Editing Disability rights movement (section)

== Issues ==

===People with physical disabilities===
Access to public areas such as city streets, public buildings, and restrooms are some of the more visible changes brought about in recent decades to remove physical barriers. A noticeable change in some parts of the world is the installation of [[elevator]]s, automatic doors, wide doors and corridors, transit [[Elevator|lifts]], [[wheelchair ramp]]s, [[curb cut]]s, and the elimination of unnecessary steps where ramps and elevators are not available, allowing [[wheelchair]] users and with other mobility disabilities to use public sidewalks and [[public transit]] more easily and safely.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

====People with visual disabilities====
[[File:Coloradd.png|thumb|left|Code signs for people with color vision deficiency]]
{{main|Color_blindness#Society_and_culture|l1 = Problems for the Color Blind in Society}}
People with [[color vision deficiency]] regularly deal with implicit discrimination due to their inability to distinguish certain colors. A system of geometrically shaped code signs known as [[Coloradd]] was developed by Professor Miguel Neiva of the [[University of Minho]], [[Portugal]], in 2010 to indicate colours to people who have difficulty discerning them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dn.pt/cartaz/designcriativo/interior/coloradd-o-codigo-de-cores-para-daltonicos-1527180.html |title=ColorAdd®, o código de cores para daltónicos |access-date=14 September 2013 |language=pt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310153451/https://www.dn.pt/cartaz/designcriativo/interior/coloradd-o-codigo-de-cores-para-daltonicos-1527180.html |archive-date=10 March 2014 }}</ref>

===People with intellectual and developmental disabilities===
{{main|Self-advocacy}}

People with [[intellectual disability|intellectual]] and [[developmental disability|developmental disabilities]] focus their efforts on ensuring that they have the same [[human rights]] as other people and that they are treated like human beings. Since the formation of the [[self advocacy movement]] in the 1960s, the largest focus of the movement has been to get people with I/DD out of institutions and into the community.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Goals of Self Advocacy |url=https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/seven/7c/1.html |website=Parallels in Time: A History of Developmental Disabilities |access-date=9 January 2023}}</ref> Another main focus is ensuring that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are in integrated workplaces that pay at least [[minimum wage]]. In the US, it is still legal to pay people with I/DD below minimum wage in [[sheltered workshop]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Real Work for Real Pay: A Self Advocate's Guide to Employment Policy |url=https://autisticadvocacy.org/policy/toolkits/employment/ |website=Autistic Self Advocacy Network |date=2 October 2018 |access-date=9 January 2023}}</ref> Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are put under guardianship and are not allowed to make their own decisions about their lives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Autonomy, Decision-Making, and Guardianship |url=https://www.aaidd.org/news-policy/policy/position-statements/guardianship |website=AAIDD_CMS |language=en}}</ref>

Another issue is the continued dehumanization of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which prompted the slogan People First, still used as a rallying cry and a common organizational name in the self advocacy movement.<ref>{{cite web |title="We Are People First" |url=https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/seven/7b/5.html |website=Parallels in TIme: A History of Developmental Disabilities |access-date=9 January 2023}}</ref> Self advocates are also involved in the "R-Word" Campaign, in which they try to eliminate the use of the word "retard".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.r-word.org/|title=R-word - Spread the Word to End the Word|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029231131/http://www.r-word.org/| archive-date=29 October 2008| publisher=Special Olympics |year=2008  |agency=The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation for the Benefit of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities  |access-date=6 October 2014}}</ref> Self advocates successfully advocated to change the name of [[Arc of the United States|the Arc]].

=== Autism rights movement ===
{{Further|Autism rights movement|Neurodiversity}}
{{See also|Autism friendly}}
The autism rights movement is a [[social movement]] that emphasizes the concept of [[neurodiversity]], viewing the [[autism spectrum]] as a result of natural variations in the [[human brain]] rather than a disorder to be cured.<ref name="Solomon">{{cite news |work=New York |title=The autism rights movement |last=Solomon |first=Andrew |date=2008-05-25 |access-date=2008-05-27 |url=http://nymag.com/news/features/47225/| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080527025140/http://nymag.com/news/features/47225/| archive-date= 27 May 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> The autism rights movement advocates for several goals, including greater acceptance of autistic behaviors; therapies that focus on coping skills rather than imitating the behaviors of [[neurotypical]] peers;<ref name="Bigthink">{{cite web |last1=Ratner |first1=Paul |title=Should Autism Be Cured or Is "Curing" Offensive? |url=https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/should-autism-be-cured-or-is-curing-offfensive |website=Big Think |access-date=16 June 2019 |language=en |date=10 July 2016}}</ref> the creation of social networks and events that allow autistic people to socialize on their own terms;<ref name="Autreat">{{cite web |url=http://ani.autistics.org/autreat.html |title=Autism Network International presents Autreat |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20011214035623/http://ani.autistics.org/autreat.html |archivedate=2001-12-14 |date=2008-05-23 |website=AIN}}</ref> and the recognition of the autistic community as a [[minority group]].<ref name="Bigthink" /><ref name="Jaarsma2012">{{cite journal |last1=Jaarsma |first1=Pier |last2=Welin |first2=Stellan |title=Autism as a natural human variation: reflections on the claims of the neurodiversity movement |journal= Health Care Analysis|year=2012 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=20–30 |doi=10.1007/s10728-011-0169-9 |pmid=21311979 |s2cid=18618887 |issn=1573-3394|url=http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:457919/FULLTEXT01 }}</ref>

Autism rights or neurodiversity advocates believe that the autism spectrum is primarily genetic and should be accepted as a natural expression of the [[human genome]]. This perspective is distinct from two other views: the medical perspective, that autism is caused by a genetic defect and should be addressed by targeting the autism gene(s), and [[fringe theories]] that autism is caused by environmental factors such as [[vaccine]]s.<ref name="Solomon" />

The movement is controversial. A common criticism against autistic activists is that the majority of them are "[[High-functioning autism|high-functioning]]" or have [[Asperger syndrome]] and do not represent the views of "[[Low-functioning autism|low-functioning]]" autistic people.<ref name="Jaarsma2012" />

=== People with mental health issues ===
Advocates for the rights of people with [[mental disorder|mental health disabilities]] focus mainly on [[self-determination]], and an individual's ability to live independently.<ref name="Protests">{{cite book | first1 = Sharon N.|  last1= Barnartt |  first2 = Richard| last2 = Scotch | title = Disability Protests: Contentious Politics 1970-1999| url =https://archive.org/details/disabilityprotes0000barn |publisher = Gallaudet University Press| location = Washington, D.C.| year = 2001 | oclc  = 1325905290    | isbn = 978-1-56368-112-7}}</ref>

The right to have an [[Independent Living|independent life]], using paid assistant care instead of being [[institutionalisation|institutionalized]], if the individual wishes, is a major goal of the disability rights movement, and is the main goal of the similar independent living and [[self-advocacy]] movements, which are most strongly associated with people with [[intellectual disabilities]] and [[mental health]] disorders. These movements have supported people with disabilities to live as more active participants in society.<ref name="Mobilizing">{{cite book | last =Johnson | first = Roberta Ann | chapter= Mobilizing the Disabled |title = Waves of Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties, pp.&nbsp;25–45|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/wavesofprotestso0000unse/page/24/mode/2up?q=25 | editor = Jo Freeman & Victoria Johnson | publisher = Rowman and Littlefield | location = Lanham MD| year = 1999 | oclc = 40395836 | isbn = 978-0-8476-8748-0}}</ref>

=== Access to education and employment ===
Access to [[education]] and [[employment]] have also been a major focus of the disability rights movement. [[Adaptive technology|Adaptive technologies]], enabling people to work jobs they could not have previously, help create access to jobs and economic [[independence]]. Access in the classroom has helped improve education opportunities and independence for people with disabilities.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

=== Freedom from discrimination and abuse ===
Freedom from abuse, neglect, and violations of a person's rights are also important goals of the disability rights movement. Abuse and neglect includes inappropriate seclusion and restraint, inappropriate use of force by staff and/or providers, threats, harassment and/or retaliation by staff or providers, failure to provide adequate nutrition, clothing, and/or medical and mental health care, and/or failure to provide a clean and safe living environment, as well as other issues which pose a serious threat to the physical and psychological well-being of a person with a disability. Violations of patients' rights include failure to obtain informed consent for treatment, failure to maintain the confidentiality of treatment records, and inappropriate restriction of the right to communicate and associate with others, as well as other restrictions of rights.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

As a result of the work done through the disability rights movement, significant disability rights legislation was passed in the 1970s through the 1990s in the U.S.<ref name="Zames1">{{cite book | last = Fleischer | first = Doris | title = The Disability Rights Movement | url = https://archive.org/details/disabilityrights0000flei | url-access = registration | publisher = Temple University Press | location = Philadelphia | year = 2001 | isbn = 1-56639-812-6 }}</ref>