Public education material on specific issues is always important and use. There seems to be a lack of material on disability as a social issue. This is why a decade ago I wrote the tongue in cheek '74 ways of Upsetting a Disabled Person' as shown below, which I am presenting as some light relief to the heavy nature of some issues. The full version with explanations to each point can be found at http://www.74ways.tips
1 Build a flight of stairs up to your front door
2 Send a blind person a letter in the smallest print possible
3 Tell a disabled person they are better off dead
4 Remind disabled people that special schools are for special people
5 When you can't understand what a person with a speech impairment says on the phone, just hang up
6 When you cannot help a disabled person, tell them to see their social worker
7 Always assume that a disabled person's personal assistant is a family member
8 Never talk to a disabled person directly, talk to their carers instead
9 Nominate a disabled person for a bravery award, just because they are disabled!
10 Always ask a disabled person what is wrong with them!
11 Always encourage a disabled person to seek a cure, whatever it costs!
12 Always put the disabled entrance of a building at the back!
13 Always talk to a deaf person loudly and keep your mouth covered.
14 Remind a disabled swimmer using arm bands they can't actually swim
15 Always assume disabled people are asexual
16 Introduce a disabled friend to your family as a victim that suffers from their condition
17 Always park in a disabled parking bay
18 Ask someone with dyslexia to read a book out aloud
19 Invite your wheelchair using friend to your penthouse suite when the lift is broken
20 Always be patronising towards disabled people
21 Complain that disabled people want more rights than everyone else
22 Explain to people that if you can not talk, you can not communicate
23 Proudly tell people there is no difference between learning difficulty and mental illness
24 Complain that people with challenging behaviour are just naughty
25 Refer to someone with cerebral palsy as a dribbling spastic
26 Tell everyone your disabled friend suffers from his condition
27 When meeting a disabled person for the first time, always ask very personal questions about their conditions.
28 When a disabled person achieves something, call them lucky!
29 Complain there are too many disabled people on TV
30 Remember that nappies and bibs are just for babies, not adults!
31 Understand that night clubs are no places for disabled people
32 Complain there are too many disabled children in mainstream schools
33 Criticise airlines for helping disabled people when it delays the flight
34 Never let someone with a speech impairment go onto the radio
35 Ask why there are no disabled people at University
36 Always refer to disabled people as the Handicapped or Invalids
37 Remind disabled people that a computer is a luxury item
38 Raise concerns at work to whether a disabled person can actually compete with others in the workplace
39 Be proud to say you will never be disabled yourself
40 Remember, Disabled people can not do windsurfing
41 Always hold your meetings upstairs in a premise without a lift
42 Always assume disabled people will help you out for free
43 Remember that all disabled people think the same
44 Argue that more money should be spent on cures and less on disabled access
45 Complain language is not important and let's call a spade a spade
46 Understand that if you can't read, you can't use the internet
47 Remember that disabled people can not live on their own
48 Argue that disabled people must realise they are the underdogs of society
49 Complain that disabled people are economic burdens
50 When you do not understand someone with a speech impairment, just say yes or ignore them.
51 Always help a disabled person but never ask them how
52 Remember, if you can not see it, it does not exist
53 Understand that disabled people always need looking after
54 Tell everyone that disabled people cannot drive
55 Complain how easy it is being disabled
56 Make sure you know everything about your disabled friend's condition
57 Never ask a wheelchair user to go for a walk as it will offend them
58 Always build stairs without handrails
59 Remember that ramps should be as steep as possible
60 Remind disabled people that they are being punished for the sins of their previous life
61 Complain that it must be very cheap being disabled
62 Argue that disabled people can never be equal
63 Always see the disability, never the person
64 Remember, people who need to wear helmets all the time are mentally retarded
65 Argue everything was better in the good old days
66 Always use a disabled toilet as a store room and always keep it locked
67 Remember that buses and trains were never designed for wheelchair users
68 Argue that disability is just a minority issue, so why bother?
69 Understand there are those who are disabled and those are not and never shall they meet
70 Remember that only babies dribble, adults who dribble are just lazy
71 Remember, just 2 steps to your front door is okay
72 Send a deaf person an audio CD for Christmas
73 Never laugh at a disabled joke
74 Never buy a book on disability