Understanding Disability and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

1) Definition of Disability: A disability is created by specific parts of the environment.  A person is not disabled simply because he or she is born with or acquires a slight, moderate, or severe, uncorrectable, long-term limitation or loss of function. People still function with their other abilities and with special tools or techniques. For example, large print, or wheelchairs, hearing aids, or individualized learning styles may help. However, a limitation becomes a disability during interactions with behaviors, products, services, or environments that could be made accessible, but that instead are left inaccessible, such as buildings with only stairs, or only using small print, or a speaking volume that is too soft or too loud, or teaching techniques that ignore an individual’s learning needs.

2) Denial: A common response to disability is denial of having an impairment or of ever becoming disabled. The denial may be about the functioning of someone in our family.  It can be seen in the refusal to talk about disability. However, impairments are normal. Over 60 million Americans (1 in 5), and 4.4 million Canadians (1 in 7), have a functional limitation or loss. These are common human variations which, in interaction with certain aspects of the environment may lead to a disability. Denial is also found in the idea that nothing more can be done to help once the medical field has done all that it can do. Actually, much can be done easily and inexpensively to diminish or remove a disability. We can change behaviors and environments so that they enable rather than disable.

3) Degrees of Human Variation: Statistics are used to describe what we call normal  or average. They allow for the mass production of things and processes and for making decisions that affect masses of people. Most of us fall between extremes, somewhere around a "normal" level. However, one size does not fit all. Athletes or geniuses, or people who cannot walk, talk, see, hear, read, learn, or use their hands well vary in functioning and limitations. For example, normal vision is an acuity of 20/20, but some people have a 20/10, 20/20, 20/30 or 20/40 acuity. That 30 foot range is all labeled normal. Low vision is an acuity between 20/60 and 20/400. That is a 340 foot range. Human traits like seeing, hearing, walking, reading, or learning ability vary greatly.

4) Universal Design: The design of products, services, and environments that take into consideration degrees of human variation so as to be useable by people regardless of their age or ability is called universal design. Planning ahead to include people with a long-term functional limitation or loss is cost-effective. The proactive use of universal design is less expensive than applying it after something is already built or installed.

5) Disability Discrimination: The failure to apply universal design or failure to provide reasonable accommodation is disability discrimination. This is illegal in many situations. An offer to help - if someone asks, or if enough people ask, may seem generous, but may result in little or nothing being done. People in a disabling situation may not know what to ask for or how. They may avoid asking for reasonable accommodation due to the loss of self-esteem and embarrassment associated with being seen as not normal or as less than self-competent. Some people avoid requesting accommodation because they found that requesting help is too difficult, too futile, or more trouble than it is worth. Some people do not ask for accommodation because they do not want efforts made on their behalf, preferring that everything be done for the next generations. However it is practiced or permitted, disability discrimination leaves a legacy of a vain, short life to our children and to the churches who are not taught thereby how to serve Jesus (Matt 25:40), or how to honor their father and mother (Eph. 6:2-3).