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The statement, ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us,’ is now a familiar one to people with disabilities. Is this statement as familiar throughout society as a whole? A look at American society might give you the impression that people with disabilities do not participate at equal levels.

What are the measures of equality and equal rights in a society? What are the markers of equal participation on the parts of people with disabilities? There are a number of things that might be used to determine the levels of participation of any particular population of people in a society, among them could be included:

Food: A person or population must have the ability to adequately feed itself. This is considered to be a right. The food the person or population has access to must be of sufficient quality to sustain them.

Clothing: Like food, a person or population must have the ability to adequately clothe itself; something that is also considered to be a right. A person or population must have access to adequate clothing.

Shelter: Individuals or populations must have suitable shelter, something else that is considered to be a right. The shelter must keep the individual or population safe from both weather conditions and disease.

The items mentioned above are considered to be rights that everyone, despite ability, is entitled to. The world today finds many nations in the world denying people these basic human rights. Leaders of nations reach for power, clothe themselves in fine garments, eat fine foods, live in palatial mansion – yet cannot seem to find even the most basic of food, clothing and shelter for the populations of their nations.

In America, people with disabilities may or may not have food to eat that is adequate to sustain their health. They may or may not have adequate shelter; many are homeless. People with disabilities may or may not have adequate clothing to wear. Millions of people with disabilities subsist on Social Security Incomes that are measured at levels below poverty in this nation. Meanwhile, leaders in America fly their family members across the country to visit at a cost of thousands of dollars per hour. Leaders eat imported Japanese beef at $100 per ounce. Leaders sit back on their Texas ranch, with retirement incomes from the very same taxpayer sources that keep people with disabilities living in poverty. Soldiers who have fought wars for this nation and come home with disabilities find that they are homeless because of their disabilities, or have no income options other than VA incomes, often at the same poverty levels as Social Security Incomes.

What other things might be considered rights? A society is, at its most basic definition, a gathering of people designed to promote, enhance and benefit everyone involved in that society. As members of society, participation is expected, is it not? Reaping the benefits is as well.

Health Care: Access to competent, skilled and adequate healthcare is something that could be considered to be a right. While not everyone considers healthcare to be a right, access to healthcare should be considered one. A society that lacks adequate healthcare is one that can be considered ignorant of the realities of human existence; people get sick. People experience injuries, and people experience disabilities on a regular basis in a society beyond a certain size.

Opportunity: Participation in society is something that is expected if a society is to function and exist; yet what if a large population of people within society is denied opportunities to participate due to the physical structures in society itself? The ADA laws surrounding buildings in America state that any building outside of a certain age group does not have to comply with ADA law. This has left a vast number of buildings, as well as vast areas of society, inaccessible to people with disabilities. Due to the structure of society itself, people with disabilities in America are being denied the opportunity to participate in society – something that is supposedly a requirement of any structured and civilized society.

Social Interaction: Social interaction between people with disabilities and members of other groups in America society is extremely difficult when basic abilities to move about in society have and continue to be denied to people with disabilities. Social prejudice, stigma, bigotry, and hatred are at least as much of a barrier to social interaction as the physical inaccessibility of large areas of the United States of America – neither of which are being adequately addressed at appropriate levels.

Representation: ‘A Nation of, by, and for the people,’ unless – of course – you happen to have a disability. Spare me the the talk about Mr. Kareen Dale; I have not witnessed a single action on this man’s part. People with disabilities simply do not have adequate representation in government. There is a little something about, ‘no taxation without representation,’ but we will leave that alone for the moment. I also do not want to hear about New York’s Governor; I live in Colorado. Where are the Government leaders with disabilities? Where are the government leaders who represent the 50 million plus, or one-fifth of this nation’s citizens, who experience a form of disability?

Acceptance: The civil rights movement in this nation found Americans finally accepting that black Americans deserved equal rights. When will this nation realize that people with disabilities do as well? People with disabilities now comprise one-fifth of this nation – we are America's largest minority. Yet from the way we are treated in this nation, you would think that we are second-class citizens. You would think that we are still being hidden away. The way that people with disabilities are treated in this nation is truly America's shame. Only when people with disabilities are free to participate at equal levels as every other citizen; only when people with disabilities have the same rights at the same levels as every other citizen in America will this shame fade into the past. Until then – this nation lives in shame for the way it treats people with disabilities.