The Rights of People with Disabilities Many people with disabilities have been fighting for equal opportunities and equal treatment. Discrimination against people with disabilities was at an overall high but, in the last ten years new laws have been passed and equality is one step closer. Why disability rights? One man tells a story on why people with disabilities need rights and laws to get the same opportunities. Paul had been active in progressive politics for more than 25 years. He became disabled in 1983. He said he had no awareness of discrimination against people with disabilities. He did not know what he had to face due to his increasing physical problems but also due to the attitude of American society in general. He began using a wheelchair in 1986. "When I started down my street to check out the neighborhood, it came as a rude awakening to find just one curb cut on my block and that of the other three corners at that intersection the only one with a curb cut was located diagonally across the intersection". (Paul. P.1) It was clear that if he was going to explore the neighborhood, he wasnt going to determine a path through it. After finding out that the city curbs in his neighborhood were not suitable for "wheelchair travel" he decided to take a longer journey. This time to a store a dozen blocks away hoping that the city curbs would be fit for wheelchair users The shopping center was located on a main street and he assumed there would be curb cuts at each corner along the way. He was wrong! His journey was three or four times longer than it should have been because each time he wanted to cross the street he had to go as far into the block as it took to find an unblocked driveway. He began to feel like a "wheelchair wimp" because he did not want to zigzag down the street to get to his destination or to roll down the middle of the street like others did. Paul had a break through "disability consciousness...
