Americans With Disabilities Act Lesson on how disabilities impacts you and others in the real world. What do you really know about the law and disabilities? How do you respond to those with handicaps when you have contact with them? |
Extra credit project by Andrew McClain |
Disabilities and the Law
Street Law-Mr. Tim Johnson
NAME: ____________________________________________________ BLOCK: ____________ DATE: _______________
Read each section and answer the question for it in full and complete sentences. Each answer is worth one point. When you are done with this part of the assignment, you are to complete the crossword puzzle that follows. Each answer on the crossword is worth .5 points, making the assignment worth a total of ten points.
You may want to research the Americans With Disabilities Act online https://www.ada.gov/ to help you with some of the responses.
Street Law-Mr. Tim Johnson
NAME: ____________________________________________________ BLOCK: ____________ DATE: _______________
Read each section and answer the question for it in full and complete sentences. Each answer is worth one point. When you are done with this part of the assignment, you are to complete the crossword puzzle that follows. Each answer on the crossword is worth .5 points, making the assignment worth a total of ten points.
You may want to research the Americans With Disabilities Act online https://www.ada.gov/ to help you with some of the responses.
1. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.
Q. What do you think was or is the greatest impact of this act on the United States as a whole, financial, legal, modification of structures, etc.?
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2. People with disabilities are one of the largest and least understood minority groups in America. Along with race and gender, disability is one of the main categories of difference used by Americans. It is estimated that over 50 million Americans have some type of disability. Although rates vary greatly from country to country, roughly one sixth of the world’s population has some type of significant disability or chronic health impairment.
Q. Name one person you know or who is in your family that has a disability. Describe how that disability impacts their life.
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Q. What do you think was or is the greatest impact of this act on the United States as a whole, financial, legal, modification of structures, etc.?
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2. People with disabilities are one of the largest and least understood minority groups in America. Along with race and gender, disability is one of the main categories of difference used by Americans. It is estimated that over 50 million Americans have some type of disability. Although rates vary greatly from country to country, roughly one sixth of the world’s population has some type of significant disability or chronic health impairment.
Q. Name one person you know or who is in your family that has a disability. Describe how that disability impacts their life.
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3. Ignorance feeds discrimination and stereotypes. Despite the fact that virtually everyone in our country either has a disability or knows someone who does, there is little discussion in our schools about the meaning of this experience. Despite improvements in social policy and civil rights laws over the last few decades, as a group, people with disabilities continue to lag behind the general population in numerous indicators of well being (e.g., unemployment rates, graduation rates, income, participation in social life). People generally, but especially children and youth, have little familiarity with the history of discrimination and exclusion that has led to this status.
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Q. Describe five different ways our school building and teaching instruction is adapted to meeting the needs of students with disabilities. You may want to discuss this with other students or building staff. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
4. Race, gender, and disability are related throughout history. Understanding the history of racism in our society inevitably involves an understanding of how the dominant culture portrays people as inferior. For centuries, one of the ways to justify discrimination against people of color has been to portray them as less able than the white race. Women were said to “belong in the home” since their brains and muscles were smaller than men’s, and therefore they were less able to compete in the marketplace. Since being judged to be mentally retarded has always been viewed as one of the most undesirable outcomes, it has naturally been one of the preferred labels applied to minority groups to explain inequalities in educational outcomes. Understanding the nature and variety of diversity helps defuse the power of stigmatizing labels and eventually renders them ineffective.
Q. How do you react to individuals you meet who have a disability such as blindness, hearing loss, confinement to a wheel chair, or other similar issues?
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5. Not every apparent disability requires modification or exceptions by schools or employers. In Neely v. Benchmark Family Services (2016) a man claimed to have sleep apnea, which limited him to only 2-3 hours of restful sleep per night and caused him to fall into micro-sleeps during the day. The court upheld summary judgment for the defendant or the business being sued, first observing that plaintiff was never diagnosed with sleep apnea. His doctor merely indicated that plaintiff reported that he had sleep apnea, and plaintiff never followed up with testing ordered by a second doctor. Even assuming plaintiff had sleep apnea, Sixth Circuit precedent decided prior to enactment of the ADA amendments Act holds that sleep problems like the ones plaintiff had do not limit a major life activity.
Q. Do you think some individuals try to use claims of disabilities to avoid having to meet standards? For example, an individual obtains a handicapped parking permit just so they can always have a good parking space. This is an opinion question so explain you answer.
Be sure to complete the attached crossword puzzle and submit with your answers to the above sections. The Americans With Disabilities website https://adata.org/glossary-terms may be helpful with the crossword puzzle. If unable to download a copy of the crossword puzzle you may write them by number and submit with the first part of the assignment. |