Analysis Of No Pity By Joseph P. Shapiro

According to the American Community Survey, “The overall rate of people with disabilities in the US population in 2015 was 12.6%” (2). Although this percentage may seem insignificant, that number translates to well over millions of citizens who have disabilities. Considering this, everyone is likely to encounter a person with a disability at some point in their lives, so it is important that they are aware of how to be inclusive and interact with them. They may be people, but the society has discriminated against them in the past. The good news is that there has been progress because of the awareness that has been brought to the issues. I will utilize chapter 2 in No Pity by Joseph P. Shapiro to showcase some of the changes that have been occuring …show more content…
For example, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA is a law that was passed in 1990. This law prevents people with disabilities from facing discrimination in regards to schools, jobs, and several other things. This prevents these organizations from denying people with disability because of their disability. Although the ADA as a whole was a big law passed and led the shift to being more inclusive, I will focus on the section that relates to schools. This section required that schools make accommodations and open their programs to people with disabilities. These accommodations can range from ensuring school buildings are wheelchair accessible to providing resources that provide people with disabilities with assistance. I can see the change first hand at my own university. Ensuring that the new buildings on campus are wheelchair accessible appears to be on the mind of the university. Another example I have experienced at the University of Illinois where the school ensures students with disabilities have the proper accomendations is providing translator to sit in on lectures for deaf students. This occurs because the school is aware that they have students with disabilities, so being inclusive and providing these accommodations will allow people with disabilities to achieve higher education and the idea independence Roberts mentions in No Pity at the university. Previously, these accommodation were not present as shown by Roberts’ story. Roberts and the other students with disabilities had to take lead in order to implement programs and fight for the rights of people with disabilities when they attempted to kick them out because they were not performing up to the schools