The Faces of Disability

The stories of people with disabilities bring home the real reason for the ADA.  Too many people are denied the ability to participate fully in society -- to earn a living, have families, or live in their communities and home instead of institutions.  People with disabilities have faces - they are the faces of your brother who cannot hear, father who is a paralyzed veteran, sister who has a mental illness, mother who has Multiple Sclerosis, aunt who has breast cancer, uncle who has diabetes, friend with a child who has Downs syndrome, neighbor with a visual impairment, co-worker who has epilepsy.  You may not see their disability - they have learned to hide it or medically treat it - but it is there. 

If you would want these people who you know and love to be protected from being denied a job, fired because they are being treated for cancer, forced to live in an institution, or other wise be treated worse because of a disability, then you need to protect all the other faces of disability as well.  Keep the promise of the ADA.

Do you have one of these faces?  Do you know of someone who does?  Please send us your story. Tell us so we can tell others about your experiecnce.  Maybe then we will improve the overall understanding of living with a disability, and the compelling need to keep the promise to end discrimination because of a disability.