Why is disability looked down upon?

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If we have to go through more challenges in order to succeed, why are we categorized as inferior? It makes no logical sense whatsoever.

I don't think people with disabilities are less useful. I think we are looked down on more because of the fact that we are less likely to engage in the using of other people.

When I was in school, I actually, believe it or not, had less friends because of the fact that I refused to trash talk others and also because of the fact that I would be nice to everyone.

Therefore, people who at first liked me for being kind to them soon disliked me for also being kind to the people that they disliked/people that weren't as kind to them.

It really is a cursed world out there, isn't it?

we are looked at as inferior because of the attitude people still have to the word disability.
people still think it means entirely disabled,no ability,non functioning.
people are still viewing disability using the outdated medical model and do not understand just because someone has disability it doesnt mean they cannot contribute to society in some way or another, whether its through having a paid job,a career,a voluntary job,a good listener, or their humour and care for others that helps to keep the community going.
everyone has something to give,whether they are mildly or profoundly disabled and everything in between,that is what makes the prehistoric translation of 'disability' suck so much,even people in comas contribute to society;in the way of keeping people in jobs,training,developing understanding,we need to change the way society views us but thats like trying to herd cats, society is a stubborn bugger.

disability is looked down upon because it is seen as having something missing that humans are not supposed to have missing, an incomplete person rather than a different person.
We are all complete and whole human beings and have a right to be ourselves.

It's an old fear, older than humanity itself.

If you are a wild animal, being close by to another animal that is ill or acting oddly can be dangerous. You might catch the illness, or the animal's confusion could attract a predator that might hurt you both.

So it is a natural instinct to stay away from those who are ill. It can be seen in humans most significantly in the disgust reaction. If you saw an infected wound, or a sore, or a person with a runny nose and red eyes, you would instinctively back away. That is a survival instinct and it's been around since we had backbones, possibly before that.

But we are humans, and group animals, and that changes things. Group animals will care for weak members of the group because doing that makes the whole group stronger--the weak animal may recover and protect you; or else, the weak animal will contribute despite its weakness because it has been supported by others. Humans overcome their disgust/fear reaction to illness and odd behavior when they care for a sick baby, counsel someone with a mental illness, or work in the medical profession. For us, culture and compassion balance out the tendency to reject the weak, injured, or ill, because for us, not rejecting them actually gives us a survival advantage. If we support Grandma even though she has a bad heart, she will teach us how to grow a garden. If we support the veteran who comes back with only one leg, he may become a skilled watchmaker. If we support Van Gogh despite his mental illness, we get his artwork. Because we have the ability to cover another person's weaknesses, we've grown into a species with an instinctively compassionate reaction that often overrides the fear and disgust that come from the more primitive parts of our brains.

That doesn't mean that those fear/disgust reactions vanish, though. People still have them, and if they listen to them, they can grow into unthinking prejudice that, however illogical, leads to the same rejection of the ill or injured that would take place automatically if we were lizards instead of human beings.

I think that we represent what people fear:

dependence (even though everyone really is)
inability to do the things you want and/or losing the same
mortality (sickness = death after all)
helplessness due to no choice
and so on

The world subscribes to a "throw away" mentality.

A tool is only valued until it is no longer needed. This analogy is applied to people.

Most "disabled" people are like defective tools. It's so easy to just grab a properly working one off the next shelf than deal with a defective one.

So many NTs learn the hard way what this is like when that day comes that someone younger, stronger, more eager comes along and they are tossed aside in spite of decades of hard work and devotion.

Disability is basically seen as a weakness in our individualistic society. Independence and success are valued more than family or community.

Even though it's 2014 we still live in a honour/shame society if you have something that hinders you from being a fully productive member of society people subconsciously (sometimes consciously) see you with less worth

In the UK, I guess the really contradictory thing is that workplaces and public spaces are under ever-increasing regulatory requirements to provide access and other special facilities to wheelchair-users, whilst the UK National Health Service is increasingly being exposed as failing to fulfil its purpose.

There are many forms of disability, but unless the disability is obvious (like blindness, for example), it is hard to know how we can be expected to make the necessary allowances.