Running head: Disability Rights In The Workplace
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Disability Rights In The Work Place
Michael A. Babcock
BA/JUS 241
UA-KPC
11-05-2009
Disability Rights In The Workplace
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Disability Rights In The Workplace
This paper will discuss the Americans With Disabilities (ADA), act of 1990, and the laws involved with it. In edition, this paper also discusses the ADA act in relation to employment, and discrimination from a place of business. With a few examples of cases that express the discrimination of peoples with disabilities, the extent of this paper is to express to the reader an explanation of the ADA, and express to the reader that though a person may have a disability, they are normally still able to work in the work place.
Some people, such as a retired police sheriff, a previous employer of a blind employee, and a disabled individual currently working in the work place, are all interviewed in this paper. We also discuss there thoughts, ideas, and feelings about what the ADA has done for them, and what they would like to see from public businesses, and employers.
Disability Rights In The Workplace
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The Americans with Disabilities Act states that, “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.” (http://ada.gov). There are plenty of definitions of people with disabilities, and though changes have been made as recently as 2008, according to disability.gov, the law seems to be rather clear. No one, owning a building or business of public service, can be discriminated against on bases of there disability. This however, may be the case, but, as a majority of you may know, more often then not, someone is discriminated against due to there disability. For this paper, disability rights, and discrimination cases will be presented, and the responses to those cases, will also be presented.
When i had the opportunity to ask Audrey Kelley, (Personal Contact, november 8, 2009), about her thoughts of the ADA. She had a few things to say. Audrey, being a retired sheriff, had some very interesting, and curious things to give one to think about regarding the topic of the ADA, (Americans with disability act).
Audrey had the following responses to my questions. I asked her, > First of all, were you working in law enforcement after 1990, when the
> americans with disability act (ADA) was passed? “I retired in 1992.” Audrey was then asked, being you did work for two years, whilst the ADA was in place, how did you handle someone with a disability? ” If we had a person with a handicap we treated them the best we could. No undue pressure and the nature of the disability was always noted.” Finally, audrey was asked, How did you guys handle a person with a disability? And her response was, “If we had a person in a wheel chair we would transfer them to our wheel chairs to be sure there was no contraband hidden in their chair. We had medical staff on 24 hr call in the jail and it was pretty much up to them to give us guidelines. I can tell you for sure that we did not have many blind drivers to contend with. Sorry I cannot give you more input but common sense was the best guideline.”
Audrey’s phrase, “common sense was the best guideline”, would make since to a majority of people. A disability, according to the World Health Organization is defined as, “”an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives.’” In another words, someone who has either something physical, mental,, or emotional that separates them socially from others that they may interact with on a daily occurrence.
A case, filed against the Merced police, according to (www.fresnobee.com, september, 2009)), in an article titled, “Merced police Taser double amputee”, makes one think about what rights however a disabled person has. Though this case does not directly effect the ADA, it does give some things to think about. Should a person in the law, have different rights then a person who is not disabled when it comes to the law? In this article, it appears that a police officer tapered a man who was a double amputee. He had no movement from the waist down, because he had no legs. The officers were said to have removed him from his wheel chair, handcuff him, and leave him in broad daylight with out any pants on. Officers are telling the public that the man resisted arrest, however, The man in the case states that he did not resist arrest, and that what the officers did was not something they should have done. There were some witnesses that are taking side of the man who was forcefully handled, and state that he did not resist arrest and the officers actions were out of line. The only comment that we have from the police department is that they are doing an internal investigation, and have nothing else to say regarding this case.
If this man decides to fight under the ADA, should he be covered bye it? Though he is disabled, he should not be covered, as this law did not in fact directly effect his disability. Yes, the officers may have handled him roughly, however, at no point was he discriminated against. Though, the fact the officers left him on the sidewalk handcuffed, he might be able to fight the police department under the ADA, because he could not move. But, the department would always have the option of rebuttal this with the fact that even if a person was able to walk, the person would not be able to move off the side walk, and they would have to place the person who could walk on there own, in there car. The outcome of this case, is still pending and should give a good view at different laws in relation to police officers, as well, to people with disabilities.
There is not just discrimination happening with police officers, it happens all the time. Sadly, though, it even happens in the work place. There however are a few laws under the ADA, that would cover someone with a disability. According to www.eeoc.gov, no employer may discriminate against someone with a disability. This includes, but is not limited to; private employers, State and Local Governments, employment agencies, Labor organizations, and labor management committees. If after 1996, a employer has 15 or more employees, the EEOC, enforces the ADA laws for people who may have been discriminated against because of a disability. The EEOC, uses the same definition of a disability as used in the ADA, however, on September 25th, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into act the Americans With DIsability Act Amendments of 2008, and becomes effective January 1, 2009. The Amendments to the ADA, change such things, as the definition of a person with a disability, so a few different laws, Including the laws the EEOC follows, are required to be revised.
Some people who have a disability that work in the work force, along side others with out a disability have some unique challenges to overcome, along with the legal issues they may face. A person who is blind, for example, may have to be able to prove to there supervisor or the high erring board, that they are able to work along side there sighted fellow employees. Chuck Brady, (Personal contact, november 10th, 2009), is a blind person working in the customer service field, along side other sighted people. Chuck has been blind since1981, when he was five years old. There for, Chuck was disabled before the ADA passed in 1990. When asked if Chuck was aware of the ADA, he replied with, “I am aware of the ADA, but I have not really studied the impact or
language of it. I have not researched the act itself online, although I
should.” This makes one wonder how much information is out there for people with disabilities. A person may go there entire life with out knowing anything about the ADA, and not having the opportunity to be protected bye the Americans With Disability Act.
Chuck was then asked what he thought was the biggest issue for a disabled person in the work place. His response was, “The biggest thing I continue to see is people battling over reasonable
accommodation. The definition of reasonable can be quite broad at times.” Reasonable, as defined bye the dictionary application (Apple, Version 2.1.1 (80.1)) is, “as much as is appropriate or fair.” Though this, is as Chuck stated, quite broad, one would wonder what is the correct amount of accommodation to make. Chuck described a story about a friend he once knew that had issues getting that reasonable accommodation made for her. “I know a lady who had to fight for several years to gain the screen-enlarging software she needed. Everyone assumed that she could see enough to drive, so she didn’t need the software.” This may be sad, and unfair, but it is happening every day.
It’s examples like the previous one described bye Chuck that make it imperative to bring more awareness about not only the ADA, but about disabilities in general. People tend to think the worse about someone who is different then “Normal”, however, coming at this from a blind person’s point of view, and also under the assumption that someone else with a different disability would agree with this, people with a disability love to enjoy life just like anyone else.
The case described in the article, “Blind gamer sues Sony” (www.theregister.co.uk), is the latest example of a disabled person, trying to get equal rights for everyone. Though, possibly this might be going about it in the wrong way, it may be very effective, and see changes in the game world, as well in the life’s of people with a disability.
Alexander Stern, a person who has filed a Suit in California states that sony, a major gaming manufacture and producer has refused to make there games accessible for blind people, according to the ADA. Stern said that sony refused to respond to postal messages, and electronic messages regarding his concerns. It is also brought up that there are at this time third party programs that can make current main stream games accessible, such as world of warcraft, and second life. However, in the gaming communities, as well as in the blind communities, there are mixed feelings about this law suit. Some think it might help, however he is going about it the wrong way. Whilst others, think that a blind person should not be able to play video games at all. The second thought is of course mostly coming from the sighted community, however, Stern obviously feels that a blind person should be able to play games, and is trying to make this possible.
Should Stern’s law suit be covered and fightable with the ADA? One would think that it could, because, as the ADA states, “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations.” Sony is at this time, not allowing blind individuals the ability to access there games, and other related resources in a competitive manner. However, games have not been completely accessible for a blind user since they started coming out, before the ADA was written into law, and this is the first, widely publicized, case regarding games 19 years after the ADA was written in place. This case, should be relatively interesting to see the outcome of, and be a wonderful heads up to other main stream companies to make there products accessible.
Though a majority of this paper has covered disability related issues, there is one major thing that has yet to be discussed. This is the lack of alternative media for main stream publications, and alternative formatted material for personal contact. In another words, providing information in an alternative format for blind users to be able to utilize. This is what most would call, a “Lock out”, not giving people who are blind, for example, a way to read public and private publications. If an alternative format for publicly available publications is not offered, then this would be in direct violation of the ADA.
In an article titled, “Social Security Administration Violates Rights of the Visually Impaired”, (http://sheriabrams.com/), we learn that for a person with a visual Impairment, the social security administration has been in a since locking them out for years. And people with a visual Impairment have been complaining about this for years, but to no avail.
A class action law suit was filed against the social security administration because of there lack of supplying publications and personal letters in an alternative format. Since the above referenced article was written, we have learned that the social security administration was required to start providing letters for people in an alternative format, effective july 1st, 2010. This should now make it possible for blind and visually impaired individuals to be able to keep up to date about important or any changes to there benefits.
This does however make people wonder why the social security administration was forced to have a class action law suit filed against them before doing something that is required of them because of the ADA. As previously stated, ada.gov states that “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.” the social security administration, obviously fits into this category, however were discriminating against visually impaired individuals for years. Why is this allow? That is not the aim of this paper, however, expressing to you the reader different cases that involve laws from the ADA, and giving some more information about the ADA was the aim of this paper.
Audrey Kelley
Personal Contact, november 2009
ADA Home Page – ada.gov – Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act
http://www.ada.gov/
Disability.gov: Connecting the Disability Community to Information & Opportunities
http://www.disability.gov/
Merced police Taser double amputee – Local – Fresnobee.com
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1645285.html
ADA – Your Employment Rights as an Individual With a Disability
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/ada18.html
Chuck Brady
Personal contact, november 2009
the dictionary application
Apple, Version 2.1.1 (80.1)
Blind gamer sues Sony • The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/09/sony_sued_gamer/
Social Security Administration Violates Rights of the Visually Impaired, Lawsuit Charges | sheriabrams.com/blog
http://sheriabrams.com/blog/social-security-disability-information/social-security-administration-violates-rights-of-the-visually-impaired-lawsuit-charges/