No Pity:: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement

Shapiro, social policies writer for U.S. News & World Report , centers his empathetic review of our society's relations to its disabled population on the 1992 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He documents the political progress of the issue with stories about several of the nation's estimated 35 million disabled people. Included are polio-afflicted activists, Special Olympics competitors, armed services veterans and elderly people who owe their survival to medical and technological advances. While the author cites encouraging signs of progress made in the advance of their rights, he notes that disabled people still struggle to be accepted on equal, independent terms without being patronized, segregated or victimized in an antiquated social services system and a prejudiced society. Author tour. (May)