Abstract
The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act assume that all people without exception are full-fledged, regardless of the state of their health and the presence of certain physical disabilities. Disability is understood as a certain condition in which, as a result of a health disorder, a person faces certain social barriers in the implementation of his abilities and capabilities. The elimination of such barriers of a technical, psychological, organizational nature is recognized as a way to resolve the problems of persons with disabilities. It should affect the degree of adaptation of the surrounding world to a person with disabilities. The low level of awareness of specialists in working with personnel and staff recruitment can serve as a serious barrier to the competitiveness of workers with disabilities in the labor market. It also includes the psychological readiness of the employer to cooperate with an employee with a disability, and the lack of financial and organizational capacity to adapt to working conditions.
Introduction
The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a government agency which ensures that federal civil right laws are enforced and administered. The agency possesses the authority and responsibility to investigate and analyze the charges of employment discrimination. Discrimination can be based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or disability. Disability discrimination is within U.S. EEOC’s jurisdiction, and it is a major part of its activities.
Overview
The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act are the laws that protect people with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace due to their condition. EEOC administers and enforces these laws in order to eliminate any disability-based discrimination. In addition, the agency uses a preventative approach by technical assistance and education programs (“Disability discrimination,” 2020). Freedom of labor or the right to free labor acts as one of the fundamental human rights, having important applied value, since the bulk of the population provides for their livelihood needs through the implementation of particular labor activity. Therefore, equal access to work and equal pay has been set at the head of socio-economic policy in all countries of the world. Given this, it seems appropriate to study the regulatory framework governing labor relations of persons with disabilities.
First of all, it is necessary to determine what is meant by the term person with disabilities and disability. The term “disabled person” is used extremely rarely, in view of the fact that it implies that the state recognizes that a person has sufficiently serious physical and mental health disorders. It entails the provision of appropriate legal status, that is, disability. This is by no means the actual state of health of such a person, and other concepts are used instead of the indicated term (Neumark, Song, & Button, 2017). For example, wheelchair users are considered healthy people who are restricted in movement.
In medicine, a person with disabilities was considered for a long time as an inferior person. It implied that he should live in specially created conditions for this separately from other people, despite the fact that decisions regarding his life should be made by specialists in the field of medicine and rehabilitation. However, it should be noted that some physical disabilities, such as illness and aging, do not mean the automatic impossibility of self-realization of a person. Respectively, there are no grounds for establishing control over these persons or depriving them of the opportunity to live and develop in society independently.
In addition, people should not forget that the “disabled person” in the legal aspect is a person who is endowed with a certain legal status. The determination of disability in the manner determined by the norms of the current legislation presupposes the existence of a number of benefits and restrictions. In the social, political, and sociological contexts, therefore, they often speak of “people with disabilities” as persons with certain physical or mental disabilities, restrictions, or special health conditions. While in the legal aspect, the concept of a “disabled person” continues to be used. However, one should not forget about the risk that may arise as a result of a misinterpretation of the concept of a disabled person. It is a violation of the ability of an individual to act as a subject of law.
Future Implications
By knowing the regulatory and legislative basis of discrimination prevention, it will allow professional counselors to know the correct and appropriate terminology and laws protecting people with disabilities. Regarding people with disabilities, three types of understanding of their equality with other people can be applied, such as formal equality, equality of results, equality of opportunity (Armour, Button, & Hollands, 2018). Legal equality implies disability as a legally non-essential characteristic. From the position of legal equality, unequal treatment of persons on the basis of this characteristic is recognized as a negative stereotype.
Conclusion
In conclusion, EEOC is the agency that regulates and integrates the laws that protect people with disabilities. There is an approach to equality of persons with disabilities from the perspective of equality of results. This approach manifests itself in a situation where a working person with disabilities receives an equivalent salary in comparison with an ordinary employee. At the same time has special needs and incurs certain costs that are associated with his disability. In this case, a person without a disability is discriminated against, and this approach is based on the equal value and equal human dignity of all people, respectively.
References
Armour, P., Button, P., & Hollands, S. (2018). Disability saliency and discrimination in hiring. American Economic Association, 108, 262-266.
Disability discrimination. (2020). Web.
Neumark, D., Song, J., & Button, P. (2017). Does protecting older workers from discrimination make it harder to get hired? Evidence from disability discrimination laws. Research on Aging, 39(1), 29-63.