Discrimination and civil rights

Abstract

It has been illustrated thus far that there is more to physical disability than having a body which is atypical or does not function as well as it might. Having a physical disability means living in society as a minority group whose particular needs are not adequately recognised or taken into account, and whose different appearance often leads to being treated differently and less equally. This usually means being at greater risk of poverty and exclusion, as previous chapters have shown, alongside other minority groups. Disability, like race and sex, is not a matter of choice, but arises from birth or disease or trauma. The impact it has on the life of an individual often results as much from the physical progression of the disability as the way in which that person is defined and treated by the society in which he or she lives.