Able to Fight: the Struggle for Civil Rights for People with Disabilities

[IndianaGreen]

One of the facts that bodes well for the growth and political evolution of the civil rights movement for persons with disabilities is that it is an inclusive class of persons. As people live longer, the more likely individuals are to have some form of disability at some point in their lives, and an accompanying need to avail themselves of civil rights protection in employment, housing, services and/or accessibility.


A very long article that analyses the current struggle of people with disabilities to achieve full rights.

Able to Fight: the Struggle for Civil Rights for People with Disabilities

By Lawrence Albright

Last June, a group of disabled civil rights activists took over the office of Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen following his announcement that approximately 100 individuals with disabilities who are dependent on ventilators but otherwise live independently would have their benefits continued under the state medical benefits program, known as TennCare, only if they received treatment in a nursing home.

The events in Nashville are but the latest manifestation of an ongoing militancy in the civil rights movement for persons with disabilities. While a militant current has always been present in the movement, epitomized by organizations like American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) and local groups like Boston’s Disabled People’s Liberation Front (DPLF), it has been only in the last decade or so that such elements have received a broader acceptance among individuals with disabilities and community activists.

One of the unique features of the current civil rights movement for persons with disabilities is that it has thus far failed to capture the nation’s attention or imagination in the same manner as the civil rights movement which defeated Jim Crow in the south and served as the motivating force behind the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/1752/1/118/