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Complete Access for the Disabled: A Right, Not a Privilege
by Mary Zimmerle

A report entitled Disability Policy in the 21st Century: Moving on Up, released this past September by Half the Planet, outlines the efforts that have been made since the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted 12 years ago. It also discusses the immense amount of work that still needs to be done in this area and the roadblocks that disability activists have encountered during their struggle. This work can seem daunting to all of us, disabled or not, but it is a necessary and important cause to take up. Teaching students the gravity of this issue, then, can be done in manifold ways.

Service-learning activities that can include all wheelchair-bound students are immensely important to a well-rounded project, especially in a classroom that includes someone who is physically disabled. With this goal in mind, there are many projects that can address the issue of wheelchair accessibility on a number of direct and indirect fronts.

Your students can take on the issue of accessibility for wheelchair-bound people by becoming experts and activists in this area. They can tackle these issues through the following projects: building an accessible ramp for a business or individual who is in need of one, examining the hidden biases that many hold for those who appear to be disabled and disseminating information about such discrimination in order to combat it, and imagining what a fully accessible community would look like and brainstorming about ways to push their community to institute those changes. All of these projects can include students who are in wheelchairs and address a variety of educational standards, from mathematical principles in ramp building, to communication and writing skills in all of them.

Ultimately, while attending to these issues in the community, students should learn that rights of those with disabilities is a civil rights concern, that those rights should not be considered mere privileges and that disabled people do not yet live in a society that offers them the full rights that many other Americans enjoy. Check out Half the Planet's website, http://www.halftheplanet.org/, for further information on the report and other resources that can help you and your students address this problem.