According to the World Health Organization, “about 15% of the population lives with some form of disability.” [1]
- 1 out of roughly 7.7 billion people reportedly have a disability. Photo Credit: https://www.rickhansen.com/Portals/0/Res/Home/aboutus/abouttherickhansenfoundation/Disability_infographic.pdf
That is an alarming amount of people. The scarier part is, overpopulation is another crisis that we are facing today due to the exponential growth of individuals who want to have offspring, and that means that the number of people who will have to live with some form of disability is only going to scale upwards with it.
At this rate, if professional and nonprofit sectors do not all come together to help this mass population do away with their bias and prejudice nature toward the disabled in areas of education, justice systems, economics, etc. effectively, it will soon be divided into two!
In education, research shows that special needs children in school systems is becoming more of a concern.
Justin Healey, author of “People With Disability”, states that “…Research shows that teacher assistants (TAs) are being used as substitute teachers for those kids with the greatest pedagogical needs and this leads to those children having diminished outcomes.” [2]
Healey also notes that in one study by early education expert Kathy Colgan, “one in four of 300 parents with disabled children were told that there was no place for their child at their local school” and that “when such a place was found, the report shows that the teachers were often reluctant to make any adjustments or would simply refuse all together due to poor attitudes towards disability.”
“In addition to these issues…”, he says, “…there were accounts of bullying by staff, of support teachers not having appropriate training and qualifications, and school principles not being held accountable for ensuring adjustments were made for students.”
The education system certainly sounds like it is failing disabled students through neglecting their needs and failing to show the necessary consideration for these children. In a sense, it is almost like the 1950’s era of segregated schools for white and colored children all over again, only this time from an internal perspective that has to do with another group, being disabled children.
Organizations that represent educational equity like Stand for Children, The Education Trust, the National Education Association (NEA), among a number of others should – in the same respect as the world’s education systems – rightfully hold their own responsibility in their failure to meet their agendas in promoting equal education for all students.
That is because, according to evidence, disabled children are not being treated as equals. Given, some children might not be able to learn in the same ways as other non-disabled students, but that does not justify the fact there are still cases showing that they do not have the necessary tools to have a fair education, or that they might even be rejected entirely.
Take The Education Trust’s mission statement, for example: “Fierce advocates for the high academic achievement of all students – particularly those of color or living in poverty.” [3] Fighting for the educational equity of colored and poor students is indeed an honest vision, but in focusing specifically on these two groups of individuals, one might could say that they are simultaneously not as focused on the needs of disabled students.
Perhaps rewording the statement to include those that are disabled, or even leaving it at just “ALL students” might help to raise awareness and fight more in favor of special-needs students’ best interests.
Education is not the only aspect that serves as a barrier to the disabled population. The justice and court systems provide an equal hand, too.
In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, which (allegedly) legally protects disabled parties against discrimination. However, a number of sources speak on the ADA and how it is still leaves room for bias and misinterpretation. Ultimately, it too does adequately provide the coverage that all types of disabled people need in order to truly be viewed as equals in the eyes of the law.
In Anita Silvers’ and Leslie Francis’ article “An Americans With Disabilities Act For Everyone, And For The Ages As Well”, Silvers and Francis point out that the ADA is subjected to a “regarded as” confounding factor, meaning that (in areas of workforce discrimination), it is often up to the employer to be able to distinguish an employee’s physical or mental condition and whether or not it is affecting their work. [4]
If the employer can successfully prove that “he/she did not know that the individual had a disability or did not believe that the individual’s known condition substantially affected his/her life activities”, then the case in trial would be dismissed.
One such example they provide in their article is on an employee with Asperger’s disease who “was fired by an employer who believed he was untrustworthy because he failed to make eye contact – but he could not show he was ‘regarded as’ disabled by the employer without evidence that the employer believed the inability to make eye contact was a symptom of Asperger’s.”
Additionally, Justin Healey in his book “People With Disability” also notes that there are several instances around the world where injustice by the courts had been done to disabled individuals.
One case he brings to the table, for example, is Marlon Noble. “The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its views on the case of Marlon Noble”, he says “Mr. Noble, an Aboriginal man who has an intellectual disability, was charged with child sexual abuse in Western Australia. He was deemed unfit to stand trial but was nevertheless detained in prison for more than 10 years.” [2]
Regardless of either which case, it is clear that in one way or another the voice of a disabled person does not (or does not always, at least) carry the same weight as those without in the court of law.
There are plenty of organizations which deal with legal services and equality in the justice system, but not nearly enough have been formed with respect to aim and lock down instances like these which deprive the disabled of their naturally born, god-given rights.
Such organizations should adapt more intentions on helping to reach this crowd, or new ones could be created for this specific purpose, if something is to be done about it.
Moreover from education and court systems, disabled people are also being handed a full plate of discrimination and inequality in the area of the workforce and jobs.
Both Jennifer M. Stewart and Saul Schwartz conducted studies on college and university students with disabilities and published their results in their article “Equal Education, Unequal Jobs: College and University Students with Disabilities.”
Overall, their findings led to the (not too shocking) truth that “Students with permanent disabilities are less likely to participate in the labor market and more likely to be unemployed.” [5]
Closing the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled workers would have its benefits:
- It helps the economy by providing more labor
- Most importantly, it helps raise awareness to the fact that disabled people are as capable of working and contributing to society as any one else in their own areas.
If more and more disabled people are placed into jobs that they would work well at, then there might start being more of an awakening to disability discrimination in the workforce and other areas, in turn.
After all , awareness is the key component in helping to put a stop to prejudices like the disability, so nonprofits that are affiliated with economic injustices might should also apply more of their efforts into reworking policies and promoting disability work so that it can all come together for change.
There are several other services along with the ones outlined above backed by research and statistical evidence, like rehabilitation and mental health services, which point towards the conclusion that disabled people are not treated fairly as any other human being.
Instead, it is more as if they only function as a receptacle for discriminatory “crimes” perpetrated by those who are just not knowledgeable enough in the field to know that the injustices they are facing are on a whole other level in today’s terms.
Consequently, it could very well be the responsibility that lies on the worlds many organizational structures that would be the saving grace for millions upon millions of disabled individuals struggling.
NPOs that deal with these kinds of human rights violations (i.e. ACLU, HRF, Amnesty International, to name a few) can use their empowering voice to spread the message of disability inequality/discrimination around so that it may cater to more audiences and provide for a greater desire to make a difference.
More specific NPOs can also turn their attention more towards any disability inequality flags in the respective context that they are dealing with (education, law, etc.), thereby getting to the root of different situations and essentially making an even bigger difference.
Sources:
[1] “World Report on Disability.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 16 Oct. 2018, http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/.
[2] Healey, Justin. People with Disability. The Spinney Press, 2017. EBSCOhost, dsc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1555914&site=eds-live&scope=site.
[3] Trust, Ed. “Who We Are.” The Education Trust, edtrust.org/who-we-are/
[4] Silvers, Anita, and Leslie Francis. “An Americans with Disabilities Act for Everyone, and for the Ages as Well.” Cardozo Law Review, vol. 39, no. 2, Dec. 2017, pp. 669–698. EBSCOhost, dsc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=127556476&site=eds-live&scope=site.
[5] Stewart, Jennifer M., and Saul Schwartz. “Equal Education, Unequal Jobs: College and University Students with Disabilities.” Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations, vol. 73, no. 2, Spring 2018, pp. 369-394. EBSCOhost, dsc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aqh&AN=130393336&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Enabling The Disabled 