Because the underlying belief is that the disabled are deformed and so their continued existence is like someone with a repulsive disease who just will not die.

Not to be competitive but mental disability …as in an actual brain injury or disease, well actually any kind of majod mental disability really, is far more difficult than parapalegia, etc.

If you cannot function cognitively you literally cannot have any kind of adult life. No job, no family, living a poverty line existence in spite of excessive medical costs. Think of someone who is mentally retarded. How difficult is it to attain anything substantial with that problem? How long does one with retardation live without someone supporting financially and so many other ways their entire life? And the worst question, how is it possible for any person who does not come from a lot of money to be supported in that fashion. The answer it is not possible and I suspect that the majority of those with mental retardation did before they hit 50.

So much for the West being civilized.

I suppose there is a hierarchy of burdens from least to worst thaf coulc be talked about. Obviously, terminal illness would be at the top of the how burdened are you scale. And, yes, race/ethnicity/sex/etc are miniscule in comparison to disability.

Do not expect it to be admitted. The non disabled minority groups are made up of people who discriminate and despise those with major disabilities. Being a minority does not make you a decent human being. The human condition seems to entail mistreating those less able than yourself.

You’re welcome, Nicole. What is your son’s disability? This article might be considered “old” by internet standards yet the situation is still very much current. Right now we are starting a #Makesomenoise revolution where we post on social media using that hashtag any sliver of our lives to show that we are more than our disability. Join us.

Thank you, Justin.
Email me Nathasha @ audacitymagazine.com if you’re interested in writing a guest post for us about your experience.

That aside, one day you will find the leading newspaper criticizing a politician using the word crippled/handicapped to ridicule the way government is functioning, only to discover the very next day, the same newspaper’s cartoonist illustrate the governments functioning through a man in crutches.

My government thinks that people with disabilities can survive with less than $20 per month even when inflation hovers around 10% and a 10 mile taxi ride would cost you $5 (just in case a severely disabled needs to go a hospital) .

Accessibility to the washroom? I would consider myself lucky if I find one restaurant or grocery store that is wheelchair accessible in my neighborhood (no, I don’t live in a deserted place. There must be easily some 500 restaurants and 1000 stores within a 2 mile radius around me. I can only think of those 4-5 newly built malls some 10 miles away, where there is this concept of accessibility (although some places have steep ramps) but the toilets are still used by janitors to keep supplies. Even hospitals don’t have a reserved parking for the physically challenged.

I have come to realize only people with disabilities realize the challenges we face. How many ever times we try to explain to the able bodied persons, it is hard for them to understand our challenges.

As a quadriplegic, I consider each of these as ‘one additional barrier’. The best I could do is to change myself and see how I can overcome these. Part of the blame lies with people like me who do not come out of their houses…other minorities used ‘collective bargaining’ as a good tool to demand what they wanted. Sadly, in our cases, most of us feel our daily activities are by itself a mountain to climb…..anyway, that is the story from this side of the world!

Why do you think it has gotten worse and not better?

Why do you think it’s gotten worse?

Marlene, thank you so much for commenting. Since you didn’t give any information about yourself, I don’t know if you are black or disabled, both or neither. But I do know this: I don’t discriminate against blacks. No where does it say so in the article. And people with disabilities discriminate get discriminated because of pity, hate, fear, and ignorance. Are you sure that disabled people hate blacks? That’s what you wrote. Is this from personal experience?