How does knowing what makes us different help us promote individual rights?
Because if the people in charge insisted that everyone was the same color, religion, class, etc. then they could take away everyone else’s rights that don’t fit their criteria. If we acknowledge a trait that makes us different (for example, a mental disorder), then we can set up rights to protect people with disabilities. If we just ignore it and pretend that those people don’t exist, then they are open to discrimination for schools, jobs, and hate groups. And unfortuntately this is the way is HAS to work, because as a society we can’t be grown-up enough to just respect everybody as equals.
