The real disability is American society’s perspective on those who have physical or mental disabilities, according to Ted Kennedy Jr, an advocate for the civil rights of people with disabilities, in the Open Visions Forum Lecture last night at Fairfield University.
Kennedy has devoted his life to studying, fighting for, supporting and helping the disabled in terms of the law, environmental and medicine. However, he knows there is still a long road ahead.
“The history of disabilities has been one of ignorance and fear,” said Kennedy. “By previously institutionalizing disabled people, it implied that there is something inherently wrong with them.”
Kennedy spoke of the fact that a common misconception in society is if you have a disability, you are not capable of leading a full life. In fact, he used to be one of those people until he lost his leg to cancer at age 12.
“I had an idea that having a disability was worse than living at all,” he said. “I was a product of the myth that today I am trying to debunk.”
In fact, the myth is so prevalent that discrimination against disabled people is rampant with little legal recourse available until recently. According to Kennedy, 70 percent of disabled people who are willing and able to work cannot find jobs.
“Disabled people do not want to be felt sorry for,” Kennedy said. “They want equal rights and equal opportunities.”
The movement for equality and rights for people with disabilities is modeled after the civil rights movement of the 1960s. One of the first legislations passed was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which stated that a person could not be denied federal assistance or funding exclusively because they had a disability.
In addition, it was not until 1975 that children with disabilities were guaranteed the same free and equal education that their able-bodied peers received, according to Kennedy.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 also guarantees the rights of those people with mental, physical or emotional disabilities and forbids the discrimination against people exclusively for those reasons.
While the disabilities movement has made strong headway with the aforementioned legislations and in architectural advances such as ramps, curb cuts and elevators, there has not been as much success concerning job opportunities for disabled people.
“So much of this society hinges upon what you do for a living,” said Kennedy. “This creates a problem in society’s perspective of the person’s disability.”
People with disabilities have lower self-esteem, graduate high school at a significantly lower rate and are less likely to have social lives than their able-bodied peers, according to Kennedy. This may have much to do with the fact that many disabled people cannot find work due to characteristics beyond their control.
Disabilities don’t discriminate. They affect everyone from black, white, young, old, rich to the poor. One of Kennedy’s goals is for society to realize this and change the way they treat, think of and categorize people with disabilities.
“Instead of looking at what people can’t do,” said Kennedy. “We should measure them by what they can do with assistance.”
Many students were very intrigued and motivated by what they learned during the lecture.
“I thought Mr. Kennedy was an excellent speaker, entertaining and funny,” said Christina Palladino ’04. “He was very insightful about healthcare in our country and made me want to give back.”
Caitlin Callaghan ’04 felt even more strongly about the speaker. “I thought Mr. Kennedy’s speech was very inspiring. He encouraged me to work someday for a cause that I feel very strongly about.”
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