People with disabilities around the world should be treated the same way: as any able bodied person, capable of anything they put their mind to. People with disabilities have similar lifestyles and struggles around the world which led to movements and acts to in helps of self determination. There have been many movements and events across the world that helped these people to establish rights for themselves when it comes to working, education, and even everyday life. These movements included the disability rights movement, The Americans with Disabilities Act, Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and also the Disability Discrimination Act.

First, the disability rights movement aimed to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. The movement began in the 1970’s and followed examples of the civil rights movement and also the women’s rights movement. The focus for people with physical disabilities was easier accessibility which can be seen by transit lifts, wheelchair ramps, and curb cuts (Switzer, 2003). The goal of this movement was to give these people a better way of life and to be more accepted by society. For a long time people with disabilities were institutionalized, and with the help of this movement that slowly began to stop. The people who participated in this movement wanted everyone to see that they could have a normal life just like everyone else; they just needed help from the government. A nationwide sit in helped the government to release the Rehabilitation Act, which was the most important disability rights legislation in the United States until the Americans with Disabilities Act (Switzer, 2003). This movement helped people with disabilities in such a positive way with assistance in employment, education, and everyday life which showed the support they needed by the government.

People in America with disabilities struggled through many years of hardship before others began to realize that they were entitled to have a normal life. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was designed to protect the rights of people with virtually any physical or mental disability. The ADA covered multiple areas such as employment, public entities, public accommodations, telecommunications, and miscellaneous provisions (Goren, 2007). The ADA helped people with disabilities right to self determination by giving them more confidence in themselves in everyday life, such as employment. This was an important event in America because it showed people with disabilities that steps were being made to help them with work and everyday life. The ADA was not just a law, but a way of life for people with disabilities, this law helped them to do every day things to help with self determination, so they could do what they wanted to do without being held back.

Also, according to the ADA, “a person has a disability if he or she: has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life’s major activities; has a record of such an impairment regardless of whether he or she currently is substantially limited in a major life activity; or is perceived as having such an impairment” (Goren, 2007, p. 7). Disabilities in the work place were once not allowed, but after the ADA it was unlawful to discriminate against people with disabilities. If people with disabilities were qualified to do a job, the ADA protected them from job discrimination on the basis of their disability. This helped people with disabilities to have the right of self determination by finally allowing them to be able to work if they were just as qualified as any other applicant. The employment rate of people with disabilities has increased from 43% in 1997, to 51% in 2005 (Goren, 2007). This was the major goal of the ADA, to help people with disabilities to a normal life without discrimination, which helped them positively by giving them a new way of life. The ADA also helped people with disabilities in the fight for special education and equal education.

Next, special education in schools was a long and hard fight for many families with children who had disabilities. Many children with disabilities were denied access to public education altogether, and many states had laws that excluded children with major disabilities such as deafness, blindness, and mental retardation. During the 1960’s, an increasing level of school access was established for children with disabilities at the state and local levels (Osgood, 2008). Congress approved the “Education for All Handicapped Children Act” on November 29, 1975. This law was intended to ”support states and localities in: protecting the rights of, meeting the individual needs of, and improving the results for infants, toddlers, children and youths with disabilities and their families” (Osgood, 2008, pg 21). This proved to be the cornerstone of special education, which required public schools to provide free appropriate public education to students with a wide range of disabilities including physical problems and other learning disorders. It also mandated that school districts proved such schools in the least restrictive environment possible (Sacks, 2001).


In essence, the inclusion of special education in schools was a much needed win for more than 6.5 million children and their families. The goal of this act was to help these children and their families gain education and have the opportunity to go to school like every other child. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act has been expanded frequently since 1983, which included parent training and information centers at the state level, having early intervention programs for infants, education services for preschoolers, and then in 1990 the act was finally renamed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (Osgood, 2008). This has helped many families positively by giving their children with disabilities the same opportunity as any other children in America.

Throughout history people with disabilities have made a monumental impact on American society. Many helpful laws have been put in place so that people with disabilities can have as normal a life as anyone else. In other places, such as Britain, times were rougher for people with disabilities. People with disabilities remained very disadvantaged in their society, until the help of the movement, Nothing Without Us or Nothing About Us, was put into place. This movement helped begin to re-shape people with disabilities relationships with public services (Crowther, 2007). In this movement they replaced all commissions with a single equality act, Commission for Equality and Human Rights. This helped all people with disabilities and is very similar to the American’s disability movement, assisting with education and employment. This helped the people with disabilities in Britain by again showing their government was trying to help them have a more normal life without discrimination.

Also, Britain came out with DDA, the Disability Discrimination Act, which helped people with disabilities in the area of employment, education, and public access. This is very similar to the American IDEA and ADA put together. Instead of having two separate Acts, they have one that addresses everything. The goal of this movement was to help all people and children with disabilities by giving them an equal opportunity to engage in everyday life like anyone else. The DDA also provides a map to people who want it that shows accessibility information from football stadiums to train stations (Clements & Read, 2003). This also positively affected people with disabilities in Britain by giving them a chance to work, go to school, and also by seeing that the government is giving them a resource to locate all the places they can access.

Finally, the government was very helpful by passing all the laws it did so that people with disabilities could have rights and engage in activities that anyone else could do. The goal of all these movements was to help all people with disabilities by giving them the right to the life they deserve. It was very inspiring to see all the hard work and determination that the people with disabilities went through so they could live the life they want. Giving people with disabilities the right to do what they want when they want and not having to live in an institution is a right in itself. These people should not have ever been institutionalized because they did not have as much as somebody, they work with what they have to make a normal life of their own and nobody should ever take that away from them. Going through life with a disability used to be nearly impossible, but now with the help of the government and the acts they established; the Disability Rights Movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and the Disability Discrimination Act, people with disabilities can have an enjoyable, productive life just like anyone else.
Here, Sara is showing her success in the Special Olympics, which lets others know that anyone is capable of what they put their mind to.