Question

The Americans with Disabilities Act claims that “The continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis.”

Why do the authors include Part 2 in this section? How is Part 2 related to the claim? (1) some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing.

Answer 1

(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem.

(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services.

(4) Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally.

(5) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis.

Answer 2

The author mentions part 2 because he is trying to portray how much of a difference of treatment we used to give in the old times, as to it is now. With the new laws, having "the claim that (1) in some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing." he tries to highlight how important it is to have a Law supporting them, contradicting how we used to treat them as outsiders back then.