Disability Rights

The primary goal of the disability rights movement is to improve the quality of life of the people suffering from disabilities. This disability rights movement started in 1970s which had taken various steps for the disabled people in the fields such as employment and education. These movements have made the disabled people to take part actively in the mainstream society.

The most popular disability rights legislation formulated in the U.S were the Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act. The DisabilityRights Education and Defense Fund was founded in 1979 which is a policy center formulated to protect and advance the various civil rights of disabled people through technical assistance, advocates, legislation, education and training of attorneys etc.

There are various rights of a disabled person which one can avail in different areas of life such as:-

Rights in Employment

The employment rights are the same for every employee including the disabled person but there are special provisions formulated for the disabled person under the DisabilityDiscrimination Act. According to this Act, the employers cannot discriminate the disabled people in respect of employment unless it is mentioned in the act. This Act includes job offers, interview arrangements, application forms, terms of employment, dismissal or redundancy and transfer, promotion or training opportunities.

Rights in Education

According to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, the employers cannot discriminate the disabled students, pupils and adult learners from seeking education. It becomes the legal duty of the education providers to give equal status to the disabled people in schools, colleges and universities. The education providers should provide them the necessary aid and make necessary adjustments for the disabled people.

Rights in Health

Disabled people should also get the same rights to access the social and health services such as dental surgeries, doctor surgeries and hospitals as the other people. The doctor cannot stop the treatment of the person due to disability. Under the Act, the disabled people will get every facility to avail the health services.

Mental Health Rights

If the person is not able to carry out the normal day to day activities due to mental health and has an adverse and long term effect on their ability then they can avail the facilities under the Act. The person can suffer from different mental impairment which can be the result of disability such as depression, manic depression, learning disabilities, dementia etc.

Rights for Physical Disabilities

The disabled person can access to the private and public buildings and general accommodation under the Discrimination Act. They can advocate the use of wide doors, wheelchair ramps, corridors, automatic doors etc and eliminate the steps where elevators and ramps are not available.

The disabled person can access to any of these rights as stated under the Disability Discrimination Act.