Notes

DISABILITIES 2:
Hello, and welcome back. Let's take a look at our warm-up where we're asking the question, what challenges do the disabled face in everyday life? And unfortunately they face many different challenges. And not all of them are related to the impediment that their disability gives them. We want to talk about all of those challenges in Section Two of Disabilities. Now, there are three objectives in this lesson. The first objective is to define disability and describe mental and physical disabilities. The second objective is to examine the challenges individuals with disabilities face. And the third objective is to describe laws and policies designed to accommodate individuals with disabilities. In this section, we're going to be talking about the second objective, examining the challenges individuals with disabilities face. Now, we're going to group these into six general categories-- daily challenges, challenges with mobility, challenges to access electronic information, education challenges, social challenges, and the challenges they face from the cost of living with a disability. So let's talk about daily challenges. Even simple tasks can be difficult. That's really how we define disability, is the impediment to do a normal behavior. And that inability to accomplish a task that most people can is called a handicap. And so the disabled struggle with the fact that they have to overcome those handicaps every day. And they have to rely on assistive technology, which is technology that's built to help people with these handicap overcome them, or they must rely on help from others. In this example, you can see that the handicap that's overcome is a mobility handicap, the ability to go from one place to the next without the use of limbs. And the assistive technology is the wheelchair, which allows him to overcome that handicap. And mobility is kind of a hot topic because many disabled have problems with mobility. And as the population continues to age, more of those who are disabled in terms of mobility will become-- the number will become greater. And for many years, walkers and wheelchairs were the only solutions available. But recently, scooter technology has been developing very rapidly. And many automobiles also have custom options in order to deal with the kinds of assisted technologies that the disabled need. Artificial limbs are also becoming more and more sophisticated and allowing a greater range of movement and motion and stresses than were available in the past. Such to the fact now that many with false limbs can actually compete at a high level in athletic competitions. Then there's e-accessibility, accessing all of that technology information either on phones, on the computer, on the internet, when you have disabilities like blindness or deafness. And assistive technology allows more access to those information technologies and those communication technologies in ways that allow people with those disabilities to overcome their handicaps. Adaptations in technology include the ability to change the font size on the screen in order to help those who have low levels of vision, Braille readers to help those who are blind, text to speech readers, voice recognition software which helps for those who are unable to use their fine motor skills to use a keyboard-- they can use their voices to control the computers. Then there's education. And disabled individuals sometimes require an individualized education plan or an IEP. And that's actually become a federal requirement for anyone who has a disability. And that means that those students will get monitored teaching strategies and adapted equipment and materials and an accessible learning environment, which can help them achieve all that they can in school. Because for too many years there was an issue with children being left behind in schools, especially when they were said to have a disability. They didn't get the same access to resources and they didn't get the same attention that they do now. And there's an acknowledgement that communication and learning settings can be different depending on what the child is disabled with. And so there's a debate going on about whether these children should be in a mainstream classroom, which is a classroom-- that's the normal classroom where everyone goes-- or a self-contained classroom, where that student can be with many smaller numbers with a teacher who is giving them more focus. And we want children, generally, to be in the least restrictive environment, which means the mainstream classroom when at all possible. And then there are social issues. The disabled have to deal with the fact that many people view them as abnormal or different in a bad way. And society creates some systematic barriers that exclude the disabled. Access to resources and access to employment are all problems that affect the disabled. When someone who's disable goes in for a job interview, the employer has to think about that disability and may decide that their costs may be lower if they get someone who is able. And so it becomes a very big issue for the disabled. And there's a lot of people in society who have a negative attitude towards those disabled. They don't treat them like normal people. And that's something the disabled have had to deal with for a long time, these people who have these paternalistic attitudes who just want to help them, who don't think that they're able to do anything, who think that they're handicap is very too severe to overcome or who have a pitying attitude, who treat them like they need all help in the world. And neither of those attitudes are good for the social or mental or emotional health of those disabled people. And then, finally, we want to talk about the cost of care. Costs associated with disabled care are very high. And many disabled people require government assistance or government health care in order to overcome their disability. And many are on Social Security to help pay for those costs. And additional health services are often required in public venues to help them, including in schools and in offices. So for our cool down, the issues surrounding disability are very diverse and really go to all aspects of life when you are disabled. And so the question we want to think about as we think ahead is, what protections do we have for those who are disabled?

Hello, and welcome back. You may recall the phrase "All men are created equal." But you may also know that throughout the history of the United States, that that hasn't always been true under the law. In fact, many movements have been created in order to guarantee equality under the law for many different groups of people. And that includes a group of people called the disabled. And we want to talk about, during this section, how the disabled are protected by law in the United States. That's our topic in Section Three of Disabilities. Now there are three objectives in this lesson. The first objective is to define disability and describe mental and physical disabilities. The second objective is to examine the challenges individuals with disabilities face. And the third objective is to describe laws and policies designed to accommodate individuals with disabilities. And that's what we'll talk about during this section. Now the disabilities right movement is a group of people similar to the civil rights movement in the '60s to today, which fights to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and fight to provide them with equal access under the law. And what they do is they confront the disadvantages of being disabled and how society discriminates against those who are disabled, and they seek to create that equal access to opportunities, not to outcomes. In other words, they want the disabled to have the opportunity to succeed, but they don't want the guaranteed outcome. So because of their success in advocating for these kinds of reforms, there have been a few laws that have been passed that guarantee the disabled equal access and equal rights under the law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Air Carrier Access Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. And we'll talk about each of these in a little more detail. So there's the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, probably the most important piece of legislation for disabled rights. And it protects the disabled from discrimination in many areas, including employment, state and local government, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications. Now anybody who employs 15 or more people cannot discriminate against qualified individuals who happen to have a disability. And that means that the disabled must be given equal pay for equal work. They must be given equal training, which sometimes means making sure that they have access to training in a way that they can understand and comprehend. Making sure that they're hiring people who are disabled, if they're qualified for the position, and making sure that they're recruiting from people who are disabled. And then there's state and local government. State and local governments cannot discriminate against an individual with disabilities, and they have to be given the opportunity to benefit from all of the available programs, services, and activities that the state and local government provides to anybody else. And that includes equal access to voting booths, public education, employment, town meetings, and more. Then there's public accommodations. And that includes all of those businesses and nonprofit services that provide and sell things to the public at large. If you can go somewhere and buy something from that business, they have to follow certain guidelines that allow access to those with disabilities as well. And that includes retail stores, movie theaters, hotels, and convention centers. And that's why you see ramp access to many businesses that are above the ground. That's why you see handicap parking in so many different places. And these public accommodations also prohibit the exclusion, segregation, or unequal treatment of individuals with disabilities. You can't have, for instance, a section in a movie theater where only the disabled may sit or where are disabled are made to sit. They have to have equal access and opportunity to sit where they choose. Then there's public transportation, and that includes buses, vans, and rail systems or train systems. And all of the public transportation facilities must accommodate for individuals with disabilities. And that includes being able to get onto the vehicle and being able to be transported by the vehicle, even with any kind of assistive technology that they bring with them. So if they have a scooter that they have to ride because they're not mobile, they need to be able to somehow get onto that kind of public transportation. And if the city or municipality is unable to do that, they have to provide alternative transportation in order to help provide those services. And so you may see many cities with fleets of buses and vans or other vehicles that actually cater to that crowd and have assistive technologies on a smaller scale that operate by request. Then there are telecommunications companies and phone companies and so on who have to provide access to those who are using different kinds of telephones in order to communicate. For instance, those who are deaf have to have a special telecommunications device that allows them to communicate over long distances. And the telephone companies cannot discriminate against that type of service. They have to provide it as well. And then we want to talk about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004, called the IDEA Act. And it protects the rights of the disabled in the educational system. And what it means is that if you are identified as disabled and you are going to school in a public school in the United States, you have to get an Individualized Education Plan that aids you in attaining an appropriate education. And it keeps teachers focused on your needs and thinking about how they can best educate you as an individual and bypass your handicap to learning and therefore bypass your disability. And it also means that you get the least restrictive environment for the education. In other words, instead of putting all of the disabled students in one class where they're taught all day segregated from the rest of the students, they have to, if they are able to, be placed in the mainstream classroom so they can have that full experience. Then there's the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, which prohibits discrimination by domestic and international airlines serving the United States. And it allows for equal access to airport facilities, including lavatories, telephones, and so on, boarding assistance for those with disabilities, and accommodation for assistive equipment such as wheelchairs and so on that allow them to go on a plane flight normally. And reasonable services must be provided for the disabled upon request. Adjusting seating, helping and assisting the disabled to the lavatory and so on. And then there's the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. And it's very similar to the Americans With Disabilities Act, but it prevents discrimination in federally funded programs or on those contractors who receive federal money. So any business that receives money from the US government must make sure that they are following all of the guidelines that apply to any of the state or local under the Americans with Disabilities Act. And these federal agencies must also provide electronic and information technology, which can be accessed by both the blind and the deaf so that everybody has equal access to all of that information. So for our cool down, we talked about how the disability rights movement fought and advocated for laws and policies that now protect the disabled and their rights in the United States. So we're at the lesson summary. We want to talk about what we learned during the course of this lesson. First we talked about that disabilities are a limit on activities. And that they include both physical and mental disabilities. And then there are the daily challenges that the disabled face in everyday life. And in addition to the daily challenges, there are challenges of mobility, accessibility, especially in online and electronic capacities, educational challenges, social challenges, and the challenge of cost. And then finally there are the laws and policies which protect the disabled in the United States. And they include the Americans with Disabilities Act. That's the main one and it protects the rights of the disabled. So I hope that during the course of this lesson, you learned a little bit about disability, the challenges that the disabled have to overcome, and the ways that the United States protects their rights.