Opinion: Look at the Person, Not the Disability

Peter Ripley

Peter Ripley wrote this column for the Peninsula Daily News. Ripley, 52, has arthrogryposis, a congenital joint disorder that makes him unable to walk. 

 As we commemorate National Disability Employment Awareness Month this month, we need to reflect on far we've come, and still need go, to overcome barriers to employment for the disabled.

My story is about how I overcame adversity, the challenges I was born with ­— and the challenges which were placed on me by others because of underestimation and ignorance of not knowing how to treat someone with a disability in regard to employment.