Abstract:
Disability and Personhood are two ideas that meet in unfortunate circumstances. Persons with disabilities have their identities challenged as they are repeatedly seen as persons with less social stature. They are overlooked in obtaining jobs and when they do have jobs, they are overlooked for promotion as they are seen as less able to perform the duties the job requires. Persons with disabilities are subject to the stares of others, often a focus of the ire of the public for perceived advantages such as specialty parking. Recent civil rights law protects their rights, but the public is slow to accommodate the needs of this class of people. Cities still run special paratransit lines rather than modify their city buses, perpetuating 'separate but equal'. It is an issue found in our literature and disabled children do not have same educational access as those that are able bodied. Public perception and public reaction is of national concern, especially when the needs of the few seem to trample on the needs of the many. Disabled lives matter, the same as the able bodied. Public perception of our returning soldiers is admirable and it is spilling over into the lives of disabled civilians. It is an issue that needs wider acknowledgement and effort from everyday people to permit disabled persons to live fuller lives.
