The disability rights movement aims to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. Accessibility and safety are primary issues that this movement works to reform. Access to public areas such as city streets and public buildings and restrooms are some of the more visible changes brought about in recent decades. A noticeable change in some parts of the world is the installation of elevators, transit lifts, wheelchair ramps and curb cuts, allowing people in wheelchairs and with other mobility impairments to use public sidewalks and public transit more easily and more safely. These improvements have also been appreciated by parents pushing strollers or trolleys, bicycle users, and travelers with rolling luggage. The well-being or quality of life of a population is an important concern in economics and political science. ... The term disability, as it is applied to humans, refers to any condition that impedes the completion of daily tasks using traditional methods. ... Accessibility is a general term used to describe how easy it is for people to get to, use, and understand things. ... Warning signs, such as this one, can improve safety awareness. ... A set of elevators or lifts, in the lower level of a train station. ... A set of elevators or lifts, in the lower level of a train station. ... Wheelchair ramp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A curb cut (US) or dropped kerb (UK) is a ramp leading smoothly down from a sidewalk to an intersecting street, rather than abruptly ending with a curb and dropping roughly 10-15 cm (4~6 inches). ... Wheelchair seating in a theater A lightweight manual wheelchair A wheelchair is a medical device that takes the form of a chair on wheels, used by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible due to illness or disability. ... A taxi serving as a bus Public transport comprises all transport systems in which the passengers do not travel in their own vehicles. ... For transportation of a baby or toddler there are special vehicles, special car seats, and devices for carrying. ... This article refers to the mass transit vehicle running on rails. ... This racing bicycle is built using lightweight, shaped aluminium tubing and carbon fiber stays and forks. ...

Access to education and employment have also been a major focus of this movement. Adaptive technologies, enabling people to work jobs they could not have previously, help create access to jobs and economic independence. Access in the classroom has helped improve education opportunities and independence for people with disabilities. Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Adaptive technology is the name for products which help people who cannot use regular versions of products, primarily people with physical disabilities such as blindness, deafness and inability to walk or use arms. ...

The right to have an independent life as an adult, sometimes using paid assistant care instead of being institutionalized, is a major goal of this movement, and is the main goal of the similar "independent living" movement. These movements have allowed more people with disabilities to be active participants in mainstream society. Independent Living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at disability and society, and a worldwide movement of people with disabilities who proclaim to work for self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunities. ... The term institutionalization The term institutionalization is widely used in social theory to denote the process of making something (for example a concept, a social role, particular values and norms, or modes of behaviour) become embedded within an organization, social system, or society as an established custom or norm within... Independent Living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at disability and society, and a worldwide movement of people with disabilities who proclaim to work for self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunities. ...

History

The disability rights movement began in the 1970s, encouraged by the examples of the African-American civil rights and women’s rights movements, which began in the late 1960s. One of the most important developments was the growth of the Independent Living movement which emerged in California. Another crucial turning point was the 1977 occupation of government buildings operated by HEW in San Francisco and Washington DC that successfully led to the release of regulations pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act. Prior to the 1990 enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act was the most important disability rights legislation in the United States. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The Civil Rights Movement refers to a set of noted events and reform movements in the United States aimed... Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... Independent Living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at disability and society, and a worldwide movement of people with disabilities who proclaim to work for self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunities. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 158,302 sq mi  410,000 km² 250 miles  400 km 770 miles  1,240 km 4. ... The United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (also known as HEW) was a cabinet level department of the United States government from 1953 until 1979. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... ... The 1973 Rehabilitation Act was an American piece of legislation that guaranteed certain rights to people with disabilities. ... This article is about the year. ... The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is the short title of United States Public Law 101-336, signed into law on July 26, 1990 by George H. W. Bush. ... The 1973 Rehabilitation Act was an American piece of legislation that guaranteed certain rights to people with disabilities. ...

Physical disabilities

The focus of activists for the rights of the physically disabled is access to public and private buildings and general accommodation of people who are less mobile or dextrous. In particular, they advocate the inclusion of wheelchair ramps, automatic doors, wide doors and corridors, and the elimination of unnecessary steps where ramps and elevators are not available.

Developmental disabilities

Advocates for the rights of people with developmental disabilities focus their efforts on gaining acceptance in the workforce and in everyday activities and events that in the past they would have been exluded from. Mental retardation (abbreviated as MR), is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal intellectual capacity as an adult. ... The workforce is the labour pool in employment. ...

Personalities

John Tyler, born in the twentieth century, was an advocate for the rights of the disabled. He parked his wheelchair in front of Metro buses in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. in the late 1970s and performed other actions to make sure that the proper wheelchair lifts, not the "folding camel" lifts, would be put onto the public transit buses. The original lifts could potentially dump people in wheelchairs and also break down more easily. Being that he had severe polio, he was quite fortunate in being able to do so. After his death from suicide on December 24, 1984, he was remembered at Center Park in Seattle, Washington, the first apartment building built in the United States specifically for people in wheelchairs. For the Suquamish chief, see Chief Seattle. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (359th in leap years). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Center Park was built in the 1960s by Ida May Daly, a very progressive white woman who had severe multiple sclerosis. ...

See also

• Person Centred Planning
• List of disability rights activists
• List of disability rights organizations

Person Centred Planning (PCP) is a life planning model designed to enable individuals with disabilities to increase their personal self-determination. ... . A disability rights activist or disability rights advocate is someone who works towards the equality of disabled people. ... This is a list of disability rights organizations. ...

External links

• Not Dead Yet
• Unspeakable Conversations An article written by a disabled disability lawyer about her debates with controversial philosopher Peter Singer
• Society for Disability Studies
• [Gaskin Class Member] A blog written by the mother of a class member in a statewide lawsuit regarding inclusion in education in Pennsylvania.