Back in the day, both companies and parents were allowed to put lives at risk with little to no consequences. Once knowledge about harmful substances and practices evolved, we banned them.
No more allowing parents to work children for long hours, no more companies using environmental pollutants, no more primitive medical practices, and no more bone-breaking domestic violence.
Laws to stop these body-crippling factors were created. Then laws had to be made to stop discrimination and protect those that were already affected.
Whether it was man-made or inherited: knowledge and equality has evolved for those with disabilities that you can see and sympathize with. Society forced recognition, and treatment of those with visual physical disabilities improved.
Not when it comes to mental health issues though.
Take PTSD as an example of a WIDESPREAD AND GROWING mental illness with the root cause of trauma, yet the causal traumatic behaviors and acts still exist, be it child (sex/physical) abuse, familial bullying, or domestic violence.
There are many mental health conditions that include trauma as a factor and frighteningly, the Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program (2013) shows that 1 out of every 3 persons who receive disability do so for mental health impairments. Just as disheartening is the 2015 report from the National Institute of Mental Health that says 1 in 5 children aged 13–18 have or have had a “debilitating” mental illness.
Let us go back to the positive and revel that we live in a world that has evolved to practice preventative care that stops disabilities!
I must believe that the way we understand and learn to prevent mental health will catch up, eventually. The language we use to describe the disabled has certainly evolved!
There is a People First term in America that some of you may not know, called being “Differently-Abled.” It means that just because a person is disabled, it does not dictate that they be useless. They just have different abilities.
Some have goals they work on every day while and use limitations as motivation to persevere. Some strive for the ultimate American Ideal: to support family, be an asset to society, or at the minimum: be something other than a disability statistic. This is why disabled persons can be found working across America, when they find their niche.
The premise of this specific People First term is to teach that disabled people are able, just differently-abled than the average human.
A physically-disabled person may be unable to do the job of a chimney sweep, but can sit and do accounting 10 hours a week. That same person who can only do 10 hours per week outside of the home may be able to work a sit down job in the home, such as telephone work for 60 hours a week. This is longer than the American full-time standard, making the disabled individual a potential asset if lucky enough to find an appreciative employer.
As we enter this conclusion, I must say that the evolution of disabilities in America is much like a game of Chutes and Ladders. Just as we take progressive steps forward with creations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, disability-causing factors rear in other places, so we take just as many steps back.
