Disabled Had Nothing or Little to Contribute

¶ … disabled had nothing or little to contribute to the world in the educational, social, or employment arena. For the most part those that were disabled either physically or mentally were shuffled off to the side and largely ignored. They would be taken care of by family members or institutions and any discussion of growth or accomplishment was quickly discouraged. While this seemed natural for many years, recent history has discovered that this was cruel in several ways.

Those who are disabled still have feelings, hopes, goals and desires that they have a right to pursue and explore. In addition the world was missing out on the many contributions to the work, school and social arenas that the disabled could provide. The United Kingdom has not been known for its kind treatment of the disabled and it has only been in recent history that things have begun to change.

While the United States and other areas of the world have federal mandates in place to protect the right of the disabled to be fully involved with the world, the United Kingdom has long since lagged in this arena. When someone in wheelchair applies for a government job there is no guarantee they can even attend the interview if the government building is not handicap accessible. In addition someone with seizure disorder can be released from her position if her disorder is discovered.

Until now, the only legislation relevant to disabled people in work has been the 1944 Disabled Persons Employment Act. This established the quota system, which is to be abolished under the government's Disability Discrimination Bill. The quota, which said that any workplace employing 20 or more people must have a minimum Of 3 per cent registered disabled employees, has never been enforced. Employers' organisations have been calling for its abolition, primarily because it sits so uneasily beside mainstream equal opportunities legislation.

However, at the moment in the absence of other legislation, the quota does operate as some form of benchmark. It can also serve as a lever for disabled people to get through the door. Many disability groups are therefore calling for the quota to be retained until the new law can be reviewed, and alternative monitoring schemes established. " This proposed study will answer the question about changing attitudes when it comes to the acceptance and treatment of the disabled in the United Kingdom.

INTRODUCTION STATEMENT OF PROBLEM LITERATURE REVIEW METHODOLOGY CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION The world of a disabled person can be extremely frustrating. The person who is disabled has to overcome obstacles that non-disabled people never have to face. The disabled person not only faces physical or mental obstacles but they also have to deal with the narrow minded attitudes of those is society who do not think they have anything to contribute to the world.

In many nations including the United States the disabled are protected by federal mandates that prevent discrimination against them based on their disability. In places with protections in place there are mandates to include handicap accessibility in many government and public places as well as consequences for the discrimination against a disabled person. When the disabled have protections in place it levels the playing field for them and allows them to work, be educated and socialize in the same way that non-disabled people take for granted.

When there are no measures in place to protect the rights of the disabled it becomes more difficult to manage daily life. Whether one can enter a building to go to school or work, whether one can be dismissed from their job because of their disability and other factors come into play. The world of a disabled person living in an area that does not have government mandates becomes much more narrow.

The disabled person has to depend on members of society to do the right thing and level the playing field for them. The disabled residents of the United Kingdom have had an uphill battle for many years. It has been common place in the UK for disabled people to face and be treated with extreme and blatant discrimination practices.

If one is honest about their disability in many parts of the United Kingdom one faces the possibility that they will be shut out of educational, social and employment opportunities because of their disability. As the world continues to globalize the changing attitudes towards the disabled is becoming well-known around the world. Today in many areas the disabled are being accommodated so that they can contribute as positive members of society to the world.

The United Kingdom is not one of the most advanced areas in the area of treatment of the disabled. While the UK has been behind in this arena for many years there seems to be some movement toward the improvement of treatment regarding the disabled within its boundaries. Whether or not the changing attitudes are going to be enough to level the playing field for its disabled has not been determined.

This study is going to answer whether the attitudes of UK residents, businesses and others has really changed toward disabled residents and if so has it been a positive or a negative change in attitude. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM While many grass roots organizations work to change the attitudes held in the United Kingdom regarding disabled residents the government has been slow to the call. The disabled population in the United Kingdom is not the only affected population in the mix.

With the current globalization in progress there are many travelers from around the world who work and reside in the UK. In addition there are many vacation seekers who travel tot the UK for their holiday. All of these transient movements provide the risk of disabled patrons being in the United Kingdom and not being able to function because of the lack of accommodations. As the topic begins to heat up it is becoming important to measure the attitudes of people in the United Kingdom regarding the disabled.

It is important to know what the attitudes are about the disabled in the United Kingdom so that decisions can be made about the need and/or level of possible future government involvement. While there have been occasional studies conducted about various aspects of being disabled there has been very little research conducted regarding the attitude of those in the United Kingdom toward disabled people.

A research study on the disabled and the changing attitudes will be beneficial to many organizations that have a future vested interest in outcome of the study. Until recently there was very little support for the disabled who lived, worked and played in the United Kingdom. More than two thirds of disabled people in the United Kingdom have no income but benefit, and a recent 1994 Mencap report estimates that Social Security Benefits to very severely disabled people fall short by an average 30 [pounds] a week.

Unemployed disabled people represent a significant pool of talent which employers can ill-afford to ignore. Traditionally in the UK the appropriate response to disability has been through charitable giving. This approach has meant that many disabled people have had no experience of or access to the entire employment process - job training, application, career fairs, interviews and employment itself. It has also meant that legislation and policy in this area has lacked the necessary input from informed employers.

Most employers have had so little contact with disabled people and so little information relevant to their concerns and priorities that they have tended to leave the debate to the others. A key difficulty with last year's Civil Rights Bill debate was that none of the major employers'organisations had been adequately consulted. Thus the real implications for employers were not understood and created anxiety. The 30 per cent of disabled adults who are in full-time work got there by very different routes. The great majority require no special assistance at all.

Sheltered employment, such as the government's Remploy scheme, provides some work opportunities and can offer useful training for those who would have particular difficulties starting mainstream work." The need to determine what attitudes are changing in the United Kingdom is important for future policy making decisions. While some mandates are being put into place there is no research at this point that measures the success or compliance with that mandate.

In addition it is important to determine what the changing attitudes are conveying to those who are disabled as well as others in society. The decision to educate populations can be better decided if it is known what is thought by the general population when it comes to disabilities.

This proposed study will ask the question: Are the attitudes in the United Kingdom changing toward disabilities and if so are those changes positive or negative in nature? LITERATURE REVIEW While there have not been a lot of changes in the United Kingdom there have been some changes. The United Kingdom has developed and implemented some mandates in several areas recently including school, and work. One such piece of legislature provides protections for children who have disabilities in the United Kingdom.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill, which will apply to England and Wales and in part in Scotland, will reinforce the right of children with physical or behavioural problems to be taught in mainstream classes.

The bill provided a mandate making it illegal to treat disabled pupils in a manner that is "less favourably" than other pupils and requires schools to make "reasonable adjustments" so that disabled pupils are not put at a "substantial disadvantage." In addition there are several other mandates that go along with the bill including: There will be extra funds to improve access to schools and colleges It will also place new requirements on local education authorities to provide parents with advice and information and to set up systems for settling disputes.

Local authorities would also be forced to implement the decisions of special educational needs tribunals within a set period of time. While these changes are a positive step there has not been research done to see if the changes are truly being implemented and if so to what extent. In addition it is important to determine how well these accommodations and those in the workforce are helping in the world of the disabled when it comes to functionality. Impact of physical disability and gender on personal space.

Persons with physical disabilities have experienced a long history of stigmatization and discrimination (Rubin & Roessler, 1995). This stigma has become intimately linked to persons having physical disabilities thus creating attitudinal barriers that make it extremely difficult for these people to lead productive lives. For Hahn (1987), the major obstacles for persons with physical disabilities included "bias, prejudice, and discrimination" (p, 182). Larson (1986) stated that this social stigma tends to isolate a person with a disability to a much greater degree than the disability itself.

Prejudice towards persons with physical disabilities has been well documented. Wright (1983) suggested that negative attitudes and perceptions about people with physical disabilities are held tenaciously and are therefore extremely difficult to change. Gender differences in this attitudinal research have been reported with men demonstrating more negative attitudes than women toward persons with physical disabilities.

Prior social contact with people with physical disabilities and social desirability have also been shown to be positively correlated with attitudes toward persons with physical disabilities." This published work measured the negative attitudes in individuals with disabilities."One behavioral index of these negative attitudes is the tendency for individuals with disabilities to be physically avoided by persons who are not disabled. Kleck (1968) believed that one way to operationalize this concept of avoidance was to examine the personal space given to persons with physical disabilities.

Personal space was systematically studied and popularized by anthropologist Edward T. Hall. Hall (1966) described four distinct areas of personal space associated with social interaction: intimate space (0-1.5 feet), casual personal space (1.5- 4 feet), social consultant space (4-12 feet), and public space (12 feet and beyond). Many researchers have analyzed the relationship between the stigma of physical disability and the personal space given to individuals. In general, Kleck's (1968) belief that people with physical disabilities are given more personal space in social interactions than their peers without disabilities has been confirmed.

For example, Langer, Fiske, Taylor and Chanowitz (1976) and Stephens and Clark (1987) reported that college students chose to sit significantly closer to a peer with no apparent physical anomaly than to the same person wearing a leg brace or using a wheelchair, respectively.

Similarly, Worthington (1974) found in a field study that people would approach significantly closer to a man without a physical disability who was asking travel directions than to the same individual using a wheelchair." While this research indicates a negative and continuing attitude when it comes to the treatment of people who have disabilities it was not directed at gender differences which are an important consideration in the total understanding of the world of the disabled and the attitudes that they have to face in their everyday endeavors and life.

This study worked to address the gender issues of the disabled including the following three questions: Will the personal space given to an individual differ as a function of that person's disability status (i.e., absence vs. presence of a physical disability)? Will the personal space given to an individual differ as a function of the research participant's gender? Will the personal space given to an individual differ as a function of that person's gender?" The study participants were located in a group of undergraduate educational psychology courses.

There were a total of 97 participants chosen which were comprised of 37 males and 60 females. Their age range was between 19 and 49. The findings from this study surprised many experts and led them to believe the recent United Kingdom efforts to legislate the treatment of the disabled have been successful because according to this study the genders are treated the same regardless of being disabled or not being disabled. Another area of need for study is the area of mental retardation.

Currently there is a 58% unemployment rate among the adults who are labeled mentally retarded. The arguments on each side believe they are right. Those who wants the disabled treated more fairly believe that they have the right to work and go to school and enjoy their life in the same manner that non-disabled adults have. Those who do not want the disabled to have equal rights believe it puts undue pressure not only on the mentally retarded but also on the society that lives with them.

The main purpose of this article is to argue that society in general, government agencies, private employers, and rehabilitation professionals in particular, have an obligation to provide equal access to employment opportunities for persons with mental retardation. Equal access to employment opportunities in this context can be defined as: an otherwise qualified person with mental retardation should be free from employment discrimination based on his or her mental impairment and should have equal access to employment opportunities with or without reasonable accommodations.

" The study found that most people agree that those with mental retardation should be given equal rights and the ability to work and socialize in the community that they live in without regard or discrimination about their disability. While disabled workers in the United Kingdom are often faced with discrimination issues those who reside in the United States have been protected by federal mandates for four decades. The strongest mandates came in 1990 with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is now an accepted fact.

As of July 26, 1994, the ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Title I of the ADA, the employment section, changes many of the rules for dealing with disabilities in the workplace. Fears of excessive litigation, frivolous law suits, and employer burden have been widespread. Yet in the first year after implementation of the act, seventeen percent of the new charges received at the EEOC were attributed to the ADA.

In a recent survey, two-thirds of executives in a Lew Harris poll reported no increase in litigation as a result of ADA. When placed in this perspective, the ADA represents a serious issue for employers to consider but possibly not as burdensome as initially feared.

This statistic also shows that the risk of legal action is real and that employers would be well advised to seriously address the requirements of the act." This study addressed the question of how protecting the disabled affects the general population by way of lawsuits and other things that many feared would become a problem. This article proposed the several adjustments that would be needed to succeed in the attempt to accommodate the disabled without destroying company budgets and other important factors.

A successful effort to accommodate employees with disabilities will require not only an adjustment to the needs of the employee but also adjustments within the organization. Without adequate organizational adjustments neither company nor employee needs may be met and litigation would be much more likely. The most important organizational adjustment is not the adoption of specific policies and programs, but a change in employee attitudes and organizational culture. Understanding and values influence attitudes, and attitudes are critical to successful, effective practices.

It is proposed that diversity programs can be a particularly appropriate means to accomplish these ends. By using this approach employers may find the act to be a benefit rather than a burden. " The study worked to uncover some of the stereotypes that people who have disabilities have to deal with in their daily life and encounters. Some of the stereotypes that were uncovered included: Physical impairment equals intellectual impairment. Charity cases. Fortunate to have jobs.

Can't carry own load." These stereotypes cause the mistaken belief that those with disabilities cannot do what is needed to get the job done. This has been the attitude in the United Kingdom for a long time and it is the attitude that has held the area back from advancing in the area of giving equal opportunities to those who are disabled. Lack of experience with similar individuals living a productive useful life is one problem that tends to perpetuate the out-group stereotyping process.

Because of limited experiences, many people are unaware of how much the differently abled can do. Many studies have reported that employing people with disabilities can be cost effective (e.g., Hill and Wehman, 1983). In general they often prove to be more committed to their work and more loyal to the company, with less absenteeism and turnover.

The differently abled worker has been found to make an excellent employee without many of the expected difficulties." While there have been many American studies about people who have disabilities and their need to be accommodated the United Kingdom has conducted very little similar research. The United Kingdom has just recently begun to change the attitude about disabled individuals and their right to a free and equal life to those peers who are not disabled.

It is important from the summary and success of this research to conduct a study in the United Kingdom to measure the success of recent efforts. The study can draw on some of the things that already established studies have already accomplished and can address issues that are specific to the United Kingdom itself.

Determining how well the current mandates are being followed regarding disabled people and determining the current attitude of those societal members who encounter the disabled will be an important piece of information for future decision making processes. METHODOLOGY In the development of this study proposal there were several possible instruments considered and rejected before deciding on the survey instrument. One of the first methods considered was the possibility of in person interviews.

This method is a valuable tool in the field of research because it provides the additional support of conversation in which the subject can expound on his or her answers. This can sometimes be valuable in future research as the expounded ideas are formulated and cataloged. The down side of an in person interview can be the inability of the interviewer to remain completely objective. For this reason this possible instrument was rejected as the tool to be used in this research study proposal.

The very essence of the study is to determine how the attitudes of those in the United Kingdom are changing toward those who have disabilities. The deep rooted beliefs and feelings of the interviewer regarding people with disabilities may color the interpretation of the participant's answers. This caused the research decision to find a more objective and reliable instrument with which to conduct this research study. The second possible instrument that was considered was the case study instrument.

A case study can also be an extremely valuable tool in the field of research because it allows a microscopic examination of the given situation. This microscope exploration of the situation allows for a more detailed understanding of the research question and the answer to that question. In other types of studies with different research questions this option can prove to be viable and the best possible choice. The case study for the purposes of this study however would.