Disabled people are often victims of abuse. The people who abuse them are usually people without disabilities. They may be abused because their disability makes them vulnerable. Sometimes a person is abused just because they are disabled. This is called disability hate crime. A disability hate crime can take the form of murder. A lot of these murders are by care givers such as the mothers of disabled people. A hate crime does not have to be to a person directly. For example, a person might write an ableist slur on a disabled person's car to make them feel bad about being disabled. Many thousands of disability hate crimes are reported every year around the world. Disability hate crimes are often not reported. This means that the statistics make the problem seem smaller than it is.
A common way that disabled people are abused is 'disability bullying'. People think of bullying as something that just happens to children at school that is not serious. This is not true. Bullying happens to people of all ages. Bullying causes long-term psychological problems such as low self-esteem. Some people kill themselves because they have been bullied. Mencap, a charity that helps people with intellectual disability, asked over 500 disabled children and young people about bullying in a survey. 8 out of 10 children with a learning disability said that they are bullied and are scared to go out because they are scared they will be bullied.
More than 90% of developmentally disabled people are sexually abused in their lifetimes. 49% are sexually abused more than 10 times. The rate of sexual abuse in the general population is lower.
81% of non-disabled people who are at the age that people work have a job. 48% of disabled people who are at the age that people work have a job. 50% of disabled people who don't have a job want to have a job, but can not find a job. Sometimes disabled people are not given jobs even if they are capable of doing the jobs because the people giving the jobs (employers) think that disabled people are not as good as non-disabled people.
The English language has been criticised for being ableist. For example, young people sometimes say that something is 'retarded' when they mean that it is bad. This can be offensive to disabled people.
In World War Two, many thousands of disabled people were murdered by Nazis. The Nazis did this because they believed in non-voluntary euthanasia and forced eugenics, which is a philosophy that advocates reproduction by humans with 'desirable' traits and discourages reproduction by humans with 'undesirable' traits. They thought that disability is bad and disabled people are a burden on society. Many people still believe those things. In 2013 a councillor in Cornwall called Colin Brewer said that disabled children 'should be put down' to save money. He was found guilty of misconduct but the council could not fire him.
Disabled people are sometimes forcibly sterilized. This is often illegal because reproduction is considered a human right.
According to "The Telegraph", people in the UK are trying to change a government law that makes it legal to have an abortion up to 40 weeks in a pregnancy if the fetus is disabled.
In 2011, a book called "Scapegoat: Why we are failing disabled people" was published. The book was written by Katharine Quarmby. It is about hate crimes towards disabled people in the United Kingdom.
Sports are often an area of society in which ableism is evident. In sports media, athletes with disabilities are often portrayed to be inferior. When athletes with disabilities are discussed in the media, there is often an emphasis on rehabilitation and the road to recovery, which is inherently a negative view on the disability. Oscar Pistorius is a South African runner who competed in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Paralympics and the 2012 Olympic games. Pistorius was the first double amputee athlete to compete in the Olympic games. While media coverage focused on inspiration and competition during his time in the Paralympic games, it shifted to questioning whether his prosthetic legs gave him an advantage while competing in the Olympic games.
Soledad Mexia
Soledad Mexia (August 13, 1899 – August 30, 2013) was a Mexican-American supercentenarian who at the time of her death was the world's fifth-oldest living person and the oldest living resident of California. She is the oldest Mexican-born person ever.
Soledad Mexia was born in La Noria, Sinaloa, Mexico, on August 13, 1899. She had seven children, 24 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, and lived most of her life in San Diego, California, United States.
On August 30, 2013, Mexia died from natural causes, seventeen days after her 114th birthday, at a hospice in Chula Vista, California.
Murray Gershenz
Murray Gershenz (May 12, 1922 – August 28, 2013) was an American entrepreneur and actor. Gershenz's acting career did not begin until he was 79 years old, when he starred in a 2001 episode of "Will & Grace". As an entrepreneur, he operated the "Music Man Murray" record store.
Gershenz was born in New York City, New York on May 12, 1922. On August 28, 2013, Gershenz died of a heart attack at the age of 91 in Los Angeles. He was survived by his 3 children.
Nintendo 2DS
The Nintendo 2DS is a handheld game console made by Nintendo. It is a new version of Nintendo's Nintendo 3DS console that has a flat design like the Game Boy consoles (instead of the flip design (a design where two or more sections fold by a hinge) of the 3DS), and does not play 3DS games in 3D. It was announced on August 27, 2013. It was released on October 12, 2013 in North America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. It is aimed towards children under the age of seven, whom Nintendo had said should not use the 3D mode on the 3DS due to possible health problems that it could cause. It costs less than the 3DS. In North America, it costs $129.99 (£109.99 in the UK), compared to the $169.99 (£134.99 in the UK) price of the 3DS.
Xhosa people
The Xhosa (Xhosa: amaXhosa) are an ethnic group living in South Africa. About 22% of people in South Africa are Xhosa. The Xhosa language, called , is a Bantu language of the Nguni subgroup, like Zulus.
The amaxhosa tribe consists of many different tribes within the culture of Amaxhosa. There are other tribes such as the Mpondo tribes, Amabaca tribes to name a few. The Tribes are of different chiefs and kings and have no single ruler due to their diverse tribes which also practice cultural customs differently from tribe to tribe. The closer tribes consists of various clan names which have been in existence for centuries. The notable ones are Amaqwathi, Amagcina, oRhadebe, oDlamini, ojola, Amasukwini, amaMirha, to name a few.
Giuseppina Bozzacchi
Giuseppina Bozzacchi (November 23, 1853 – November 23, 1870) was a ballerina. She was born in Milan, Italy and died in Paris, France. She was the first to dance the part of Swanhilda in "Coppélia" in May 1870. She was a great success. She died a few months later on her birthday in November 1870.
Lance Storm
Lance Evers (born April 3, 1969) is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler known under the ring name Lance Storm and is best known for his time in known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Ring of Honor (ROH).
He currently runs a professional wrestling school in Calgary, Alberta called Storm Wrestling Academy.
He joined Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1997. He competed for ECW from 1997 to 2000. During that time, he won the ECW World Tag Team Championship with Chris Candido. They held the belts for 200 days and broke up. They feuded with each other after that and Storm introduced Tammy Lynn Bytch as his manager. The name Tammy Lynn Bytch was a parody of Candido's real life girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch.