Thread Subject: Ageing as disability

Note

This archival content is maintained by WebAIM and NCDAE on behalf of TEITAC and the U.S. Access Board . Additional details on the updates to section 508 and section 255 can be found at the Access Board web site.

From: William Loughborough
Date: Mon, Mar 12 2007 11:55 AM

http://www.webeweb.org/luvstuff/Ageing.htm argues that ageing IS a
disability and although specifically precluded from that status within
Section 902 Definition of the Term Disability - this ban is arbitrary
and semantically incorrect.

Many of the problems faced by PWD (Persons With Disabilities) are
engendered by these "designatory effects", i.e. by calling someone a
"retard" you not only stigmatize her but create the presumption that
there is such a thing. Ageing is as evident as Negritude or gender and
bigotry in connection with such labeling should be addressed by
recognizing that the mere ability to define people as members of a
sanctioned group constitutes a disabling condition.

The Access Board has largely chosen to address physical barriers, but
Section 508 typifies the fact that many (most?) current societal
barriers are "functional barriers" which are less attended to. That
sensory deprivation levels can be somewhat measured/evaluated need not
stop us from dealing with the general area of "cognitive difficulties"
even though they can barely be defined and hardly properly measured at all.

Love.

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