“DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: ATTITUDES, GENETICS,
AND ECONOMICS”
Professor Peter Blanck
Abstract
The global population of persons with disabilities is growing, with war and natural disasters,
attitudinal bias, and lack of health care and poverty affecting hundreds of millions of people.
My talk will discuss continuing challenges to the stubborn legacies of disability
discrimination as seen in social exclusion, and views of unworthiness and incapacity. I use as
illustrations of 21st century challenges attitudinal bias, genetic discrimination, and economic
marginalization. The goal is to empower today’s children with disabilities, who are the first
generation who will not know a world without laws like the ADA and efforts like the UN
Convention on Disability Rights.