The U.S. legal system recognizes disability and people reasonably living with various disabilities. The legal system aims to ensure that persons with disability live high-quality lives without experiencing discrimination. Besides, the legal system strives to ensure the inclusion of disabled people in societies where disabled individuals interact well with those without disabilities. This paper analyzes how the U.S. legal system defines, understands or frames disability rights and disability itself.
According to the UNRUH Civil Rights, the U.S. legal system defines disability as any physical or mental impairment (Bourey, 1985). According to civil rights, every individual with state jurisdiction is equal and accessible, regardless of their disability, race, sex, color, genetic information, medical condition, and sexual orientation. Violating any individual’s rights on the federal Disabled Americans 1990 Act reflects a violation of disability rights (Bourey, 1985). There exists no elevated scrutiny level for government laws that impact mentally challenged individuals. However, the available regulations are still valid if one considers the rational basis reviews.
Many Cleburne City, Texas residents, which are in the R3 category, require no permit to build homes. However, a residential building for mentally disabled people requires a permit. For example, Cleburne Living Center applied for a license to build a house for mentally challenged individuals and faced rejection (Bourey, 1985). The permit rejection resulted from opposition since the residents in that region did not want the organization to put its home there. The center believed that the ordinance went against the constitution by violating equal protection rights since the U.S. legal system protects mentally disabled people. Cleburne Center, Inc. received information from the petitioner city that they required a special permit. At this point, the city proposed the classification of the proposed home as a feebleminded people’s hospital. According to the U.S. legal system, the need for a special permit for the proposed home deprives the Cleburne Center of equal law protection (Bourey, 1985). Therefore, it is significant to determine whether the permit requirement of the ordinances is valid in terms of mentally challenged people.
Although mentally disabled people may have differences with other individuals occupying other facilities like boarding homes and hospitals, they should not need special permits. This group would only require a special license when the proposed homes threaten the cities’ genuine interests. Requiring a permit to build a house for people with disabilities is an idea with an irrational prejudice basis against groups with various disabilities. In the case of Cleburne Center Inc., the Texas District Court termed the application to build a home constitutional. According to the District Court, wanting to make a home for mentally disabled people implicates no fundamental right (Bourey, 1985). In this case, mental retardation is not a basis to view an individual as a suspect.
Undeniably, people with disabilities, for example, mental retardation, have a low ability to handle different functions in their daily lives. However, this group ranges from those who do not appear abnormal in other people’s eyes to the ones who require constant care from different individuals. Despite the differences, these people require provision and care from the government and other citizens. However, the legislative responses, which occur and survive with support from the public, negate claims that the mentally disabled have no political power since they cannot attract lawmakers’ attention. Besides, if the amorphous and large mentally retarded class were perceived as suspects, it would be hard to differentiate various other groups with immutable disabilities (California Legislative Information, 2017).
The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, adopted in 2006 in New York at the headquarters of the United Nations, aims to change approaches and attitudes towards people with disabilities (United Nations, 2022). As defined in the convention, disabled people include individuals with long-term mental, intellectual, or physical impairments. These impairments prevent people from participating in society effectively. This convention leads a movement that diverts people’s perceptions about physically challenged people and views this group of people as charity objects. The convention advocates for viewing disabled people as subjects with various rights who can claim their rights and make their life decisions freely and willingly. According to this convention, the disabled people are equal members of the society.
Moreover, the Human Rights Convention functions as an instrument for human rights with social development and explicit development. The convention adopts a broad categorization of people with various disabilities, reaffirming that every person with a disability should enjoy fundamental freedoms and human rights (United Nations, 2022). Also, this convention qualifies and clarifies how all rights relate to disabled people and points out the adapted areas for disabled people to exercise their rights. The convention also identifies points where disabled people’s rights are already violated and the areas that require reinforcement of human rights protection.
In conclusion, the U.S. legal system protects and advocates for the rights of people with various disabilities. For example, the legal system holds that violating any individual’s rights on the federal Disabled Americans 1990 Act reflects a violation of disability rights. For example, the mentally challenged people have the right to be included in the society. Therefore, organizations can build homes for such people without special permits. To increase its effectiveness, the U.S. legal system should develop more policies to ensure that people who discriminate against disabled individuals get reasonable punishments.
References
Bourey, J. M. (1985). Cleburne Living Center v. City of Cleburne: The irrational relationship of mental retardation to zoning objectives. J. Marshall L. Rev., 19, 469.
California Legislative Information. (October 10, 2017). Law Section: Civil Code- CIV.
United Nations. (May 6, 2022). Department of Economic and Social Affairs Disability.https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-Persons-with-disabilities.html
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