Introduction

Humans are social beings and often coexist in groups of varying types and sizes. The scientific study of the behavior of human beings is called sociology (Giddens, 1986). Man has attempted to study formal and informal groupings including ethnic, racial, family, and religious and gender, his focus being on the pattern of behavior depicted by the society and culture. Some of the groups are marginalized. Social marginalization means the exclusion or lack of participation in activities of economic, civic and social norms. The said norms are those supposed to bring the society together and to govern everyone that belongs to it.

At least every society has a group of people who face discrimination and lack social inclusion in matters affecting the society. There may be a number of reasons for this exclusion ranging from ethnic groupings, beliefs in the group the social class and the languages some of which are considered as inferior or minority. People who are marginalized have very little or even no control over their lives. They thence cannot contribute to the society in any way. They are also not under the protection of the normal legal laws protecting regular people.

Statistics by the United Nations indicate that about 10% of the world population lives with disabilities translating to the possibility that this is the world largest minority. People with disability are at a high risk of facing exclusion from the society. They are excluded from employment opportunities, income and expenditure, schools, housing, health facilities and other social relations (Grant, 2005).

Social theories have been advanced to attempt to give a clear understanding of a disability (Coleman, 1994). The model currently dominates in the research into the plight of the disabled from the context of the society and politics.  It was advanced in the 1970’s by some activists and is currently used as the test of disability politics. Disabled people in Britain use the model to differentiate between policies, laws and ideas that are inadequate from those that are not.

The model takes into accounts the problems faced by the disabled people and attempt to view this group as normal people. It reframes disabilities as the results of interaction and considers the conditions as connected to the people and their choices in life.  The model encourages the disabled to participate in political activities while considering the disabilities as part of them (Coleman, 1994). The theory does not deny the issue disability as a problem but rather tries to locate it someplace in the society. That it does not limit individuals rather it’s the society that fails to hand out the necessary services and ensure that the requirements of disabled people are considered and taken care of in the society.

The elections in the United States often ignore the constituency of the disabled. The 2008 elections saw Disaboom the largest community of people living with disabilities encouraging people vying for presidential seat to post their profiles on their sites so as to promote dialogs and interactions with these marginalized people. This group is also often excluded in discussion of health care issues and the government when budgeting for healthcare tends to over look the high costs associated with caring for the disabled.

The majority of these people may not be able to buy health insurances and must rely on the government and society for aid. Employment opportunities for them are also limited so much that their incomes are also very low (Blundell, 2003. Very few employers seem to want to take in the disabled. They also lack information on the benefits that accrue when hiring such people such as tax credits. Prior to the introduction of MiCASA, the disabled faced institutional bias that made it hard for them to use their Medicaid payments for community based attendant care instead of nursing homes. The government has intervened in the provision of education for this group. Toddlers and youth with disabilities can benefit from this. People with disabilities lack access to higher education primarily due to transport problems, learning technologies and lack of finance (Dell and Power, 2007).

Beliefs about the disabled could be reduced by allowing this group of people to actively participate in normal activities as the regular people. The national sports centre for the disabled was founded in 1970 to impact positively on the lives of people in this group (Woods, 2007). Sports are one way to make them feel as part of the larger society. The inclusion of the disabled in politics would also reduce prejudice and make their representation felt within the government.

Conclusion

Sociology has enabled man understand the others in a better way and hence reduce bias while improving the level of coexistence. Though there are some groups that remain marginalized, the majority have found ways to participate in union in societal norms.  The disabled will always be part of the society and through ways and models to reduce discrimination against them they will feel accepted. The social theory aims at viewing the light of this group and aids the society understand that it is only other groups who would lead this group into thinking they were different.

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