We all do it

We all do it. We don’t mean to, but we do.

The audience and judges sneered when contestant Susan Boyle walked on stage on Britain's Got Talent. When she started to sing, the sneering quickly turned to awe. In the days that followed, discussions took place about how superficial we all were to laugh at her, since it turned out she possessed exceptional talent. The consensus seemed to be that, as Ms. Boyle was an extraordinary singer, it was wrong to snicker at her perceived lack of social graces and unglamorous appearance.

Hmmm…so, it’s OK to laugh at someone who looks different and who doesn’t possess exceptional talent?

A mother with a happy, smiling baby with Down Syndrome overhears other mothers talking in the park, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

A family with a child with Down Syndrome is less graced by God? Really?

On The Tonight Show, President Obama discussed his bowling score of 129 with some self-deprecating humor, "It was like Special Olympics or something."

I wonder….would this thoughtful leader have put himself down in jest by saying "Man, I bowl like a girl!" I doubt it; he knows in his heart one doesn’t put down another or even oneself, by calling someone “a girl.” And, if he slipped, Americans across the country would let him know that girls are not inferior beings.

An article in the May 2009 Diabetes Forecast focuses on the discrimination in employment against people with diabetes. It is an informative discussion about the necessity of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act and its protection of workers’ rights However, the author, almost in hushed tones, seems to need to make the point that people with diabetes aren’t really disabled. They just need the law to have a fair workplace.

What’s so terrible about having a disability, about being in that group? What’s so terrible about needing an accommodation to level the playing field, to do the essential functions of one’s job? The unemployment rate among people who are blind is 70%. Provide accommodation for insulin, snacks, and low blood sugar, but not provide text-to-read programs or Braille accommodations?

Why do we not want to be seen to be like others who are different? Can we not look a little harder to see that we share a common humanity?

Violence against children and adults with noticeable differences is much higher than against those without noticeable differences; it is prevalent in our neighborhoods, our schools, our homes. One Texas institution even ran a coordinated “fight club,” treating their clients like dog-fighting entertainment.

We, of course, don’t condone this violence, we may not even see its enormity. But we need to be aware of it. When people are beaten because of race, religion, or sexual orientation, it’s classified as a hate crime. Can we not demand that beating of people with disabilities be treated similarly?

Legislative opportunities to support our citizens with disabilities abound. The Community Choice Act would allow people the option to receive support services in the home. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the essential human rights of all people. The convention has been open for signatures for more than two years, and 139 countries have signed, but not the United States.

Where are our priorities?


On this Blogging Against Disablism Day, I ask myself – where is my ableism? How do I reflect the deeply ingrained prejudices of my culture? Where am I an ableist in my individual actions? In my community actions?

I give you the same challenge. Ask the tough questions.



This post is part of a worldwide blogging phenomenon, Blogging Against Disablism Day. Be sure to head over to Diary of a Goldfish to read more perspectives on ableism/disablism. Thanks, Goldfish for your extraordinary efforts again this year.

Links: my BADD 2007 post and BADD 2008 post

Dave's Faves

A few good reads:

Another study on the employment of people with disabilities -

"In a first-of-its-kind study unveiled to Chicago-region business leaders on January 28, a team of researchers at DePaul University discussed research results that found employees with disabilities from the healthcare, retail and hospitality sectors in the region were just as dependable and productive as employees without disabilities. In addition, researchers also discussed research results that showed accommodation costs associated with workers with disabilities were often minimal and well worth the expense."

I got that link from Access Living, which also had a link to a story about Marca Bristo, being honored as a Chicagoan of the Year.

Another great read from Steve Kuusisto: How to Write Able-ist Prose.
It starts with,

"I once knew a disabled (insert "Man" "Woman" "Child" HERE)."

And, a new blog: Crimes Against People with Disabilities, It's time to speak up... Yes, indeed.

A positive employment story

ABC World News had a story tonight about the Walgreen's Distribution Center in Anderson, South Carolina.

"Though the job market continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise
troubled economy, with the unemployment rate still just 4.7 percent, the national unemployment rate for disabled Americans is more than 44 percent.
Almost two decades after the first President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, disabled Americans continue to face enormous barriers in the workplace. But in this building, abled and disabled workers do many of the same jobs and earn the same pay."

This Walgreens is different. 700 employees and 40% have a disability. Check out the video or the written transcript. It's well worth a look. I would have liked to have seen more about the training, accommodations, and profitability of the employment. It looks like the employees are very satisfied, and I imagine turnover is very low.

Walgreen executive Randy Lewis speaks of the success of the effort and says that any company could do what Walgreens is doing. He says,

"This building is not about charity. It's about opportunity."

This is so much better than how Walgreen's competitor addresses employment and disability issues. Way to go, Walgreens!

"ADA Authors Rebut Critics of ADA Restoration"

Reunify Gally is full of links and information about the ADA Restoration Act. The most recent post shares a letter that Representatives Hoyer and Sensbrenner wrote in response to points raised in opposition to the ADA Restoration Act. These representatives were part of the drafting of the original ADA and are now leaders in the bipartisan work on the Restoration Act.

Here's a portion of the letter:

"The clarification of the definition of the ADA is by no means a “radical change.” Moreover, it will ensure that those who “are deserving of” the ADA’s protections will be covered by the law. We hope you agree that people “deserving of the ADA’s protections” include the many people with epilepsy, diabetes, heart conditions, depression, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and intellectual disabilities who have been told by the courts they are not “disabled enough” to gain protection under the ADA."

And,

"Finally, passage of this law will not overwhelm the EEOC and cause it to be unable to do its job. The statistics on the number of charges filed with the EEOC, and the number of findings of reasonable cause, are closely comparable to other civil rights statutes protecting our citizens. As you are aware, any individual who charges discrimination under any of the civil rights laws must prove that the discrimination occurred because of an illegitimate factor."

Check out this post at Reunify Gally for both the criticisms and the full response to the criticisms.

Steak 'n Shake apology

"We believe in admitting when we make mistakes and learning from them."

I blogged about the lack of service that Karen received at the Steak 'n Shake drive-thru because of her deafness. You can read here about Karen's meeting with representatives with Steak 'n Shake.

If you read through Karen's posts on this incident (and the resulting comments), you can see just how many people have a hard time believing that this type of discrimination exists.

Support the ADA Restoration Act

H.R. 3195 ADA Restoration Act was introduced in July, 2007 to "restore the intent and protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990." A hearing was held yesterday to discuss this bill.

This is critically important legislation, because lately more and more employees are being barred from protection by the ADA. You may remember this story about the pharmacist who was fired because of his diabetes. His employer, Walmart, denied him a 30 minute lunch break. Thirty minutes needed to eat his lunch and keep his blood sugar regulated. When the pharmacist sued, a judge threw out his lawsuit, because the judge did not consider him disabled since he took insulin and therefore deemed him not qualified for protection from the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Representative Steny Hoyer, who worked on the original bill in 1990 says that the Congress never intended to disqualify people from protection from discrimination because they were taking medication that improved their condition.

Employment is a huge, huge issue for people with disabilities. Without employment, how do we live independently, support ourselves, buy food and shelter, live a life? Without employment, we are relegated to relying on charity and government services, which just cannot be an economically sound way to run a country. Without employment, it's tough to share our perspectives, our talents.

Steve Kuusisto has a very informative analysis of the proposed modifications to the law. I urge you to read his entire post because it really clarifies the issues. He quotes Scott Lissner, a university ADA coordinator:

"This would clearly widen the scope of who is protected from discrimination (exclusionary practices and prejudicial practices resulting in differential treatment) but would not directly expand who is entitled to an accommodation. Though it is possible if fewer students, employees and program participants with disabilities are excluded there may be some increase in the accommodations provided.

The second critical change puts the ADA in sync with other civil rights legislation by moving from protecting only qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination to protecting all individuals from disability based discrimination."

Here's what the American Civil Liberties Union's press release has to say about this important legislation:

The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the House Committee on Education and Labor for holding a hearing on H.R. 3195, the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Restoration Act.
The original ADA passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1990 and was heralded by Republican and Democratic leaders as the "emancipation proclamation" for people with disabilities. However, due to a series of Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed the definition of disability under the ADA, the vast majority of ADA cases brought against private employers have been dismissed by the courts.

The ADA Restoration Act restores the original intent of the ADA by clarifying that anyone with an impairment, regardless of his or her successful use of treatments to manage the impairment, is entitled to seek a reasonable accommodation in the workplace.

Specifically, this legislation:
amends the definition of disability so that individuals whom Congress originally intended to protect from discrimination are covered under the ADA;
prevents the courts from considering the use of treatment or other accommodations when deciding whether an individual qualifies for protection under the ADA; and
focuses on whether individuals can demonstrate they were treated less favorably on the basis of disability.

The following can be attributed to ACLU Legislative Counsel Joanne Lin: "It is time to fix the problems created by the Supreme Court. The ADA Restoration Act would reestablish Congress' original intent in passing the ADA and restore the Act to its place as one of our country's great civil rights laws."

There are 243 cosponsors of the ADA Restoration Act. But, there is considerable opposition. Some say that the ADA Restoration Act will allow everyone to claim a disability, encourage "cheaters", and the expense to business will be overwhelming. I don't buy it. As stated above, the ADA is being chipped away to not cover those who need it. And the reason is not concern that for cheaters. And, most accommodations cost very little to the employer, while adding greatly to the employer's bottom line to have a productive employee.



These statistics from a talk by attorney Howard Rosenblum of Equip for Equality, bear repeating:

20% of reasonable accommodations cost nothing.

Over 70% cost $500 or less.

The median cost is $250.

A company makes $35 for each $1 spent on reasonable accommodations. Some of the benefits include hiring and retaining a qualified employee, increased productivity, and decreased turnover costs.

Certainly a lunch break for the Walmart pharmacist is not a costly accommodation.

This bill has bipartisan support in the House, but Senate support is not clear. Please contact your Representatives and Senators to support this important civil rights legislation.

Regular updates on the progress of the ADA Restoration Act can be found at: The American Association of People with Disabilities blog and at Reunify Gally and The Road to Freedom.

Update on the Steak 'n Shake Discrimination

Yesterday, I linked to Karen's story of being denied service at her local Steak 'n Shake because she couldn't use the speaker box.

Here's an update: Karen says that she's received a response from Steak 'n Shake corporate headquarters and will be meeting with their representative. She is not looking for any remuneration (money or shakes!) - just an apology and appropriate customer service for patrons with disabilities.

Last night, the story was covered on ABC News and Fox News. I thought the coverage was good - not patronizing at all. Unfortunately, the videolinks are not captioned, so Karen and others who are deaf cannot hear the coverage via the computer.

It's good to see change happen.

Another story illustrating why we need the ADA

Yesterday afternoon, Karen, who blogs at A Deaf Mom's Shares Her World, wanted to order shakes for herself and her son. Karen is deaf and cannot place a drive-thru order via the speaker. She needs a real person with whom she can lipread and speak. Doesn't sound too tough, does it? She drove up to the payment window at Steak and Shake to place her order, and was refused service, even threatened by the server with calling the police because she was "disrupting business."

Last summer, a woman with underdeveloped arms and hands who uses her feet to do the work of her hands, was refused service for herself and four children at McDonald's because the employee was disgusted when she gave him her credit card with her foot.

I've heard some people say that we don't really need the Americans with Disabilities Act because,

C'mon, people are reasonable.
Why get the government in the middle of it?
It will cause more trouble than it's worth.

And, again -

People are reasonable, we can work things out ourselves.

Nope. Not true.

Reasonable people will stop their car when the school bus stops in front of them to let kids off, even if the kids aren't crossing the street. But, we have a law. Why? For the safety of our children, and because, frankly, some people aren't so reasonable when they are in a rush or in a foul mood or just don't feel like stopping.

So many, many times when I try to do something - sing in a play, go on a school field trip, enter a restaurant, I hear,

We can't...
We don't....
You can't...
Sorry, it just won't work.
I know there's the ADA and all, but...
Go away.

The ADA is needed so that people can have shelter, work, shop for groceries and other necessities, get healthcare, take public transportation, etc, etc. Important daily functions, and recreation as well.

Incidently, money isn't really the issue here. As is so often the case, accommodations are not necessarily costly. They simply require a little thought, a little effort, or a little creativity.

A few suburbs over from the Karen's Steak and Shake is a Culver's Restaurant who, a few years ago, installed a bell at their drive-thru speaker.

"The customer pulls up and simply rings the bell...The staff now knows that the person out here is struggling with the speaker and then they pull forward and then they are handed a pen, paper and a to go menu."

(This accommodation and others similar to it are designed by a Chicago company, Inclusion Solutions.)

We need the ADA and we need the ADA Restoration Act to keep the teeth in the law.

We can't count on people being "reasonable".

"The Argument Against Lifeboats"

Steve Kuusisto of Planet of the Blind makes a very interesting comparison of the opposition to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ADA Restoration Act with the problem of an inadequate number of lifeboats on the Titanic. Check it out!

Dave's Faves 2

Three very different links:

A horse for a service animal? Interesting.

Ruth’s back-up aide didn’t show up. She offers this prayer. I hope today is a better day for you, Ruth.

A pharmacist is fired by Walmart because of his diabetes. This is why we need the ADA Restoration Act.

Employment and the ADA

One of the speakers at the Coalition For Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois (CCDI ) conference was Howard Rosenblum, senior attorney for the Illinois advocacy organization Equip for Equality. Mr. Rosenblum gave a very informative presentation about the Americans with Disabilities Act as it pertains to employment.

Mr. Rosenblum explained the difference between essential functions of a job and non-essential functions of a job. He gave the example of an accounting job. Essential functions would include bookkeeping, skills with numbers, and the appropriate certification or education. Non-essential functions might include telephone communication and reading.

It is illegal for an employer to ask if a job applicant has a disability. The key point in determining suitability for a job is whether or not the applicant is capable of performing the essential functions of the job. A permissible question an employer can ask is, "Are you able to do the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation?" Mr. Rosenblum said that, whether or not one has a disability, one can answer yes to this question. It is absolutely unnecessary to indicate "with" or "without", and it is illegal for the interviewer to ask any further questions about the existence of a medical condition or disability.

Mr. Rosenblum said that it's a tricky issue whether or not one should tell the interviewer that you have a visible disability before meeting in person. Sometimes if the interviewer knows ahead of time, he or she has time to worry. On the other hand, if the interviewer is surprised by a visible disability, he or she may be so distracted as to be unable to do an effective interview. While it is legal to ask for accommodations such as a sign language interpreter or a scribe for the job interview, Mr. Rosenblum recommended that when possible, the applicant supply his or her own accommodations for the interview. It is also legal to ask for alternative formats in a job interview.

Not being able to do the non-essential functions of a job is not a legal reason to be refused a job.

Reasonable accommodations must be provided to allow an employee to perform the essential functions of a job. An employer is not expected to make an accommodation that results in lower attendance or output requirements for the employee, is a safety hazard, or causes an undue hardship to the company. The employer is not expected to tolerate violent behaviors or provide personal care services for an employee.

Some examples of employment accommodations: restructuring of non-essential functions, modifying work schedules, and providing auxiliary aids and services.

Interesting statistics on reasonable accommodation costs versus benefits from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN):
20% of reasonable accommodations cost nothing.
Over 70% cost $500 or less.
The median cost is $250.
A company makes $35 for each $1 spent on reasonable accommodations. Some of the benefits include hiring and retaining a qualified employee, increased productivity, and decreased turnover costs.

Resources provided by Mr. Rosenblum:
Job Accommodation Network
Equip for Equality (Illinois advocacy agency, other states have their own agencies)
US Department of Justice ADA Home Page