Jessica

Reyer
A Fight For Whats Right

Imagine being thrown in a mental institution because of a genetic mutation

that caused an intellectual or social disorder. Luckily, people with a full range of
intellectual disabilities no longer have to face these cruel treatments chosen for
them by their family or even society as whole. There has been an almost complete
turnaround in the treatment and perception of people with intellectual disabilities
in America in the past 80 or so years that greatly impacted the lives of these people
and shone how American society has become more inclusive. Many shifts have
occurred very similar to this one, but many of these have not made as big of an
impact on the lives of so many innocent people.

Originally, people with disabilities were viewed as genetically defective in the

eyes of people all around the world. The spark to the initial separation between
people with disabilities and those without them was the physical differences. Some
disorders cause physical deformities along with specific facial features distinctive to
only someone with that particular disorder. People could tell the difference in the
physical, intellectual, and social aspects of people with intellectual disabilities.
Looking into America in the 1930s, there was almost zero tolerance for anyone with
a disability. Although President Roosevelt did not have an intellectual disability, he
did have a physical one. He along with his staff did everything they could to hide
this disability so that people would not think of him as incapable of being president.
Along with the attitude towards physical disabilities, there was a poll in the United
States found that indicates that 45% of the population favor euthanasia for

defective infants (Appendix 14C). According to the US National Library of

Medicine 32 states had passed sterilization laws at some point in the 20th century
(Stern). Most of these laws were passed by the mid-1940s and were upheld by the
Supreme Court for anyone with a disability. American society was resistant to the
acceptance and integration of people with intellectual disabilities, and these
attitudes paralleled those towards other minority groups in the U.S. around the
same time.

Like almost any other attempt for equality for a group that was

discriminated, it took a lot of small changes in order to get more rights for those
with intellectual disabilities. Some changes occurred faster for people with physical
disabilities because of all the disabled veterans; however, it was much more
challenging to create a difference for those with a mental disability. One of the first
steps towards the fight for rights for people with intellectual disabilities came with
the creation of the National Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Retarded
Children in 1950 (Harbour and Maulik). This initially started a slight shift into a
more tolerant atmosphere towards people with intellectual disabilities. This small
shift helped to bring along change on the national level and helped to create a
presidential panel that would help to advocate for these people. Even some places
allowed some access to education, but this was only limited to those with more
milder disabilities that could function at a relatively high level. Although some
changes began to happen during the 1950s and 1960s, the shifts in perception did
not reach everyone in the country and did not help people within the full range of
intellectual disabilities.

One of the largest changes to occur to benefits the lives of people with

intellectual disabilities was the creation of Special Olympics in 1968. Eunice

Shriver, late-President John F. Kennedys sister, did not agree with the treatment of
people with intellectual disabilities and wanted to make a difference. She originally
started with a summer camp to involve kids with disabilities but then started the
first Special Olympics games. The first games had about 1,000 athletes participating
but has since grown to include around 4.5 million athletes worldwide along with
80,000 annual Special Olympics events (History). The creation of Special Olympics
allowed people with intellectual disabilities to be a part of something larger than
themselves along with getting the chance to participate in many of the activities that
they would have no opportunity to do otherwise. In addition, it helped to raise
awareness nationwide and even worldwide of the treatment of people with
disabilities. A large part of this was due to the U.S. Olympic Committee naming
Special Olympics as the only other organization authorized to use the name
Olympics in the U.S. besides the Olympic Games (History). It also launched the
creation of a similar organization called Best Buddies in 1989 by Anthony Shriver,
Eunice Shrivers son. These private organizations sparked changes to be made
within the government to better improve the rights and lives of people with
intellectual disabilities.

The major changes for people with intellectual disabilities within the

government started to occur in the mid-1970s through the 1980s. Overall, America
was becoming more accepting and inclusive as a whole around this time. More
legislation was passed at this time to prevent the discrimination of people with

intellectual disabilities, which previous actions by the government or advocate

groups had failed to do. In 1975, the United States passed an act entitled the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act that would ensure a free public
education for those with intellectual disabilities (Harbour and Maulik). The access
to a free public education helped to integrate people with intellectual disabilities
into the everyday lives of the youth of America. The increased exposure would help
to spark more tolerance for people with intellectual disabilities because children
across the county would grow up with kids who had these disabilities. Along with
the increased integration of people with these mental disabilities back into society,
there was a shift towards better treatment. People moved away from
institutionalizing anyone with a mental disability and looked towards rehabilitation.
Instead of just throwing anyone who had an intellectual disability aside, people
were looking towards giving him or her a chance to have a role in society, which was
never given to them before. Also, American society looked towards helping the
children to have a better life, not just possibly taking their life before they had the
opportunity to be a part of the world.

By the 1990s, the government was able to make more progress to protect

and benefit people with intellectual disabilities through the acts passed. Starting in
1990, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was renamed and helped to
further include children with disabilities into regular classes along with their own
classes (A Brief History of the Disability Rights Movement). This further
integrated students with intellectual disabilities into the everyday lives of other
students and helped to stop the complete segregation in a school setting. Another

big push came with the American with Disabilities Act because it helped to grant
more opportunities for people with all types of disabilities, both intellectual and
physical, for employment and public accommodations. This act was one of the most
monumental for benefiting people with disabilities. It forced the country to accept
people with disabilities by creating more publically accessible places and integrating
these people in the workforce. Although people with both intellectual and physical
disabilities had held jobs before this, it was very easy for places of employment to
turn these people away because of something they had no control over. This act
brought national attention to the issue behind the rights of people with disabilities
and helped society to better accept and understand these people who are not the
monsters that they think they are.

Following the American with Disabilities, a large movement that was started

by Special Olympics came along it is called the R-word Campaign. This campaign
began in 2008 and was created to spread awareness and to end the use of the word
retarded (R-word: Spread the Word to End the Word). This used to be the word
used to describe people with intellectual disabilities; but beginning in the sixties,
people started to used retarded as a derogatory term both towards people with
intellectual disabilities and as an everyday word (Reynolds, Dombeck, and
Zupanick). By creating this campaign, Special Olympics has been able to spread
awareness for people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and integrate
fair treatment of these people into the lives of students across the country along
with everyone else. It even reached the likes of public television through the show
Scrubs when one of the main characters wore a Spread the Word to End the Word

shirt (R-word: Spread the Word to End the Word). All of this has helped to shift
the perception of people with intellectual disabilities to one that is more equal and
accepting. This campaign also helped to promote Rosas law and get it passed by the
end of 2010. This law wanted to end the use of mentally retarded and mental
retardation in all government records and was able to accomplish just that. Such a
simple campaign was able to end the use of a derogatory term in the United States
government, which will hopefully trickle down and end the use of retarded in
everyone lives. This shift has paralleled the shifts that have taken place to remove
the use of derogatory terms used with so many other minority groups or groups that
have been discriminated against.

Society has made strides towards better inclusion of people with intellectual

disabilities today, which is shown through the inclusion of students in all different
school functions. Today, many students with intellectual disabilities are being
elected to their prom and homecoming courts with many of them being crowned
king and queen. Something like this would have never happened ten years ago
because the level of involvement with students was not even close to what it has
become. The perception of people with intellectual disabilities has shifted so much
that they are now more considered to be people who are differently abled rather
than people who are so vastly different than everyone else. Society has become
much more accepting of people with intellectual disabilities along with people from
all different backgrounds, ethnicities, races, religions, social status, sexual
orientation, etc. In addition to the further inclusion of people with intellectual
disabilities in schools, another landmark came within the past year. Madeline Stuart

became the first model with Downs syndrome and has had the opportunity to walk
on the runway and be in several photo shoots (About Madeline). She has broken
down walls surrounding ideas that models have to have a certain body type and
look a certain way. Also the fact that society has started to accept her and what she
is trying to do shows how far society has come to be more inclusive and break down
all types of barriers. Some people see this as an act of pity on behalf of the people
with intellectual disabilities, but it is more of a step towards not thinking that people
with intellectual disabilities are so extremely different than everyone else.

Society has made leaps and bounds towards better integrating and including

people with intellectual disabilities; however, there is still more that can be done to
make a more equal society. Not all schools across the country have proper
programs for students with intellectual disabilities, and many have to go to different
schools in their area to receive proper educations. In addition, there is always the
debate over whether people with intellectual disabilities can make their own
choices and live on their own. In many cases there are people who could live on
their own but are never given the opportunity. There are still rights that need to be
fought for similar to how so many minorities are fighting for equal rights. American
will not be inclusive of everyone until people feel the need to stop fighting for equal
rights and equal treatment under the law and by everyone in society. More
opportunities can still be created for people with intellectual disabilities in both the
world of education and employment. There are also many people who need to get
on board with and understand different things like the R-word Campaign and clubs
like Special Olympics and Best Buddies. If not everyone views people with

intellectual disabilities as a normal person, there will never be complete equality for
them or any other person fighting against discrimination. Until society views them
as almost completely equal to everyone else there will always be something society
can do to give more opportunities and rights to people with disabilities. The shift in
American society over the past eighty years has been such a monumental one with
all of the organizations and legislations that haven arisen to create a more inclusive
society, but people can still do more to create a more equal society for people with
intellectual disabilities and everyone else.

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