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You are here: Experts > Parenting/Family > Parenting Special Needs > Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) > People With Special Needs
Expert: Norm Bishop - 11/2/2009
Question
I am sorry if this question has nothing to do with your topic. I am only 13 years old and I am having a debate about "Society Does Not Discriminate Against People With Special Needs". I know that the society does everything they can do to help people with special needs but there are still people that do. What percent of the population still discriminate against people with special needs? What percent of disabled people are unemployed? And what percent of the american population has special needs? If you can please answer my questions, if this is not your topic, could you give name me an expert that knows about this well?
Thank-you,
Jacqueline
Answer
You are correct, your questions are outside my area of expertise. My expertise is within the area of education for students with special needs.
First, all the world (society) is not on the same page when we think about discrimination disabled persons. There are parts of the world where disabled persons can do nothing but sit on the street and beg, or worse yet, are killed because they have a disability. In the free world and more advanced countries you are correct, more disabled persons do not suffer discrimination, it is probably better than ever before. However, in the United States, in schools, there is still discrimination that takes place. Three days ago I saw some children who I would label as "bullies" unmercifully teasing a child who has autism. They were tossing his backpack between themselves as he raced from person to person trying to get it back. If I hadn't stopped them, the child may still be without his possessions in the backpack. That sort of discrimination happens daily, hopefully not in the same place. There is also remaining discrimination in the workplace. Everyday someone is NOT hired because they have a disability.
I do not know percentages of disabled that are unemployed, but in the USA it is a higher percentage than those who are not disabled. There is also no statistic kept on how many people are discriminated against.
In schools the percentage of students in US that have a disability is between 12 and 13 percent. Those least likely to be disabled against are those with visually observable disabilities. The more invisible the disability, the more likely they will be discriminated against. For example, a student with a Learning Disability who struggles with reading and is distracted easily is often seen as "lazy" and "unmotivated." The student has a dysfunction within the way their brain works that LOOKS like lazy...some teachers automatically assume the lazy interpretation.
As you can tell, I fall on the other side of your argument. While in the USA persons with disabilities have it better than at any other point in our history (regarding discrimination), but it isn't even close to being eliminated.
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