Disability Discrimination and the Numbers Game

If you visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ADA website you can read the followingdisclosure: 

In Fiscal Year 2007, EEOC received 17,734 charges of disability discrimination. EEOC resolved 15,708 disability discrimination charges in FY 2006 and recovered $54.4 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).

 

So I admit it’s early in the morning here in Iowa and I’m likely to be insufficiently caffeinated for the looming day and I have never been much at arithmetic (though I do know the difference between arithmetic and mathematics) and I therefore have a very primitive sense of scale.

Okay. But one thing leaps out at me: its estimated there are 54 million people with disabilities in the United States. The number is not solid and in truth its nearly impossible to know how many pwds there really are. But I think this is a good guesstimate.

So if you’re still with me this means that 1 million dollars was awarded for every person with a disability but of course the money went to something like 15,000 claimants.

Now I know and you know that the money is linked to penalties and damages–fines, governmental recovery costs, attorney’s fees, box lunches, cab rides in the rain, postage due, etc. 

But 54 million divided by 15,000 comes to 3.6 million per claimant.

I will argue for the sheer glory of it that for 3.6 million you could employ all the unemployed people with disabilities here in the state of Iowa.

Now we all know this isn’t real money.

Or is it? 

Hmmmm.

 

I better get a cup of coffee.

 

SK