Inclusion (disability rights)

Overview

Disability rights inclusion involves ensuring that individuals with disabilities have the same opportunities to engage in activities as people without disabilities and encouraging them to do so. Inclusion means to create an environment that allows such opportunities to occur by establishing and implementing policies and practices at all levels of society. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), disability affects between 13 and 26 percent of the US population and more than one billion people worldwide. Inclusivity requires a thorough understanding of how people function and participate in society so that everyone has the same opportunities regardless of their circumstances. In some instances, inclusion may entail removing barriers, both physical and otherwise. Inclusion involves providing equal and equitable opportunities for individuals and communities.

Inclusion is a moral and societal issue as well as a legal concern. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was passed in 1990, requires equal treatment and access to anyone with a disability in terms of employment and public accommodations. One of the purposes of the ADA is to provide individuals with disabilities the opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of society.

Although more inclusive laws have been written and physical barriers removed or modified, changing the attitudes some people have toward someone with a disability is one of the most important—and often difficult—tasks. Beginning in the 2010s, America saw a renewed interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) education, which has its roots in the 1960s and the civil rights movement. DEI’s scope broadened to include abilities, identities, religion, and sexual orientation. The DEI movement in the twenty-first century also places greater emphasis on diversifying government, business, and other public arenas so that inclusion exists not only on paper but is practiced in everyday life.

The concept of equality was an important philosophical and governmental issue for the ancient Greeks. Plato believed that those who shared commonalities should be treated similarly, including women. Aristotle shared some of Plato’s beliefs but also supported a hierarchal system of control that did not necessarily extend equality to women or those who were enslaved. By the seventeenth century, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke addressed the principle of natural equality. Hobbes noted that equality across society was logical because, at any time, one person could kill another person, no matter what their wealth or social status. Locke, on the other hand, viewed all individuals as having fundamental, natural rights, including life, liberty, and personal property. While Locke also believed that individuals had the right to protect themselves and lead their lives as they saw fit, he did not condone murder, saying those who murder act beyond reason and do not deserve the same rights as others.

Select Social Movements

Social movements are informal organizing by individuals and groups who share a purpose or identity and engage in political or social actions toward a goal that involves cultural change. A historic look at social movements in the United States can be read as a timeline of a fight for equality by marginalized groups. The women’s rights movement, for example, began in the late nineteenth century and was led by a core group of women—notably Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott—many of whom began their activism as abolitionists. The movement focused on several issues, including property rights, but the core issue was gaining the right to vote. Though some states granted this right to women, often in a limited fashion, nationally, women were prohibited from voting until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Once this occurred, supporters of the movement shifted focus to eradicating sex discrimination by equalizing legal concerns such as divorce, property rights, and employment, for example. Many women’s rights groups and individuals pushed for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was first proposed in US Congress in 1923, but it was many decades before the amendment made real progress. A large and well-organized push to adopt the ERA swelled during the 1960s. Congress approved the ERA in 1972, but the amendment failed to achieve ratification by three-fourths of the states in the time allotted by Congress.

Many other social movements also evolved during the 1960s. Efforts were made to improve equality among races, particularly equality for African Americans. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act helped to end the Jim Crow era in the South, which for decades had disenfranchised Black voters and prevented African Americans from equal opportunities. In the late twentieth century, affirmative action policies helped create more diverse employee and student populations. One goal of such laws was to create a more inclusive environment, where individuals had the same opportunities in theory as well as in practice. The laws took into account the reality that some groups needed additional assistance to achieve a similar end result. Opportunities for many African Americans improved, but society had much further to go.

Disability in History

For centuries, individuals with disabilities were viewed with pity or fear because of their differences. They were considered unintelligent and unable to contribute meaningfully to society. In many cases, people with disabilities were placed in hospitals, institutions, or asylums. Some spent their lives in such facilities, while others were subjected to dubious and ineffective treatments and returned to a society that did not value their actions or view them as equals. Society completely marginalized people with disabilities until World War I, which produced about two million American veterans who returned home with blindness, amputation, and other injuries. Following the war, veterans demanded the US government provide rehabilitation and assistance to those who had served. In the 1930s, technological advancements allowed some people with disabilities to lead more independent lives. The decade was also marked in the United States by the first president to have a disability while in office. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt advocated for those with disabilities, but hid his own disability—paralysis caused by poliomyelitis—from the public whenever possible. For example, photographers were not to photograph the president when his wheelchair was easily seen or in ways that revealed he was using leg braces.

World War II veterans similarly demanded vocational and rehabilitative training starting in the 1940s. Rather than hide their disabilities, many made them visible to the general public and encouraged open conversations. The dialogue that spawned from increased disability visibility increased awareness of the existing lack of equity. While technology made some things theoretically easier for those with disabilities, several roadblocks thwarted inclusivity and independence. For example, public transportation was not fully equipped to accommodate individuals in wheelchairs, and most buildings were not fitted with appropriate ramps, elevators, or bathrooms. Thus, although laws existed to provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities, the laws stopped short of requiring the means to be implemented.

Disability advocates joined with other marginalized groups in the 1960s to raise awareness and support for civil rights. They demanded, among other concerns, equal access and opportunity. Their efforts yielded the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), which protects individuals from discrimination based on their disability. It requires that organizations and employers provide individuals with disabilities equal opportunity to receive program benefits and services. In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act gave equal access to public education to children with disabilities. The act was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law by then-President George H. W. Bush in 1990, was created to give individuals with disabilities access to government services, employment, and other aspects of public life. Disability rights activists fought long and hard to get Congress to pass the law, for example, many participated in a demonstration in Washington, DC, that involved tossing aside crutches and wheelchairs and crawling up the steps of the US Capitol to demonstrate the inaccessibility of the halls of government. The ADA emphasizes equity in addition to equality and encourages people to react proactively instead of reactively. While these laws were specific to the United States, disability rights activism occurred in countries around the world and continues in the twenty-first century. For example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is an international treaty that aims to ensure equality in opportunities, accessibility, and inclusion.

Applications

Inclusion, in terms of disability rights, at its most basic level refers to results-oriented actions that allow individuals with disabilities to participate in all activities. Inclusive approaches and behaviors can differ, but ultimately, the goal is the same: to provide individuals with disabilities the same opportunities as others are afforded. In the United States, two approaches to inclusivity are universal design and disability mainstreaming. According to the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access at the University at Buffalo, universal design addresses numerous barriers that are faced by people with disabilities. The principles of universal design include equitable use, or design that is useful for people with diverse abilities; flexibility in use, meaning it accommodates individuals with various requirements and preferences, for example, captions on videos; simple and intuitive use, or easy to understand and use; perceptible information, meaning it is designed to effectively communicate information the user needs; tolerance for error, which means in minimizes the chances of accidental negative experiences; low physical effort, or efficiency and comfort for the user; and appropriate size and space for approach and use, which refers to ensuring users of all size, mobility, or other characteristics can access and use it, for example, a waiting room that has seats of various heights and widths, space sufficient for individuals in wheelchairs, service windows at heights for those using wheelchairs as well as walking, and wide doors. Universal design maximizes accessibility and usability to the fullest extent possible.

Disability inclusion allows individuals with disabilities to experience the same events and activities as those who do not have disabilities. Disability inclusion does not imply that all challenges will be eliminated. Instead, it focuses on eradicating major barriers that include, but are not limited to, inaccessible physical environments, a lack of assistive technology, biased attitudes of others, and structures and/or systemic belief systems that prohibit even general involvement from all people. Organizations cite several common barriers to inclusivity: attitudinal, communication, physical, policy, programmatic, social, and transportation. Attitudinal barriers such as stereotyping and perpetuating stigmas are some of the most difficult barriers to conquer because they involve changing the belief system of a particular person or group of people. Such behaviors cannot be controlled by laws and mark one of the final hurdles to conquer when creating an inclusive environment. Communication barriers include videos or broadcasts without captions and video descriptions. Physical barriers may include curbs and stairs; other examples are weight scales that do not accommodate individuals in wheelchairs. Examples of policy barriers include barring individuals from services or programs by refusing to provide reasonable accommodations. Programmatic barriers are those that prevent individuals with disabilities from receiving healthcare; for example, by using mammography equipment that cannot adjust for those with mobility impairment who cannot stand for the procedure. Social barriers are those that limit one’s functioning; for example, about three-fourths of adult individuals with disabilities are unemployed. Finally, transportation barriers include a lack of accessible transportation or public transportation that is at inconvenient distances or locations.

Individuals and organizations can take a variety of steps to be inclusive. Communication barriers impact many individuals, including those who may not have a disability, but represent some of the most logical barriers to approach proactively. For example, using larger-print type-on signage eliminates the need for someone with certain vision impairments to ask for help. Likewise, captioning, sign language interpreters, and clear and concise wording can help many individuals better understand messages. Physical barriers represent an opportunity for planners to act inclusively when designing a physical space. One way to overcome programmatic barriers is to better educate medical professionals on various disabilities. Not only does this knowledge allow for better medical care, but it also helps to reduce stereotyping and other prejudices. A major concern regarding social barriers is education. Individuals with disabilities are less likely to complete high school. This has lifelong implications because they are more likely to earn less than their peers who do not have disabilities. Transportation barriers are often difficult to overcome even though they are directly addressed by the ADA, for example, a city may have wheelchair-accessible public buses but might not enforce requirements to keep bus stops clear to ensure access and safety of individuals.

Viewpoints

Mainstreaming challenges preconceived notions of disability by immersing individuals with disabilities in the same activities and situations as persons without disabilities. A goal of mainstreaming is to promote social inclusion. Mainstreaming is often discussed in connection with education and is not without controversy. Although some educators consider mainstreaming a part of inclusion, others argue it is a distinct method for encouraging socialization. In mainstreaming, individuals are asked to adapt to the specifics of a particular classroom, whereas an inclusive classroom adapts to the specific needs of its students. Education-based initiatives like No Child Left Behind (2002–2015) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act supported mainstreaming children with disabilities to better integrate them outside the classroom.

In modern times, the United States has taken a mixed-methods approach with regard to providing individuals with disabilities the best public education possible. Educators utilize a combination of inclusion and mainstreaming to provide an education that fills knowledge and socialization requirements. Inclusion is not only found in education. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, was signed in 2010 with the goal of making healthcare available and affordable to everyone, including those with pre-existing conditions. Before the ACA, many individuals were denied health insurance because of disabilities or were only offered prohibitively expensive insurance. Although efforts have been made in healthcare and education with regard to disability inclusion, a number of barriers exist in these and many other fields.

Bibliography

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"Disability Barriers to Inclusion." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Dec. 2024, www.cdc.gov/disability-inclusion/barriers. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

"Disability Inclusion." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Dec. 2024, www.cdc.gov/disability-inclusion/about/index.html. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

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Frede, Dorothea. “Equal but Not Equal: Plato and Aristotle on Women as Citizens.” Democracy, Justice, and Equality in Ancient Greece: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives, vol. 132, 2018, doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96313-6‗13. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

Steinfeld, E., and Maisel, J. "What Is Universal Design?" Center for Inclusive Design and Environment Access, 2012, idea.ap.buffalo.edu/about/universal-design. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

"Your Rights under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act." US Department of Health and Human Services, 2006, www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocr/civilrights/resources/factsheets/504.pdf. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.