Discrimination

Discrimination is something everyone has heard about. It is defined as the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently. It is very unfortunate that in such a modern society we still have those who discriminate against people for a number of reasons. Most people know the more common forms such as race and sex discrimination, but there are less heard about groups that also suffer this unlucky circumstance. The group of people I chose to write about are people who have disabilities, both mental and physical. In 1995 The Disability Discrimination Act was passed (http://www.samh.org.uk/assets/files/16.PDF). The Act says it is now against the law for employers, providers of goods, facilities and services and landlords and others who sell or rent property to discriminate against disabled people (http://www.samh.org.uk /assets/files/16.PDF). Discriminating on people who are disabled is wrong and should not be tolerated.

People who are disabled can face serious cases of discrimination. When someone discriminates against a mentally ill person they can do anything from looking down on them because of their condition to telling a man in a wheelchair that he can not watch a Broadway play due to his wheelchair. In the story we read in class, a man bought a ticket to see a Broadway play. After entering the theater he was forced to leave because the employees would not touch him. “I’m sorry, sir, you’ll have to leave,” my first thought is, why did they let this man buy a ticket if they knew he would not be able to watch the show? Was it to take his money? Things like this can happen everyday to disabled people. I went to a high school where the disabled kids were able to attend electives with the rest of the school. There was a boy named Michael in my sculpture class that was kind of slow but extremely polite. Every time he would see someone walk into my art class he would go directly up to the, say hi, and shake their hand. People would talk about him and make fun of him all the time. They did not bother to actually try to have a conversation with him like I did. I found out that he was one of the most kind hearted and friendliest people that I have met in my entire life. When he would see people in the hallways he would say hello to them even if they were paying him no attention. Cases of disabled people being discriminated on can be seen everyday. Walking down the street you can see disabled people being discriminated on left and right. Disabled people get discriminated on everyday for reasons that are disgraceful and unlawful.

Discriminating against disabled people is a very important dilemma and serious problem. So many people are getting hurt, young and old, due to the stubbornness. In the story we read in class by