Top Ten Favorite Civil Rights Blogs

10, Roxanne:
  I chose Roxy's as my one of my favorite ammedments becuase she talks about Puerto Ricans and the criminal injusticies that are happening as of right now.

9, Karlitza:
 Karlitza's proposal was an informative one. She was able to provide evidence and arguments on how the elderly people's lives could be improved and made better by the law.

8: Paola:
 Paola took a refreshing approach when giving argument to her proposal. She established the fact that women would do exactly the same thing as men would if they where in the situation women were a few decades ago. i liked this style of writing and it made me think, so thats why she on my list.

7: Jennyliam:
 Jenny's blog was really good, and she talked about topics that i have not taught about when thinking about the ammedments. It made want to talk to her about it and keep asking her about her opinions on the teenagers and their right to vote earlier.

6: Katherine:
 Kathy's proposal is in a way much like herself, short but sweet. She establishes just how important our first ammendment is and reminds us that we should never discriminate someone solely based on their religion. Since am religious myself I find this very nice to hear.

5 Carolina:
 Carolina gave us a little history lesson about the native americans right before stating her proposal. She remind the reader what the Indians had to go through just before stating that equality is the least we can do to compensate for the damage the whites have done to them. Very good read.

4: Mariah:
 Mariah's blog was really good and I liked how she setted up her arguments. An example was how she compared laws and saw the indifferences between man and women.this approach.

3: Randy:
 Randy's blog started strong and his words appeared to jump from the screen. His argument were increasingly valid and I like how he wanted to really prove his point and you can notice that he has some sentiment behind his writings.

2: Tiffany: 
  I enjoyed how Tiffany used a coinscience point of view to see the side of the illegal immigrants. She made me guilty of some of the things that I have seen and read in the news and her blog itself.

1; Itze: 
 Itze's blog was by far my favorite proposal. She used a powerful topic and expressed her opinion in a way that no one could disagree with. I really enjoyed the wording and the emotion that was being inputted to her words. You should definately read it.

A new Amendment, More Equality Than Ever Before!

   There are over 25 amendments in the United States as of today. Ranging from tax laws to presidential terms, the U.S. have always tried to make their government as equal and balanced as possible. But there seems to be something missing, if you read the amendments over you would know exactly what that something is. People with disabilities; this group of people is an increasing and need to have their equal rights writing in stone. With so many wars, natural disasters and violence in the world, people with disabilities are becoming a more frequent part of society. That being said, I believe that it is time that they had rights be official.

  There should be an amendment that calls for equality among the people who have disabilities. It should several sections in which it includes how they should be discriminated or given unequal opportunities. The amendment should say, how they should never be denied of voting, how they should be denied of working, education and independent living if they choose to. They also should not be removed of their workplace or school because of their condition. These people have been living with almost no rights and basically not having any amendments empowers this feeling. Imagine you being segregated, thought to be different and most importantly being associated with negative symbol and then to think that the government is doing a good job? The worst part is that the government seems to be ignoring their rights, because they have had more than 10% of the U.S population and have been living in this country for as long as any other group and they are increasing, so the time to act is now!

How can you say no?

  I am not asking for much, I don’t want to start a completely new law that will change how the U.S is seen forever. I just want equality, rightfully, beautiful equality. If the African Americans, Muslin Americans and Women can enjoy equal rights, so can the people with disabilities. Change can be good thing, the U.S cannot just segregate any group deemed as different and the country will have a reputation as the superpower it is.

Some of the places I used for research can be found here. and here and here

Changes in Disabled Laws and Rights

  For many people with disabilities, rights have always been a shady subject and did not have much demand as it did with other groups. They are not of different skin color, religion or country, but they are discriminated because they cannot see or hear? As you can imagine being in this position was definitely not comfortable to be in, for both the government and the handicapped people themselves. But that does not mean that the disabled people did not enjoy their share of rights.

  For those who do not know, the United States includes them in the United Nation’s international human rights law, which states that every person has the right to the following. Right of equality before law, nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, independent living, full integration, and right to security. This is all nice and all but what those it have to do with a disabled person? Well, because the international human rights laws includes disabled people. Now I know that this is better from the right they had 100 years ago, where most towns did not have schools for people with disabilities, but I believe that the government can do a little better than this. The United States does have laws that make sure that the rights of these people are not tainted but there is still a lot of mistreatment going around the country. For example, 10% of the U.S population has a disability of some kind and increasing, but more than half of them say that they do not get essential services that they need in order to have more productive life. I cannot say however, that the United States has helped the disabled people by giving them many declarations of rights and laws. If I were to name all of the declaration on the rights of disabled, whether it mental, physical or physiological, I would probably be typing for a really long time. And not only has the United States helped these people by making their own laws, but the United Nations has made around 10-15 declarations of helping them or including them in a declaration that would help them. But it seem that for every step forward the government takes, its citizens just make step in the opposite direction. People would deny service to disabled person jus because of the disability, the torture of those people is as high as ever and the disabled people themselves are entering in a form of depression, especially war survivors who lost their eyes or arms. The government is trying to accept the disabled as a part of everyday society, but if the citizens will just mistreat them, we will be making no progress and that is something that definitely needs to change.

  

 I Am happy to have found out the both the United States and United Nation are both trying to help out the disabled people as best as they can by giving helpful and equalizing laws. At the same time, am also pretty sad to find that there are still people out there who do not care for the well being of these people and actually hurt for their own selfish purposes. If this keeps up, the protest will just keep coming more frequently and eventually, violent.  

To see all the United States and United Nations laws concerning disabled people click here 

Handicapped Protest: Just As Strong As Any Other

  Living as a person with disabilities is not an easy thing to manage. First off one must be able to get used to life with that certain disease or birth characteristic, manage everyday life with that life condition. Not only has that, these people had to live with the constant ridicule of other, misunderstanding people of everyday. Whether it may be from funny looks given to them, or complete all out insults, the handicapped is not an easy life to live, but it is not like the government is helping them neither. Some buildings still have those huge steps in their entrances, similar to the ones on those Rocky movies. How in the world is a person in a wheelchair supposed to enter a bank with those stairs in the way? It was even worst half a decade ago, when these poor people did not have a hospital to go to or a school to if they wanted to get a education. But these people fought for what was right, and you know what? I actually respect for the fact that they showed their activism in a peaceful manner.

  

  When I say in a peaceful manner, I mean a PEACEFUL manner. These people actually respect what other human life is and respect them enough to not resort to violence. I am not pointing any fingers at the other groups that may have done that sort of thing, but it is definitely refreshing to see people trying to express their belief in a way in which no one gets hurt, physically at least. What they would usually do is protest in way that the government or the form of authority has to give attention to what they are saying. For example, when a store would deny service to people of this condition, usually it’s because they have this condition, these people would completely boycott any form of patronization towards them. But not only were the handicapped people boycotting, their friends and family as well. Then those friends would tell their other friends, rinse and repeat until eventually, that certain store is out of customers. The funny part is that it actually works and it’s a tried and true method. The government has been trying to better this situation of making the handicapped feel like the equal citizens they are by buildings new schools and hospitals specifically make for their needs and how to make that as little a problem as possible. I must commend the government for doing this a really think it is a good thing they have going, but it kind of seems familiar. Let’s think about it for a second, a term used to describe when one tries to create a system in which a certain group of people is separated from the rest of society. I can’t possibly be segregation, can it? I mean that was YEARS ago and it never happens now, right? Wrong. Segregation in the United States is still alive and strong, and the handicapped are a prime example of this. They want to separate them from ‘normal” society by giving them separate facilities to basically live and work in. Now, I know that some of these people actually appreciate the help given because after all, it’s there to help them, but if they want to study or work somewhere mainstream, they should not be rejected just because of there condition.

    

  I hope that the government is not trying to segregate the handicapped, like they did to the African Americans many years ago. I like to believe that the United States likes to learn from their mistakes and just repeated them with a different test subject and hope for better results. I am glad that the handicapped people know how to protest peacefully and make their word get out there without having to use any violence and ruthlessness. 

Mistreatment and Torture Among the Handicapped, more Brutal than You Think.

 

  When you think about mistreatment among the disadvantaged people, many may actually be surprised at the fact. Why anyone would hurt people who are disabled? That is the basic human consensus, but if you do some research you would be surprised at the sheer brutality that some of these people have to go through for days, months or even years. Some of this included torture, both physical and mental, neglect, or just pure backlash.

  Now, you don’t have to go back 45 years to see how was it that the handicapped were mistreated. Some big and historical events happen as recently as just a year ago and I must say that this is one of the most gruesome things I have ever read and studied on. In April of 2010, the United States government released a report on the immediate cease and decease form of the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in several states. Now why the United States GOVERNMENT would want to stop these facilities from doing their job? Simple, they are not doing their job at all; in fact, the staff members were doing just the opposite. These “workers” are supposed to help the disabled people by giving them medicine, educating them, and being nice overall to their condition. But instead, what they did was torturing them if they acted differently, gave them free control of their drugs, making them addicts, and lastly leaving them alone for extensive periods of time, making them desperate and extremely violent. Many of them died from this, many more where scarred for life, living in a state of unshakeable fear and mistrust. Some of the tortured being given EVERYDAY included: shock chairs, food deprivation, and the worst of all, being tied to a wooden tabled and then taped with electrical shock devices. The staff would shock children, women, anyone, for hours on end, with no remorse or mercy. You want to know what is the worst about this? These JRC facilities have been doing this to its “patients” for YEARS. According the investigation reports given by the government, there is apparently reason to believe that the workers have been mistreating its patients for many years, using the words “extensive hands-on treatment” as their excuse to do these horrible things and the government just accepts it without any form supervision? I am glad that the torturing stopped but I think that this could have stopped sooner or even prevented if the government was more “hands-on” with the facilities they are sponsoring and most importantly funding.

  I don’t know about you, but this mistreatment cannot keep going unnoticed, just because some of these people cannot speak for themselves, does not mean that we should ignore their pleas for help. Just because some of them cannot see, does not mean we should ignore their tears, some of them were young children, incapable of understanding why they are doing this.

Disability Rights! We are people to!

 When you say the word “equality” what comes to your mind? If you are like most people, you would probably think about the racism issue in the United States, especially during the 40’s and 50’s. Maybe in the word you think of the Women’s rights, how they had to go from complete indifference in society to voting, and finally to being accepted as an equal member of the world, like any other man. Or you maybe think about religion? How the fact that you have different beliefs means that you are treated differently, than everyone else. But what about those can’t see one’s race? Those who can’t understand a woman’s protest for equality? Or maybe the few people who can’t hear the beliefs of others? What about the people with disabilities? Many times, these often peaceful group of people do nothing wrong in their whole lives, just to suffer the pains of people who do not sympathize with them. And by this I mean not helping them in making their lives any easier. That means, no ramps for the people in wheelchairs, no schools for deaf people, and no facilities for those mentally sick. But thankfully, there are many people who stand up for their rights and demand that they should have the facilities in their area in order for them to live their lives as best as they can.

  

  Now when one thinks of the origins of the disability rights movement, many people think around the 1960’s when the protest actually began. There were many forces that tried to change some of the ways building were build, and some of the thing that schools should add to make students with hearing aid easier to study, but it was around the 1960’s that many organizations and campaigns were made. Inspired by the efforts given by the equality for women and African Americans, disabled people were banning together to fight for a common cause. This is where the Independent Living Movement was created. Formed in California, Edward Roberts and more wheelchair using people proposed ideas in ways that they could improve their ways of life and get more rights. Roberts stated that people with these disabilities are the experts in what they want to make their life easier, so they should take initiative in knowing what they want, and demanding for it. This in my opinion, was what sparked many people to demand for their rights. For you see, I believe that many of these handicapped were depressed and thought themselves as weak or useless, so they probably thought that there was no point in making their lives easier if they see no point in having one. And the average citizen did not really help neither. No ramps on the entrance of buildings, no ways to communicate with the deaf in a supermarket, no facilities to treated a child with a mental sickness; this was something they had to face every day of their lives. So who would not be depressed? But I am glad that there were some handicapped people who believed in themselves and demanded for those people to have their rights. Another important protest that helped shaped the right that disabled people have today is the Deaf President Now campaign. This was a student protest in which the liberal arts study of the deaf people established a congress in which to help the rights of the deaf people, but the person to represent them, their president, was a hearing person.  So the student quickly formed a rally and protest when they were aware of the fact that the university has announced another hearing person as their president. The protest was peaceful and in the end King Jordan, a deaf man became president, influencing many disabled people to stand up for what they believed.

  In conclusion, it was these strong willed, brave people that made these rights and privileges for the handicap a reality for everyone of their condition. If it were not for their determination for a better life, and the knowing in the heart that there IS a better life for them, many would still have trouble getting to their banks or going to school. One must salute these people and know that they are the examples for not only the handicap but for everyone.

Thoughts on Other's Essays

Irelis:
  Irelis' essay was an informative one, I like how she took the material she found and gave it a journalistic approach to it. This style is a refreshing one and made reading the essay an enjoyable expirience. I really liked all the details that she gave to the events and although it can be a repetitive, I found it interesting.

Armando:
  Armando's essay had alot of emotion and I like the opinions he put in the essay but there was some flaws however. The spelling was the biggest thing. I could not really understand some of the words and the wording itself was confusing. But I still think the Armando did a good job and I enjoyed it.

Shae Lynn:
  Shae Lynn's essay and mine have a lot in common, we both talked about assimilation during to that time period and our opinions were the same. Her essay was easy to read and the big font made it even easier as well. I liked it and it was one of my favorite to read.

Carolina:
  Carolina's essay was a very nice and she showed the how miserable was life for those indians during that time. Some of the things she wrote was very profesional and I like how she wrote some of the events, using very understandable detail.

Itze:
  Itze is known for being a good writer and for having an honesty opinion on any subject, and this essay was no different. Not only was she informative, she made her opinion clear with powerful words and expressions. I greatly enjoyed the essay.