All Men Are Created Equal

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal." So wrote Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. But does this self-evident truth mean that all people are born equal in all ways?

Some individuals are born with physical or mental disabilities, while some are born totally healthy. No, what Jefferson meant was that all individuals are equally endowed with certain unalienable rights, a concept later incorporated in the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, securing the right to all Americans of "equal protection of the laws."

Recognizing that millions of Americans are born with physical or mental disabilities, or become disabled through injury or disease, Congress has enacted several laws designed to provide equal opportunity in the nation's schools and workplaces. Three notable laws are the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA),i and the Social …