Reduced Life Chances

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

Sociological studies, if they have been done, comparing the income level of the stigmatized disabled of given levels of education with comparable statistics for the general population, would probably show "underachievement," such as people with graduate degrees working as clerk-typists. It should be remembered that our society's treatment of the class of people the late Ms. Ivins' remark, above, refers to, is always a crucial element in the picture their life story presents. "Bellatricksy" writes:

Goffman [says] “The term stigma, then, will be used to refer to ... a special kind of relationship between attribute and stereotype” (2). [1] Observing that “the person with stigma is not quite human” (3), Goffman explains that the our unconscious assumptions lead us to “exercise varieties of discrimination, through which we effectively, if often unthinkingly, reduce his life chances.”
Goffman also echoes Rosemarie Garland-Thompson, noting that stigma reduces a person in the mind from being a “whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” ... stigmatized people are vulnerable to invasions of privacy, with perfect strangers feeling comfortable starting personal conversations.

A familiar experience of our people is the case where our family, friends, or co-workers imply that we should have done better, considering our background; and completely ignore the crucial fact of our lives: Discriminatory social attitudes reduce our life chances. Repeating (emphasis added):

Our unconscious assumptions [about the disabled] lead us to “exercise varieties of discrimination, through which we effectively, if often unthinkingly, reduce his life chances.”

The previous post asked for "A landmark disability discrimination civil rights case." Also needed is a landmark (and widely publicized) sociological study detailing comparative education/income statistics for the targeted disabled as contrasted with the general population.