Discrimination Against People with Disabilities Essay Example

act states that employers can not discriminate against individuals with disabilities, they still do. For example, in many cases it is noticed that employers fire employees by stating that they do not currently need any workers. There is also economic problems that are encountered by people with disabilities. These economic problems arise from the fact those people with disabilities, who hold jobs earn lower wages compared to healthy working individuals.

The research “Disabled Employees Face Barriers” (Schupner, 2004, p. 1) provides statistics of people with disabilities in of the United States in 1995, where “82 percent of Americans without disabilities were employed. The number drops for people with disabilities: 77 percent with non-severe disabilities and only 26 percent with disabilities were employed. ” These people earn a lot less. As a comparison, the study showed that the healthy men earned about $2,190 while men with severe disabilities earned only $1,262.

The statistics also show that the disabled women’s rate to unemployment is worse than for the healthy women’ rate. It is also true and stated (Schupner, 2004, p. 1) that the healthy women earned about $1,470 monthly, while the women with severe disabilities earned about $1,000 per month. Schupner (2004, p. 2) also indicates that most individuals with disabilities refuse to fight against attitude barriers created by the employers and co-workers. These people prefer to get their regular benefits from Social Security (http://www. ssa. gov), than to be around people who will hurt them emotionally or even physically due to their disabilities. It is easier for them to receive their benefits even though it is only $ 850 per month.

The next most

common problem for people with disabilities is housing. The Fair Housing Act (ADA, 1990) requires the owners of housing facilities to give people with disabilities equal opportunities. For example, some of the landlords do not permit renters to have pets although blind people need to have a guide dog accompanying them inside or utside of their house. Another actors of discrimination are the width of doors in kitchens and bathrooms that prevent people with disabilities to access premisses for wheelchairs. According to research study (Manning, 2004, p. 2), “since January, 2001, the Civil Rights Division has filed 145 lawsuits alleging discrimination in housing, including 65 based on disability. ” One of the recent lawsuits that took place in Delaware was closed with the agreement to pay $60,000 in damages to four people that were discriminated due to their disabilities.

Another case was brought against six construction companies, who were responsible for 289 ground floor apartments at Rockwood and West Creek Village and 133 condominium units at Bethany Bay Resort Community. The judgement in this case was that the companies should pay $400,000 to people who were “injured by inaccessible housing. ” They also had to make improvements in the condominiums for the amount “up to $350,000 if the private owners want to have them. ”

The Americans with Disabilities Act has helped people in places of employment, finding housing, and has lead many of them to file lawsuits against companies that discriminated their rights. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act was also passed to protect people with disabilities in public places, with the enjoyment of public services, and at places of education. This

was done in public places, where buildings and public facilities were not always accessible to people with disabilities. For example, someone in a wheelchair was orced to stay home most of the time because there were no wheelchair access in many public places.

The lack of wheelchair access, parking stalls, ramps, the correct height of counter tops, or the width of doors were the reasons why the people with disabilities were not seen on the street often. This is a form of discrimination because disabled people should not be denied an access to buildings or any other places only because they unfortunately are users of wheelchairs. According to the researcher (Manning, 2004, p. 9) he city of Texas, has made some reconstructions of streets for the people with mobility disabilities.

These are the basic services that the local and state government should have provided to the public. The case described by Manning (2004, p. 9), is about Kristen Jones, who is a wheelchair user. She has filed a lawsuit in Houston City against the city in violation of the American with Disabilities Act. Under this law and Title III, the city was required to make construction modifications to the public areas be accessible by people with disabilities (Mezey, 2004, p127).

Although it is city’s responsibility to provide people with disabilities with some sort of accommodation to ease people’s way of getting around town like any normal person would. The City of Houston has been discriminating against people with mobility disabilities and didn’t even notice the unfair treatment until Jones has filed a lawsuit against the city. As Manning (2004, p. 9) indicates,

Jones claimed: “When ever you upgrade a street or significantly modify it, you have to also make the curbs wheelchair- accessible.

It’s that simple. But in many cases, the city and Metro ignored that requirement. ” The research provided the response of a spokesperson who said: “wheelchair-accessible ramps and walk lights are among the issues of compliance, and that the city intends to provide the required information by the required dates. ” People are aware of these types of everyday challenges that a person with a disability faces, but most of the time the person with the disability is forced to speak out before there are any major changes are made.

Another case where people with a disabilities were discriminated was the case involving nine blind people and the Internet America Online Company. Waddall (2000, p. 22), provides detailed information about an event that happened on November 4, 1999. On trial day the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) and nine blind plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit in the U. S. district, saying that American Online Inc. (AOL) is “inaccessible to blind users. ” Although it sounds strange and unusual to think that blind people can use the internet or a computer, they do. However, American Online Company does not make the software accessible for blind users.