Sociology

According to the United Nations, there are an estimated five hundred million person with disability in the world either suffering from mental, physical, intellectual or other forms of medical disabilities and the number continues to grow as because people are not equipped with enough information, if any on their causes, treatment and prevention methods. Despite this being a significant population, they continue to face discrimination, marginalization and other forms of human rights violations making their lives even more difficult. In some countries efforts are being made to change the situation it does not seem to be enough to significantly change things. Apart from people living with disabilities there are other minority groups that undergo various kinds of problems as well. For example those who are poor yet they work and those who are unemployed. Some of the problems these groups undergo are similar while others depend on their situations.

Similar Social, Political and Economic Problems faced by these Minority Groups
People from all these minorities, that is the working poor, the unemployed and those with disabilities face discrimination from both the public and the government and other institutions charged with the duty of catering for their needs. Most individuals do not want to be associated with members from these groups and therefore end up neglecting them and their needs which adds to their problems as they are left with no one to turn to most of the time. This amounts to social exclusion as they are not treated as part of the society. (Parent and Lewis, 8)

People from these groups are mostly left out of decision making processes starting from the lowest level to the highest. They are not well represented in those organs which are charged with the duty of making policies and therefore do not get to contribute to matters related to how their problems can be dealt with. Those who come up with policies affecting people from these groups more often than not are not aware of the problems they face and therefore end up making policies that are not of help to them. Even if these policies are viable their enforcement leaves a lot to be desired.

Members of these groups face financial difficulty as they income they earn if any is not enough to cater for their vast needs. Where they get government aid, it is always not enough because some of them have families the need to take care of. The fact that most of them are unemployed or earn meager incomes makes their living conditions difficult and at times unbearable. They are thus forced to live in homeless shelters or in streets.

Differences in problems experienced by these Minority Groups
Whereas it is true to say that the unemployed and those with disabilities are discriminated against, there are differences in the forms of discrimination and the origin of this discrimination. People with disabilities are mostly not employed because they cannot do as much work as those who are able bodied. They are also not accepted in some learning institutions as they will need more resources to ensure their needs are fully met and these institutions are not ready to pay extra for a few people.

The unemployed are discriminated against based on their financial or economic position in the society. They belong in the lower economic class and as such those from higher economic classes discriminate against them. (Eitzen et al, 568) For example most financial and banking institutions do not agree to lend them money to start businesses and the like because they do not have securities and as such are not credit worthy. This goes to show the existence of inequality in the society and the form it takes. (Eitzen et al)

Individual Model of Disability
This model portrays disability in a clinical way and focuses on the lack of mental and physical functioning of the individual. As such people with disability are seen as being in a tragic situation and as a result considered a burden to the family of the individual as well as the society. This model hinders those with disabilities from getting the opportunity to be integrated into the society as full participants as it focuses on the individuals disability and the physical and functional state of the individual as opposed to focusing on how solutions to the individuals problems ca be solved as they end up being those of the society. This is because many individuals form a group which in turn forms the society. If people continue to focus on the individual as the model suggests, then nothing much can be accomplished in terms of making the person a participating member of the society.