Supportive Structures for Persons With Disability: Smoothing or Smothering the Way?

Major shifts are occurring in the social and legal constructions of disability in the United States, changing our view of ourselves and one another as abled, disabled, challenged, and differently abled (Berger & Luckmann, 1967; Fine & Asch, 1988). Yet, the prospects for fulfilling competitive employment of people with disabilities remain bleak (G. Miller, 1991), with nearly 66% of U.S. citizens with disabilities unemployed (International Center for the Disabled [ICD], 1986). The 1980 U.S. Census Bureau (Bowe, 1982) estimated the number of Americans with disabilities at 36 million; 27 million were between the ages of 18 and 64. Only 42% of the men and 23% of those women with disabilities were employed, ¹ resulting in double stigmatization. Not only are they stigmatized because they are unemployed but also because of their disability (see Braithwaite, chap. 23, this volume, for a discussion on the stigmatization of persons with disabilities). Because they are unemployed, they are deprived of the rights, privileges, and power associated with pulling one's own weight in U.S. culture. Because of their disability, satisfactory employment is more difficult. Thus, their dual membership increases their disenfranchisement from mainstream society.