Imagine That America Had Its Consciousness Raised

Another six months of Monica, have mercy; I don't care if it harelips the Governor. - Molly Ivins, Time.com

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity - Erving Goffman

There's case law out there regarding people commenting and gesturing against race and religion. But ... there's nothing out there regarding disabilities. - Assistant City Prosecutor Jennifer Fitsimmons

Needed:

• A landmark disability discrimination civil rights case. ACLU, where are you? Ada.gov, where are you?
• Anti-defamation campaign (Time.com, take note!).
• A civil rights act for the disabled, since the disabled were omitted from the Civil Rights Act.
• A disability ombudsman in each state and each school district to which any adult, and any student, respectively, can go when disability discrimination occurs.
• The addition of specific disability harassment language to the existing anti-harassment guidelines.
• For Shame! campaign.  
• Ad showing a minority being bullied beside one showing disabled being bullied, saying one is just as wrong as the other.
• Spots showing celebrities saying “I'm against disability discrimination, are you?”
• Ad showing teacher rebuking student for slighting disabled classmate. 
• A speech by a national leader citing instances of disability discrimination and calling for change. 
• National leader describing incidents such as Ivins' remark as the product of irrational animus and calling for change. 
• Counseling for the disabled, to deal with the pressure to feel shame, guilt, social inadequacy, etc.
• Proactive response training, such as how to respond if someone says, “How nice you're in the choir—it must help with your speech.”
• The addition of ethical training to the training of physicians and other medical staff, to remind them that it is unprofessional to treat disability as a social sin rather than a morally neutral medical condition.
• Institutions (meeting places, organizations, "meet people like you" events, etc.) to counteract the social isolation of many disabled people.