Disability Awareness

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Disability Awareness
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What is a Disability?
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (ADA) The term Disability refers to any
individual who

• Has a physical or mental impairment that
  substantially limits one or more of the major
  life activities of such individual 
• Has a record of such impairment or 
• Has been regarded as having such an impairment.
  (P.L. 101-336, Sec. )

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What are Major Life Activities?

• A major life activity is an activity that an
  average person can perform with little or no
  difficulty.
• Examples
• Walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing,
  learning, performing manual tasks, caring for
  oneself, working, sitting, standing, lifting, and
  reading.

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Having a Record of Such Impairment

• A person may have a family history of cancer of
  high blood pressure and thus be treated as if he
  or she were disabled.

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Being Regarded as Having Such an Impairment

• An individual is protected under this part of the
  definition in three circumstances.
• A person may have an impairment that is not
  substantially limiting but is perceived as being
  a substantially limiting impairment

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Being Regarded as Having Such an Impairment
Continued

• A person may have an impairment that is only
  substantially limiting because of the attitudes
  of others
• person may not have a disability, but be regard
  by the employer or other covered agency as having
  a substantial limiting impairment

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Disability vs. Handicap

• Disability- A condition which substantially
  limits one or more major life activities
• Handicap- a physical or attitudinal constraint
  imposed upon a person, regardless of whether that
  person has a disability

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Statistics Regarding Disabilities

• About 15 or 16 people have a disability in the
  United States
• 37.7 of people with a disability in the United
  States are employed

Everyone will be disabled at some point in their
lives
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How To Address People with Disabilities

• Treat people with disabilities the same as those
  without disabilities.
• Put the person first, disability second.
• Ex Say, Zack who has epilepsy not the
  epileptic, Zack.
• When referring to a collective general group of
  people with disabilities say, People with
  disabilities or Individuals with disabilities.

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Terms to Avoid

• Brave
• Challenged
• Courageous
• Disabled
• Handi-capable
• Inspirational

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Terms You Should Never Use

• Afflicted by/afflicted with
• Crip/cripple/crippled/the crippled/crippling
• Deaf and dumb
• Deformed
• Homebound employment (use instead "employed in
  the home")
• Special (one exception is when you are referring
  to the Special Olympics)

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Terms You Should Never Use Continued

• Invalid
• Normal (as the opposite of having a disability)
• Unfortunate, pitiful, poor
• Victim
• Wheelchair bound/confined to a wheelchair
  (instead use, "uses a wheelchair")
• Midget (instead use, Person of short stature)

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Social Interaction

• Speak directly to the person with the disability
  (Do not speak to an interpreter)
• Never go up to a person who uses a wheelchair and
  start) pushing them (Instead ask if they would
  like assistance and wait for a response before
  acting. This applies to all physical
  disabilities)

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Social Interaction Continued

• Speak to people with disabilities like you would
  normally speak to a person without disabilities
• People who achieve great goals such as the
  Paralympics, extreme physical feats, etc. should
  not be referred to as exceptional because of
  their disability. They should be exceptional
  because of their achievement alone.
• Emphasize abilities (especially in the
  circumstance of an interview or the like

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The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has
Five Titles

• Employment
• Public Services
• Public Accommodations
• Telecommunications
• Miscellaneous Provisions

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Employment

• Employers may not discriminate against people
  with disabilities based on their disability
• Employers must make reasonable accommodations for
  employees with disabilities
• Employers can use medical entrance examinations
  for applicants, after making the job offer, and
  only if all applicants (regardless of disability)
  must take it

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Public Services

• There are two sections of Public Service that are
  covered
• Section 1 Public (Government) agencies must
  provide access to all programs. This includes
• Accessible design or policy access
• Section 2 Public transportation must provide
  accommodations for persons with disabilities

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Public Accommodations

• Under Title III, no individual may be
  discriminated against on the basis of disability
  with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of
  the goods, services, facilities, or
  accommodations of any place of public
  accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or
  leases to), or operates a place of public
  accommodation.

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Public Accommodations Continued

• "Public accommodations" include most places of
  lodging (such as inns and hotels), recreation,
  transportation, education, and dining, along with
  stores, care providers, and places of public
  displays, among other things.
• Does a restaurant that uses dim lighting to
  provide a specific dining experience to its
  customers have to turn up the lights for a
  customer with visual impairments?

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Telecommunications

• This section requires telecommunications
  companies to take steps to ensure functionally
  equivalent services for customers with
  disabilities (Primarily those who have hearing or
  speech impairments).
• Relay services are used
• Video relay services (VRS) are becoming more
  popular
• In 2006, VRS averaged 2 million minutes a month

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Miscellaneous Provisions

• This section discusses technicalities of the ADA
  which we wont go into detail about.
• Example
• The ADA states that it doesnt overrule anything
  in section 504 (which discusses that no
  individual with a disability may be discriminated
  by any federal agency or group that receives
  federal funding).

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Disabilities
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Mobility Impairment

• Mobility impairment refers to the inability of a
  person to use one or more of his/her extremities,
  or a lack of strength to walk, grasp, or lift
  objects. The use of a wheelchair, crutches, or a
  walker may be utilized to aid in mobility.

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Cognitive Impairment

• A cognitive impairment affects a persons ability
  to reason, understand, and learn. Cognitive
  disabilities are separated into two categories
• Learning disabilities
• Intellectual disabilities

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Mental Disability

• A psychiatric disability caused by numerous
  factors including a biological, physiological or
  psychological disorder or a chemical disorder of
  the brain.

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Hearing Impairment

• Hearing impairments range from a mild hearing
  loss to total deafness. Those who are hard of
  hearing often use their residual hearing and lip
  read when communicating face-to-face. People who
  are deaf may use
• American Sign Language
• lip-read and
• may speak for themselves or use a sign-language
  interpreter.

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Visual Impairment

• A visual impairment affects a persons ability to
  see, and includes
• Inability to see images clearly and distinctly
• Loss of visual field
• Inability to detect small changes in brightness
• Color blindness
• Sensitivity to light
• A cane or sight dog may be used to assist with
  mobility, and/or Braille may be used to read.

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Speech Impairments

• Speech impairments range from problems with
  articulation or voice strength to complete
  voicelessness.
• People with speech impairments may have
  difficulty in projection, articulation and
  fluency.
• Some people with speech impairments may use
  assistive devices or an interpreter to
  communicate.

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Developmental Disability

• Any mental or physical disability manifested by
  the age of 22 that may continue indefinitely and
  result in substantial limitation in three or more
  of the following
• Self-care, receptive and expressive language,
  learning, mobility, self-direction, independent
  living or economic sufficiency (Major Life
  Activities) .

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Autism

• Classified as a developmental disorder
• In most cases, autism causes problems with
• Communication, both verbal and nonverbal
• Social interactions with other people, both
  physical (such as hugging or holding) and verbal
  (such as having a conversation)
• Routines or repetitive behaviors, like repeating
  words or actions over and over, obsessively
  following routines or schedules for their
  actions, or having very specific ways of
  arranging their belongings

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Cerebral Palsy

• A group of conditions resulting from damage to
  the central nervous system.
• Do not assume that a person with cerebral palsy
  also has an intellectual disability the two do
  not necessarily or typically occur together.

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Epilepsy

• Term for various disorders marked by electrical
  disturbances of the central nervous system and
  typically manifested by seizures, which are
  involuntary muscular contractions (Seizures).

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• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabi
  lities_Act_of_1990
• http//www.mtstcil.org/skills/ada2-b.html
• http//www.ucp.org/ucp_channeldoc.cfm/1/13/12632/1
  2632-12632/6184
• http//www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/rights/manu
  alstyle.html