Suchergebnisse

Examines how this class of citizens is excluded from voting in most states, constitutional questions, and political and legal arguments for and against suffrage; recommendations; US.

People with disabilities encounter substantial barriers to voting. Narrow interpretations by regulatory agencies & the courts indicate that the Americans with Disabilities Act will be able to remove these barriers. Additional policies will be necessary to overcome the structural impediments to exercising the fundamental right to vote. 18 References. Adapted from the source document.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, based on the civil rights/minority group & independent living models of disability, may enhance access to health care, personal assistance, employment, the electoral process, & smoke-free environments for people with disabilities. However, this essential law cannot resolve these key issues. Supplemental theoretical & policy approaches will be necessary to promote fundamental change. 31 References. Adapted from the source document.

The impact of any disability policy depends on the conceptual model of disability upon which that policy rests. For the past quarter century of disability policymaking, culminating in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the dominant paradigm of disability has been a minority group model. That model identifies discrimination as the primary barrier facing people with disabilities in their desire for full social participation, and it proposes civil rights strategies as the proper policy response to that barrier. An alternative model of disability based on the concept of human variation is proposed that implies additional strategies for achieving the goal of integration of people with disabilities. The utility of a human variation model is illustrated by its application to the issue of access to employment.

The minority group model of disability holds that discrimination is the primary barrier preventing people with disabilities from full participation in society & emphasizes civil rights solutions to overcome discriminatory barriers. It is argued here that rooting all barriers disabled people face in discrimination confounds stereotypes & exclusive practices with the social system's incapacity to respond to individual variation, making the minority group model of limited value in guiding medical, educational, & service delivery reforms. An alternative model that views disability from the perspective of human variation provides a mechanism for achieving social integration of people with disabilities. Its utility is illustrated by its application to the issue of access to employment. Adapted from the source document.

Political efficacy is a widely studied phenomenon and an important predictor of political participation, but little is known about the political efficacy of the millions of people with disabilities in the United States. This paper reports the results of a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,240 people—stratified to include 700 people with disabilities—following the November 1998 elections. Several measures of efficacy that help predict political activity were found to be significantly lower among people with disabilities than among otherwise similar people without disabilities. Although lower levels of internal efficacy and civic skills could largely be explained by educational and employment gaps, lower levels of other variables (external efficacy, perceived influence of people with disabilities, and perceived treatment of people with disabilities) remained after applying a wide range of controls, indicating that people with disabilities are less likely to see the political system as responsive to them. This perception is concentrated among non–employed people with disabilities. The lower efficacy levels linked to "disability gaps" in employment, income, education, and group attendance appear to account for as much as half of the disability political participation gap; hence, policies intended to increase employment and educational opportunities for people with disabilities have potentially important political effects.

Political efficacy is a widely studied phenomenon and an important predictor of political participation, but little is known about the political efficacy of the millions of people with disabilities in the US. This paper reports the results of a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,240 people - stratified to include 700 people with disabilities - following the Nov 1998 elections. Several measures of efficacy that help predict political activity were found to be significantlylower among people with disabilities than among otherwise similar people without disabilities. Although lower levels of internal efficacy and civic skills could largely be explained by educational and employment gaps, lower levels of other variables (external efficacy, perceivedinfluence of people with disabilities, and perceived treatment of people with disabilities) remained after applying a wide range of controls, indicating that people with disabilities are less likely to see thepolitical system as responsive to them. This perception is concentrated among non-employed people with disabilities. The lower efficacy levels linked to "disability gaps" in employment, income, education, and group attendance appear to account for as much as half of the disability political participation gap; hence, policies intended to increase employment and educational opportunities for people with disabilities have potentially important political effects. 6 Tables, 2 Appendixes, 91 References. (Original abstract - amended)