Did you know that this is National Disability Awareness Month? Unless you are part of the disabled community, you probably had never heard of it. We have National Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, and even Earth Month. Then there are special days for various issues. All of these get media attention. The newspapers run series on how these issues have affected our lives, and television runs ads, news articles, and special programming to feature whatever special issue is being promoted. That is, unless it is concerning the disabled, and then the media is conspicuous in its silence. But we, the disabled, will be silent no longer.
Of all the “minority groups”, the Disabled are the largest, with one in five citizens having to deal with a disability. Further, this is the only minority that you can join, but do not want to. Except for the ADA, the disabled have been ignored, both by the politicians and by the advocacy groups. It has been so undermined by politicians, a lack of effective enforcement and the courts that it has minimal effectiveness. You see this every day when even the doors to many city halls have yet to be replaced so that someone in a wheelchair can open them without help.
Unemployment for the disabled is rampant. The disabled have an unemployment rate of 15.8%. But underlying these figures was the fact that a staggering 77% of the employable disabled were counted as no longer in the employment force.
To that is added the fact that many of the disabled are not hired for main-stream jobs. With multiple individuals trying to find a job, the disabled are the first to be fired and the last to be hired. On top of that, the U. S. Government Department of Labor allows the disabled to be paid less than minimum wage. Goodwill Industries, a major employer of the disabled, has been found to be paying less than $1.50 per hour.
Where are the advocates for the disabled? Where are those standing in the doorways of General Motors, Bank of America, and the government, saying “What about us? Why should we be discriminated against?” Where are the liberal activists who routinely claim discrimination over the littlest slight, yet ignore the barriers routinely placed in front of the disabled of all races and creeds?
In this National Disability Awareness Month, please, be aware of the disabled: of our needs, our desires, and our contributions to America. Just because we have issues, physically, mentally, or both, does not mean that we are not as deserving of jobs, employment, housing, access to buildings, and other life amenities that the non-disabled take for granted. We are not asking for preferences. All we are asking for is a chance to be part of the American Dream. So please, join us to help make America more open and accepting to the disabled.
