title V is about miscellaneous provisions.
Another important thing to note down about is the significant civil rights decisions regarding people with disabilities was taken by the US Supreme Court which was the Olmstead decision. This was based on the Title II of the ADA.
Title I – Employment
In this, it helps people suffering from disabilities to gain access to the same kind of employment opportunities and benefits which are available to people without disabilities.
Now, this applies to employers having 15 or more employees. As per this law, employers must provide good accommodation to the employees or qualified applicants. Here the reasonable accommodation refers to the change for accommodating employees suffering from disability so that they can do their job without causing any undue hardship to employers in terms of expenses and difficulty.Title II – Public Services: Local And State Government
Here it prohibits discrimination based on disability by public entities. Examples of public entities are local and state government agencies. As per this law, public entities must ensure that their services, program, and activities are easily accessible by people suffering from disabilities.
Some of the major outlines are the need for planning and self-evaluation, bringing a good amount of modifications to policies, procedures, and practices where one must avoid discrimination, finding out the architectural barriers, and communicating in an effective manner with people suffering from vision, hearing and speech disabilities.
Title III – Public Accommodations And Services Operated By Private Entities
As per this rule, it prohibits places related to public accommodation from discriminating against individuals suffering from disabilities. Here public accommodation refers to privately leased or owned as well as operated facilities like restaurants, hotels, doctor’s offices, retail merchants, private schools, daycare centers, movie theaters, stadium, etc.
Also, this clearly states the minimum standards for accessibility as well as for alterations and newly constructed commercial facilities and privately-owned public accommodations too. Furthermore, it needs these public accommodations to get rid of the barriers present in the existing buildings where it is much easier to do and that too without a huge amount of difficulty or expenses.
Direct businesses must take a good amount of reasonable modifications in their common way of doing things while serving people with disabilities. Also, it requires businesses to employ required steps for communicating effectively along with customers suffering from hearing, vision and speech disabilities.
Title IV – Telecommunications
Here it is necessary that the Internet and telephone companies should provide a nationwide system of intrastate and interstate telecommunications that is relaying on services which help individuals suffering from speech or hearing disabilities for communicating through telephone. In addition, it needs closed captioning of the federally funded public service announcements.
Title V – Miscellaneous Provisions
This contains various kinds of provisions that are related to the ADA as a whole. It includes the relationship with other laws, state immunity and the kind of impact it on the insurance provider and benefits, the illegal use of drugs, prohibition against coercion and retaliation, and attorney’s fees.
There are other sectors where the disability rule is not applicable. Like the transportation sector which is provided by the local or state government, especially the ones covered under the Title II of the ADA. Also, the publicly funded transportation sector included the ones but not limited to the bus and passenger train service.
If you want to know more, you could research online or even check out with the nearby government offices.
