Question

What sorts of interpersonal barriers do people with disabilities face ( consider physical, cognitive and emotional aspects)? How can those barriers be removed? What local and national agencies are available to assist those with disabilities/challenges? IN 350-400 WORDS

Answer 1

Disabled people face lots of barriers which limit them from functioning normally in the society. Usually, these barriers include physical, cognitive and emotional that are external but there are also other external barriers that prevent them from living a normal life such as societal attitude, unequal job opportunities, lack of accessibility, supporting technology etc.

Physical – Most of the time it’s about one or more organs becoming dysfunctional thus making the person immovable at least for a while. They might need the help of people to do their daily tasks such as dressing, eating, bathing etc. This physical immovability brings more stress and frustration thus building a feel of uselessness.

Cognitive – When someone is physically immovable, they will start building low self-esteem and they would be in a frustrated state. When someone is frustrated and when someone has low self-esteem, their cognitive functioning will be limited because they won’t be able to focus on anything at hand. They would keep switching between tasks and will become restless.

Emotional – Most of the time disabled people will be left alone thus they will be experiencing loneliness. They will be longing for someone to be nearby them to talk and share their emotions. Unfortunately, it becomes a burden or time consuming for people who look after them as well because they have to sacrifice their life to look after them. This, on the long run would cause tension among the family members.

Social Barriers – People do not hold a positive outlook towards the disabled thus mocking at them and behave rudely with them. This will further limit their movement outside. They cannot easily move around in the absence of disabled friendly access points in transportation, buildings and roads.

Education & Employment – Children who are disabled find it hard to move along with other children in the schools and colleges because very few accept them with their disability. Although there are government laws preventing discrimination based on disability, not many companies are ready to hire disabled people because of various reasons.

Supporting Technologies – Although technology has brought some relief to the disabled in the name of artificial organs, hearing aids etc, there is lot more to do. On the other hand, technology has more gadgets for ordinary people that make them lazy. Technology should enable the disable and not disable the healthy.

How can those barriers be removed?

The governments should have proper laws and social security measures that would protect the rights of the disabled. Companies need to hire people who are skilled at doing things and not the physical form of a person.

Society needs to understand that being a disabled is not their problem thus accepting them as normal people and provide enough space for them to move around in the society.

Family members should be supportive by at least talking to them, understanding them and if possible help them.

Technology need to build infrastructure and gadgets that would help the disabled move freely.

What local and national agencies are available to assist those with disabilities/challenges?

The American Association of People with Disabilities, Services for adults with disabilities, Parent to Parent USA, National Youth Leadership Network, Federation for children with Special Needs, National Dissemination Center for children with disabilities etc. are few national and local agencies that work for the disabled apart from the government acts such as Right of persons with disabilities Act, Social Security Act, The Americans with Disabilities act that protect the disable