Legislative Support for Disabled - Essay Example

Legislation and the Disabled Legislation and the Disabled Legislation is described as the process by which statues in any given country are enacted by a legislative body, which has been put in place and mandated with the responsibility to do so. It is commonly referred to as statutory law and as such, it is promulgated by the legislature or any other relevant governing body (Larkin 2009). It is usually held out that before an item attributable to legislation in enacted into law, it must attain the status of a bill. Legislation has a wide scope of purposes. These include such aspects as; to regulate, to grant, to declare, to sanction to provide funds or even to restrict. Specified individuals, that is, the members of the parliament or the executive, propose legislation. Upon proposition, it is then debated in the parliament by the members and just before passage, it is amended. Legislation can be said to be one of the integral and major functions of the government. The members of parliament, since they have the formal power to facilitate or create legislation, are commonly referred to as legislators. The judiciary are mandated with the formal power to interpret the legislation while the executive acts within the limits as well as the powers that have been set by the law (Bagilhole 2009). In reference to the underlying case study, this paper will aim at accessing the different forms of discrimination aimed at the disabled persons and thereby establishing what legislation can be enacted in an effort to ensure that the discriminations are eliminated. In addition to this, the paper will also establish the follow up actions that can best go hand in hand with the legislation to ensure a complete disregard of the discrimination. Contemporarily, the meaning of disability has been put into debatable discussions. As such, the term disability presents two definitions. Foremost is the definition in regard to the medical or official definition. This definition splits its focus on disability into two; Functional limitations of individuals experiencing impairments and; social restrictions faced in the daily life of the disabled persons in regard to their movements. Even though actions are called, legislation is important in an effort towards ensuring that the less disadvantaged in the society are catered for (Brindle 2012). There should be rules that govern the actions and as such, they should be made in such a way that they are beneficial to the disabled. In reference to Martin’s case, the house developers are aware that there are no rules stating that houses should be build with ramps to enable easy movements for the disabled (Schweik 2009). That is the reason why they goes ahead and redevelops the house replacing the ramps with staircases without regarding the situation of Martin. This would not be the case if the legislature had indeed stated explicitly that houses should be built in accordance to the situations of the occupants of the house. Enforcing this law will result to redevelopers of houses doing according to what the law has stipulated and in this way; the rights of the minority groups would be identified and respected (Olsen 2010). A disabled person is faced with all sorts of discrimination. For instance, in the work place, a disabled person will be laid since he will be perceived as incapable of achieving or if he achieves, he will not perform up to the required capacity off a big likelihood. As such, since it is not the will of such a person to be in such a situation, it is necessary that the law protect him (Davis, 2010). Establishment of a legislation dictating the treatment of the employees within a workplace and follow up to ensure that these laws are followed could facilitate the protection. As such, a disabled person should be taken as a normal person and therefore must be subjected to the benefits of a workplace (Malik 2012). The disabled are also discriminated when it comes to access of the education facilities. They are usually isolated and their needs are not usually catered for. This is usually the case due to the fact that there are insufficient legislations put in place to govern the ways the disabled are treated (Brindle 2011). To ensure that this is not the case, legislation should be tailored such that the rights of the disabled are supported and safeguarded. In some countries, for people to access education, it is usually that an individual must pay up for the education and as such, the fees maybe very expensive for a person with a disability (Lerpiniere & Stalker 2010). If the disabled persons is in a position to pay for the education, it maybe that the school he wishes to attend has not established ways in which the school can cope with his needs. He maybe forced to seek education services from other regions outside his community and in regard to Martin’s case; this mobility might not be possible. Legislation could be established such that the disabled be given the first priority in regards to the admission of in education facilities. Follow up actions could be established to ensure that the legislation is adopted and exercised by the schools (Hyde 2006). Disabled persons also are discriminated socially. To eliminate this, governments tend top introduce the notion of vocational rehabilitation. Vocational rehabilitation is described as work preparation and thereby placing the disabled persons in jobs of their choice. As such, the vocational rehabilitation requires the legislation support (Ramesh 2010). The Governments in conjunction with private bodies that advance for the rights of the disabled could come up with an agreement, recruit the disabled, and ensure that seminars are held to impart the vocational skills. For the vocational rehabilitation to come to a completion, the disabled need to be placed into suitable jobs (Read, Clements & Ruebain, 2006). The parties advancing the proper treatment of the disabled could ensure that out of the stipulated legislation, the training is conducted in institutions that are external or just within the community that the disabled lives (EHRC 2009). In most cases, employers are often suspicious of the productive capability of a disabled person and as such, they assume the option whereby they play safely and as such, they develop a tendency whereby they exclude a disabled person without making an effort of trying him (Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2010). This is indeed discriminatory and calls for an intervention. Legislation ought to be put in place such that the employers are enlightened in regard to the employment of the disabled persons. The government should be the role models. Legislation could also be established such that the disabled are assisted in regard to development of their career. Moreover, the legislation should ensure that the employers do not discriminate against the disabled in reference to the development of staff, transfers or even promotions. Such legal provisions are necessary since they enable the disabled persons to not only secure opportunities but also work and live lives just like a normal person within own communities of origin or residence (Berthold 2011). The opinions of the disabled are also at times discriminated against. In the case study involving martin, he had proposed that the house be redeveloped after seeking the public advises but the redevelopers failed to take this into account (Thomas & Smith 2009). This is a clear discrimination of an opinion. If it is a normal person who had raised this concern, the redevelopers could have followed. In regard to this case, the redevelopers take the disabled opinions for granted and goes ahead and redevelops against his wish. Martin’s example is important since it gives a real picture of what happens, a situation that tends to condemn the disabled into hardships (Walker 2011). For instance, redevelopers fails to consider the special request of Martin and as such, he is forced to go long ways to find alternative routes to get to where he wants to go within his own house. Such a discrimination calls for legislative measures. For instance, the government would pass a law whereby the owners of the houses are supposed to install lifts and elevators to ensure that the disabled are out of hardships of accessing their houses. Private bodies could be mandated by the government to follow up this legislation and ensure that every house complies with the law (Ramesh 2011). From this analysis, it is evident that the disabled are faced with different forms discriminations. It is also clear that legislation plays a major role in ensuring that these forms of discrimination aimed at the disabled are eliminated (Waterman & Bell 2003). However, from the case study of Martin and the above discussion, it is evident that legislation should be established and supported by follow up actions to ensure that the laws are complied with. The government ought to protect the disabled against discrimination since, the disabled are also part and parcel of the society and as such, they are still beneficial to the development of the society. With this observed, then the society would be free from inequalities especially those being faced by the less disadvantaged, precisely the disabled persons. References Bagilhole, B., 2009. Understanding Equal Opportunities and Diversity, Bristol: Berthold, R., 2011. Trends in the Employment of Disabled People, (online) Available at (Accessed 12 April 2012) Brindle, 2011. Lax benefit rules not responsible for high disability figures. Why has the number of people claiming incapacity benefit soared? A new study undermines some common theories. Guardian newspaper. 19 Aug. p 9. 3b Brindle., 2012. Remploy factory closures to put 1,700 disabled people out of work Disability groups support dismantling of outdated sheltered employment model but demand support for those affected. Guardian newspaper. 19 March. p 9. 4b Davis, M., 2010. Legislation and Disability. Mason: Cengage Learning. EHRC., 2009. Commission helps secure landmark accessibility ruling for disabled people, (online) Available at (Accessed 12 April 2012). Hyde, M., 2006. Disability, (online) Available at < http://odi.dwp.gov.uk/disability-statistics-and-research/disability-facts-and-figures.php#3>(Acessed 12 April 2012) Larkin, M., 2009. Vulnerable Groups in Health and Social Care, London, UK: Sage Lerpiniere, J. & Stalker, K., 2010. Taking service providers to court: people with learning disabilities and Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38 (4) pp.245- 251 Malik., 2012. Disabled people face unlimited unpaid work or cuts in benefit Mental health groups and charities attack plans drawn up by Department for Work and Pensions. Guardian newspaper, 19 March. p 9. 4b Office for National Statistics (ONS)., 2010. Life Opportunities Survey Inter Report, (online) Available at (Accessed 12 April 2012). Olsen, W., 2010. The Gender Pay Gap in the UK 1995-2007: Part 1- Research Report London: Government Equalities Office, (online) Available at (Accessed 12 April 2012). Ramesh., 2010. Disabled people twice as likely to miss out on careers, courses and holidays. Guardian newspaper, 3 sep. p.4b Ramesh., 2011. Four in 10 disabled young living in poverty, report says Childrens Society say 320,000 children in England faced with hardship, and the figure will rise because of welfare cuts. Guardian newspaper, 10 Aug. p 9. 3b Read, J., Clements, L. J. & Ruebain, D., 2006. Disabled children and the law: research and good practice. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Schweik, S. M., 2009. The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public. New York: NYU Press Thomas, N. & Smith, A., 2009. Disability, sport, and society: an introduction. London: Taylor & Francis. Walker. 2011. Many disabled people see harassment as inevitable, says equality watchdog Report into attacks against people with physical and mental disabilities says public bodies are in denial about level of abuse, guardian newspaper, 19 Aug. p 9. 3b Waterman, I. & Bell, J. A., 2003. Disabled Access to Facilities. London: Taylor & Francis Read More