Hi All:

I really think this is a good article, which points out some very
important things about the disabled people.  This problem can be partially
solved by education.  Today so many new equipments keep coming out to
assist handicapped people, but how many people are trained to use them
CREATIVELY?  If we want to compensate our handicap, we must have and also
be able to demonstrate something  that is better than the other people
around you.  I have realized that many handicapped people lack of self
confidence and feel depressed.  This is because the people around them do
not fully understand them and few people like to tell them about their
unconfortable feeling about the abnormal behavious of the handicaps.  For
example, a sighted person often feel very uncomfortable to talk to a blind
person who does not watch him while they are talking.  However, few
sighted people like to tell this to the blnd persons because they are not
sure if this would heard them.  To change this situation, we also need to
tell the society, or if you are handicapped, you need to let your friends
keep reminding you about those social behavious.  I was very supprised to
find out that very few rehabilitation counclors tell their clints that you
should keep asking your parents or your friends to correct your abnormal
behavious.

Also unless a handicapped person believe he/she can do, this person can
never achieve what he/she wants.  Self confidence is the first of first.
We should tell each other that God has given so many gift that we have
never tried to use yet.

Ren


On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, Kelly Pierce wrote:

> don't let the heated rhetoric of advocates fool you.  Neither the ADA nor
> technology have significantly changed employment levels of the disabled.
> BTW, the company that conducted the survey, Louis Harris and Associates,
> refused to hire a blind applicant in a surveyor position in the 1980s.
>
> kelly
>
>
> 07/23/98 -- Copyright (C) 1998 The Washington Post [Article 317893, 38 lines]
>
>                     Survey Finds No Job Gains for Disabled
>                               By Barbara Vobejda
>                          Washington Post Staff Writer
>
>    Less than one third of adults with disabilities are employed, a figure that
> has not improved over the past decade, according to a survey released today by
> the National Organization on Disability.
>      The survey, conducted by Louis Harris & Associates, found that 29 percent
> of disabled persons are employed full or part time, compared with 79 percent
> of nondisabled Americans aged 18 through 64. In 1986, 33 percent of the
> disabled population was employed.
>      The survey also found that disabled Americans are less likely to
> socialize with friends, go to restaurants and attend movies than those without
> disabilities.
>      "In general, people with disabilities are not participating as fully in
> American life as we should be," said Alan A. Reich, president of the National
> Organization on Disability. "There's a long way to go."
>      At the same time, the survey found that persons with disabilities feel
> that society is making progress in improving access to public facilities and
> transportation, quality of life and public attitudes toward disabled Americans.
>      The report comes eight years after the passage of the Americans With
> Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in
> the workplace, housing, retail stores and other places that serve the public.
> The survey found that just over half of disabled adults had heard of the
> landmark civil rights legislation, an increase since 1994, when just 40
> percent knew of the law.
>      About one third felt the law had improved their lives, while nearly 60
> percent said it had made no difference.
>      The survey of 1,000 adults followed up on two others conducted by Harris
> for the National Organization on Disability, in 1994 and 1986.
>      Reich said it was not clear why the proportion of disabled Americans who
> are employed had declined. The survey found that 72 percent of the unemployed
> said they would prefer to be working, but that 44 percent said they were
> completely unable to work because of their disabilities.
>      The low employment rate contributes to a high incidence of poverty.
> Thirty-four percent of adults with disabilities live in a household with an
> annual income of less than $15,000, compared with 13 percent of nondisabled
> adults.
>
>
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