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individua! you kr�ow who uses a wheeichair but can also handle Honors <br />Social Stuc�ies is probabfy much more effective than ar�y s�eech about <br />how to treat othe�s. <br />One facfior that sametimes gets in the way of more equal treatment <br />is the cost of renova�ions. For example, in schools that were built before <br />the days when students w�th disaE�ili�ies were included, elevatars ter�d to <br />be tucked away in a far corner o� �he building. Sometimes entering a <br />church or restaurar�t involves ralling t�rau�h an alley a�d coming in the <br />hack door past a s�oreroom. Although no discrimination was int�nded, it <br />s�metimes feels fike th� days when African-Americans had to use � <br />separate entrance because of segregation. <br />One document that deafs wi�h this issue of public accommodatit�ns <br />is the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Statute 363A.�.1. s�ates that "it is an <br />unfair discriminatory practic� far a place of public accammadation nat to <br />make r�asonable accommodatio� to the known physicaf ... disability of a <br />disabled person." For example, one year my family a�d I visited <br />G[ensheen Mansior� in Dulutf�. There was no elevator, so althoug� � caufd <br />se� th� main floor, I cauldn't get ta t�e upper fbor. 2 tl�in�C it would have <br />qualified as "reasonable"' to add an elevatar. (A[though they did s�aw a <br />video filmed upstairs, it wasn't quite the same.) <br />Two other documents seem ta me �o deal more with the �-easons <br />we bel�eve that all people should be tr�ated equally. The U�iversal <br />�eclaration of Numan Rights states in its preambl� that "the peoples of <br />the United Natiar�s have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith ... in the <br />dignifiy and wo�-th of the human persor� ..," Lastly, the Bill of Rights has <br />twa am�ndments t�at I think can be applied to disabled peopl�. <br />Amendment I says "Cor�gress shall maKe no law .., abridging ... the <br />right of the people ... tc� peti�ion the government for a redress of <br />grievances. Amendme�t V s�a�es tha� "no �erson s�ail ... b� de�riv�d <br />of iife, liberty, or proper�y." Th�se amendmen�s were actuafly used as <br />t�e basis for a suit against a courtho�se in Ter�nessee that was totally <br />