15.7 – Think and Apply Activity 2
Before beginning this activity, review this brief summary of the reading text for Module 15: Civil Rights Movement and Beyond.
After the U.S. Civil War, the Reconstruction era brought new Constitutional amendments that gave Black Americans more rights, including the end of slavery and voting rights for men of all races. However, many states created laws that enforced segregation and made it difficult for Black Americans to vote. In the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. led movements that resulted in major legal changes. Other groups, such as women and Native Americans, also fought for equal rights and voting access. Today, advocacy continues, including efforts like the Americans with Disabilities Act, showing that organizing can lead to change.
Disability Rights – Problem and Solution Activity
What is a problem? What is a solution? Social change often happens when individuals and communities see and tell others about problems in society and, as a result, problems are recognized and solutions are shared.
Example
PROBLEM: Women were not allowed to vote in the United States.
SOLUTION: The passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees women the right to vote (after the activism of generations of women).
People with physical disabilities have been fighting for rights and change throughout American history. Below are short descriptions and pictures that show 4 examples of problems that people with disabilities live with sometimes. Please A) READ the problem, and then B) WRITE or DISCUSS a solution or solutions that will hopefully help fix this problem. Review students’ ideas together as a class. Are they solutions that exist now, or new ones that should be introduced? [some possible answers below]
| PROBLEM #1: People who are blind or visually impaired have a difficult time finding the crosswalk to cross the street and/or know when it is safe or the right time to cross the street at the crosswalk. What SOLUTION or SOLUTIONS could help with this problem?  |
PROBLEM #2: People who are not physically able have a difficult time entering a building or moving from floor to floor in a building that only has stairs. What SOLUTION or SOLUTIONS could help with this problem? 
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| PROBLEM #3: People who are deaf or hearing impaired can have a difficult time doing activities for fun in public, like going to a movie. They can see the movie but can’t hear it. What SOLUTION or SOLUTIONS could help with this problem?  |
PROBLEM #4: People who are blind or visually impaired can have a difficult time eating out when they are given a menu and have to read and decide what to eat. What SOLUTION or SOLUTIONS could help with this problem?  |
Possible answers:
Problem 1: “Talking” traffic signals; bright crosswalk paint; putting a different surface on the crosswalk than is on the street that can be felt by a blind person.
Problem 2: Building ramps into buildings; installing elevators; installing motorized chairs that go up and down stairs.
Problem 3: Technology aides that allow a person to better hear a movie; subtitles; personal devices where people can read what people are saying in a movie; access to a sign language interpreter.
Problem 4: Menus in large print or braille; “audio” menus where a person can listen to their choices.
