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There are many different types of disabilities and disabled persons in the United States as well as throughout the world. While no one definition can adequately describe all disabilities, the universally-accepted definition describes a disability as
any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.(U.S. Department of Justice, ADA, 2007.) Determining whether a condition is recognized as a disability is decided on a case-by-case basis. (U.S. Department of Justice, ADA, 2007.) The term disability includes cognitive, developmental, intellectual, physical, and learning impairments. Some disabilities are congenital (present at birth), or the result of an accident or illness, or age-related. A person may be mildly or severely affected by their disability. Some examples of disabilities include attention deficit disorder, Down's syndrome, mental retardation, autism, deafness, blindness, dyslexia, paralysis, difficulty with memory, and brain injuries caused by trauma.
The term disability does not mean inability and it is not a sickness. (US National Library of Medicine, 2007.) Although many disabilities limit a person’s mobility and functionality, thousands of disabled individuals in the United States lead relatively normal lives which include working, playing, and socializing in a world designed for non-disabled persons. Many individuals in the public spotlight are, or were, disabled, including Helen Keller, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Senator Bob Dole, and entertainers Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. The purpose of this research paper is to focus on employment of disabled persons in the United States, what the government has done over the past thirty years to assist and protect disabled individuals in the workplace, and what difference (if any) these changes have made for disabled persons.
Employment provides individuals with social integration as well as many different, positive feelings about themselves. Pride, independence, security, self confidence, and self worth are just a few examples of what having a job can mean and how it can affect one’s perception of self. For a person with a disability however, securing and retaining employment has not always been an easy endeavor. Statistics reported in the 2006 Disability Status Report published by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York revealed that in the United States, approximately 37.7 percent of working-age people had a disability. In Texas, this percentage was 12.7. The percentage of people with a disability who did not have jobs, but were actively looking for one was 8.7 percent. The poverty rate was listed at 25.3 percent for working-aged disabled individuals. (Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, 2006 Disability Status Report. Ithaca, NY; Cornell University.)
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