needs and report on issues from a local to a national scope (Sirianni & Friedland, 2001). Issues that affect America can be reported through this form of media. An issue question that needs answered is how can the rights of all individuals with disabilities be improved and protected in America?
Answer to Social Movement Question The disability rights movement has impacted the American way of life for millions of individuals who are affected by a disability. It estimated that the “data from the 1990 and 1991 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) reveal that 34.2 million noninstitutionalized Americans of fifteen years and over report a disability. A ‘disability’ is defined as having difficulty with or being unable to perform one or more activities, including seeing, hearing, speaking, lifting and carrying, climbing stairs, and walking” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 67). Three primary disabilities include individuals who are deaf, blind, and are affected by mobility impairments. Americans with disabilities did not chose to be disabled and have become oppressed and marginalized by distinction of their personal disability category (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). Being in a separated category of personhood, by subjective judgments made by other members of society without disabilities, creates a feeling of segregation in people with disabilities. It is vital for all members of society to have an understanding about a wide range of disabilities, and how to accept any individual with a given disability in the functions of American society. Individuals grouped within a particular disability share similar interests of oppositional consciousness that have them form “free spaces” of separation and increase communication and interaction with other individuals with similar characteristics. Close to 11 million Americans have a disability with difficulty hearing and can be classified as deaf (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). …show more content…
Individuals who have a deaf consciousness believe that they are unjustly treated within society based on their hearing impairments that lead them to “reject the legitimacy of their subordinate position,” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 69). People who are deaf often feel that they are treated unfairly in situations of “domination created by hearing people” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 69). It is of interest that people within the deaf community, against their feelings of being treated unfairly, value their deafness and if given the choice do not want to hear (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). Individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired continue to seek oppositional consciousness based on the confines placed upon them by members of society who are not hearing impaired. Deaf activists have pushed for communication strategies between the hearing and non-hearing with a “visual language, American Sign Language (ASL)” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 69). In the deaf community, efforts have been created and maintained to bridge the gap of communication. Just under 10 million Americans are affected by visual impairments, and around two million people are unable to read words in regular newsprint (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). …show more content…
78). People who are affected by the disability of blindness, do not feel as though their disability is seen by the public as similar to other disabilities that require more public awareness and independence with access to public facilities (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). People who are blind proceed with caution using issues of blind consciousness, when compared to creating coalitions with other disabilities, and those “factors greatly hamper the growth of a broad disability consciousness among blind people” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p.
Answer to Social Movement Question The disability rights movement has impacted the American way of life for millions of individuals who are affected by a disability. It estimated that the “data from the 1990 and 1991 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) reveal that 34.2 million noninstitutionalized Americans of fifteen years and over report a disability. A ‘disability’ is defined as having difficulty with or being unable to perform one or more activities, including seeing, hearing, speaking, lifting and carrying, climbing stairs, and walking” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 67). Three primary disabilities include individuals who are deaf, blind, and are affected by mobility impairments. Americans with disabilities did not chose to be disabled and have become oppressed and marginalized by distinction of their personal disability category (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). Being in a separated category of personhood, by subjective judgments made by other members of society without disabilities, creates a feeling of segregation in people with disabilities. It is vital for all members of society to have an understanding about a wide range of disabilities, and how to accept any individual with a given disability in the functions of American society. Individuals grouped within a particular disability share similar interests of oppositional consciousness that have them form “free spaces” of separation and increase communication and interaction with other individuals with similar characteristics. Close to 11 million Americans have a disability with difficulty hearing and can be classified as deaf (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). …show more content…
Individuals who have a deaf consciousness believe that they are unjustly treated within society based on their hearing impairments that lead them to “reject the legitimacy of their subordinate position,” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 69). People who are deaf often feel that they are treated unfairly in situations of “domination created by hearing people” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 69). It is of interest that people within the deaf community, against their feelings of being treated unfairly, value their deafness and if given the choice do not want to hear (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). Individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired continue to seek oppositional consciousness based on the confines placed upon them by members of society who are not hearing impaired. Deaf activists have pushed for communication strategies between the hearing and non-hearing with a “visual language, American Sign Language (ASL)” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p. 69). In the deaf community, efforts have been created and maintained to bridge the gap of communication. Just under 10 million Americans are affected by visual impairments, and around two million people are unable to read words in regular newsprint (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). …show more content…
78). People who are affected by the disability of blindness, do not feel as though their disability is seen by the public as similar to other disabilities that require more public awareness and independence with access to public facilities (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001). People who are blind proceed with caution using issues of blind consciousness, when compared to creating coalitions with other disabilities, and those “factors greatly hamper the growth of a broad disability consciousness among blind people” (Mansbridge & Morris, 2001, p.