ABSTRACT
For centuries, people with disabilities have faced discrimination. Their opportunities in education, employment, recreation, transportation, and other essential areas that contribute to quality of life have been limited. In the early twentieth century the eugenics movement made it acceptable practice to keep people with disabilities from procreating (Wehmeyer, 2013), and laws were passed to keep people with visible disabilities from public view, by outlawing, for example, begging in the street (Schweik, 2010). Later in the twentieth century, the disability rights movement helped reduce the amount of overtly discriminatory and shameful practices toward people with disabilities and eventually influenced policy making (e.g., the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). Thus, over the past 100 years, society has made great strides toward equal treatment of people with disabilities. Yet, we have more work to do.
