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The ADA Restoration Act: What We All Need to Know

News From the Front

The attack is on and the fight is fierce. The ADA Restoration Act is currently being debated in Washington and the proposed legislation which is designed to restore the employment protections that were crafted as part of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act is now under attack from groups that want to severely limit the kinds of work place accommodations that employees can and should receive in order to remain gainfully employed.

Because the hosts of this blog are advocates for the full employment of people with disabilities and because the high rate of unemployment among the blind and visually impaired remains at catastrophic levels we want to alert our readers to the fact that the Society for Human Resource Management (a “Management” oriented group) has issued a call to arms urging its membership to fight against this crucial disability oriented legislation. Their tactic? They tell their membership that if the ADA Restoration Act is adopted employers will have to make accommodations for people with minor headaches or disfiguring scars—that is, the SHRM has argued to its membership that under the proposed act, the definition of disability is so broad that “virtually every employee” will be disabled and will require some kind of accommodation. This is absolute nonsense and the sophistry and misrepresentation of both the ADA and the ADA Restoration Act that are utilized in the service of this disinformation is really shameful. But to paraphrase Lou Reed (who said “you can’t always trust your mother”)—“you can’t always trust human resource management”.

My friend and former colleague Scott Lissner (who is the superb ADA Coordinator for The Ohio State University) has written the following altogether cogent summary of the ADA Restoration Act and this is, in our view, the most accurate and succinct summary of the proposed legislation. Please read on.

Continue reading “The ADA Restoration Act: What We All Need to Know”

Disability Blog Carnival #30: What Professionals Need to Know

The 30th Disability Blog Carnival, the subject of which is "what professionals need to know" was pulled together by Kathryn on her blog Ryn Tale’s Book of Days.

"I got the idea for this
carnival in thinking about the sensitivity and understanding or lack of
both by medical professionals regarding what a patient’s life is really
like. In my experience therapists, doctors, teachers, school
psychologists who have shown true empathy, a willingness to listen, and
respect for me and for Ellie have, sadly, been in the minority. I wish
more professionals would try to educate themselves about the people
they are trying to help."

Kathryn, we appreciate the work you put into this. Now, if only we could get the professionals to read it.

~ CK

Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv

Our Support Needed for the ADA Restoration Act

The Road to Freedom leads us, among other places, to this list of 5 Things we can all do RIGHT NOW to support

"the ‘ADA Restoration Act’ that would restore vital
civil right protections for children and adults with physical, mental,
cognitive and developmental disabilities."

For more information, visit the ADA Restoration Act 2007 blog where you’ll find this ****ACTION ALERT!****

HURRY!

~CK

Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv

[with]tv Recommends the Inclusion Daily Express

Good luck trying to find this much information anywhere else on the web.
~ C. Kuusisto

INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS
International Disability Rights News Service

http://www.InclusionDaily.com
Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights, self-determination
and the movement toward full community inclusion around the world.

Cross-posted on Blog [with]tv

These Boots are Made for Walkin'

My new guide dog "Nira" has been navigating the campus of the University of Iowa and she’s been sporting her red, velcro and nylon snow boots. Today’s guide dogs are trained to tolerate footwear since icy sidewalks are often covered with corrosive salts and chemicals that can harm feet. Obviously the sight of a big yellow Labrador in harness trotting along with her red booties is remarkable, particularly for college students who are delighted as Nira prances down the sidewalk like a circus pony. It has been below zero in Iowa all this week and the doggy boots have been valuable as we’ve marched along the banks of the frozen Iowa River. I hope to have some photos to share with you soon. Avanti!

S.K.

Why Some People Still Can't Find Work

A friend writes to ask why it remains so difficult for people with disabilities to find jobs and in particular why this is so hard for blind people in an age of technology and the ADA.

My friend is a scientist. He understands how things actually work.

Of course the problem for people with disabilities regarding employment has nothing to do with "how things work"—in reality the problem has to do with symbolism.

Here is what I wrote to my friend early this morning:

Dear (Name Withheld):

The answer to this question is relatively simple though like most easy things it’s also discouraging. Disability functions in general as a series of metaphors or "sign systems" as the French scholar Roland Barthes would put it. The study of signs in culture is known as "semiotics"—and without giving a treatise the crux of the biscuit is that everything we can see is culturally embedded with variegated meanings that are the product of history. This is true of everything from a "stop sign" to your mother’s wedding dress.

Disability has functioned historically in stark metaphorical terms: the blind for instance are identified in Greek mythology as being either monstrous or irrational figures or, prophetic souls who have been given a compensatory gift from the gods. In the ancient world criminals were routinely "blinded" to serve as constant reminders of criminality as they begged in the streets. Accordingly there is a several thousand year period in western cultural history when blindness has been semiotically designated as an exemplary and unhappy figuration. Drama, fairy tales, kid’s books, movies, all reinforce this signifying process. I wrote a little bit about this in my book "Planet of the Blind". The writer Georgina Kleege has addressed this subject in her book "Sight Unseen" and now in her new book of imaginary letters to Helen Keller.

These pejorative ideas about blindness were so pervasive that it was believed impossible to teach the blind to read until the early 19^thcentury.

Again, as I say, these old fashioned notions are not sensible but they exist in what Carl Jung would call the "cultural or universal unconscious" of civilization.

Changing this kind of thing is obviously not so much a matter of technology but really a matter of public education.

I am typing right now without the benefit of sufficient coffee so I hope this makes sense?

Steve K

As I think about these matters I’m often reminded of the up side of symbolic or figurative dynamism in culture. When human beings understand how symbols can assist their social and political goals then transformation can happen very quickly within society. Rosa Parks comes to mind. James Meredith.

We need more competent disabled people in our nation’s television and movies. We needed this about two decades ago.

I hereby volunteer to be a TV detective. Along with my amazing dog I will have Confucian poetry and logo-rhythmic dancing in my arsenal.

Written in Snow

My brother is out here. Yes, yes, I haven’t seen him since the Eisenhower administration

But holy Giacomo Bala, he’s up there with the streetlights, circumflex and mercury,

Quicksilver in the sub-zero Iowa night. Don’t give me that look—

I can’t help it the alphabet is insufficient to your utter joy.

S.K.

Tabloid Politics

Today on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Tom Brokaw observed that we may be in a new political era in the U.S.— an age that might be characterized as representing “the end of dogma” as we have known it.

I liked Mr. Brokaw’s optimism since his remark was contextualized within the broader assertion that voters in both the GOP and the Democratic party may be less inclined to vote for a candidate merely because they embrace the traditional polarizing political rhetoric of the past thirty years.

As “The Buffalo Springfield” once sang: "Something’s happening here…”

Meanwhile it’s clear given the percentages for each candidate in recent primaries that no one has the affection of the majority in either party.

In turn we have a great opportunity to debate ideas.

And this is where my optimism breaks down. The political coverage in this country is so poor and the lurid ambulance chasing of the press is so rampant that the substantive differences between the candidates on everything from how to fix social security to what we ought to do to repair our international diplomatic and economic status remains woefully under reported.

And so we have moved away from dogma into something like disaffected chatter. Here’s what the various TV political talk shows have focused on over the past week:

Bill Clinton got red in the face while scolding a reporter in Las Vegas. He looked really angry and kind of old. Old Bill was looking uncool. That Clinton was talking about the failure of the press to report on the dirty tricks of local labor unions was of no consequence. Why should it matter that union members who wanted to vote for Hillary were being threatened by union bosses? That’s no story! Look how red Bill has gotten! And he’s shaking his finger! Remember the last time old Bill shook his finger? Isn’t it time for Bill to disappear? Who cares what he’s saying? Aren’t we tired of him? Yeah. That’s right. He was the most effective bi-partisan president in recent history but who cares? Look! He’s red as a lobster!

Barack Obama said something that’s historically accurate about Ronald Reagan, namely that he represented a period of genuine change in the country. Yes! That’s right! Barack Obama said something factual about President Reagan. But you’d think what he really said was: “Ronald Reagan came down to earth from outer space and I’m one of his pod people!” The scouring that poor Obama has taken for saying something absolutely benign is astonishing. And that’s the problem of course. Barack Obama is one of the most reasonable people to run for the presidency since Abe Lincoln. This requires the tabloid press to stretch the senator’s features out of shape. Lost in all this is the fact that Obama was talking about the fact that this election may be a different political moment for our nation and that a smart candidate should recognize that. God almighty! You’d never know what the poor man was saying. Newsroom! Newsroom! Hold the presses! Obama said “Reagan” out loud in front of a camera and he didn’t demonize him. Yep! That’s right! What a scandal! Let’s show the film clip over and over as if it’s the Zapruder film.

Notice any substance here? I didn’t think so.

Mitt Romney got angry at a reporter who confronted him about his assertion that he had no political lobbyists in his campaign. When the reporter said this wasn’t true, that one of Romney’s top advisors is a noted Washington lobbyist, Romney argued that his campaign manager isn’t a lobbyist “so there” Nah Nah Nah! Then the reporter was confronted by Romney’s chief campaign strategist who dressed him down for confronting “the candidate” and Lo and Behold! The coverage on MSNBC was about whether or not that reporter was actually wrong to have asked the question. I swear on my Little Orphan Annie decoder ring that this is true! And the talking heads argued back and forth about whether a reporter should ask a tough question like that and lost in all of this nonsensical palaver was the fact that Mitt Romney has a genuine aura of unreliability when it comes to certain facts. If the current reporting trends continue Romney doesn’t have much to worry about. I think he can count on the press to fixate on the dropped scraps of butcher’s paper. In short, you can say what you want nowadays so long as you look good doing it.

Obviously these are just a few recent examples of what I like to think of as the post-dogma tabloid trivialization of our political reporting.

Perhaps the most egregious thing I heard today on “Meet the Press” came from Peggy Noonan (who else?) who in a neat bit of sophistry argued that the sight of Bill Clinton fighting on the front lines for his wife’s candidacy is essentially an “anti-feminist”position. Apparently Ms. Noonan has forgotten all those solo campaign stops hosted by Nancy Reagan who did her level best to get angry for her Ronny whenever she could.

Is it possible that we’re in the post-dogma era but there’s no one left in the fourth estate to report on it?
S.K.

Hats off to New Jersey

Watching Governor John Corzine of New Jersey attempting to modernize his state’s highways and bridges should tell us a good deal about the future of the United States. It’s altogether possible to miss this story in the flux of substandard reporting about the presidential campaigns. But this story "is" the story of our nation’s fast approaching decades.

Governor Corzine’s problem exemplifies the dilemmas of leadership in post-Reagan America when the idea of taxation is triangulated in the public imagination with waste and inefficiency. The Reagan shtick was always built on the idea that the government was big and wasteful and if you just kept starving the government the wondrous world of the private sector would step in and take over and everything would be more efficient and cost-effective.

I’m all for the private sector. I love my kitchen appliances. Who would want a government built toaster?

(The government built toaster is powered by a recumbent bicycle which is also hooked mysteriously to your neighbor’s electric garage door opener.)

Governor Corzine’s problem is that the Reagan revolution produced unimaginable consequences. The Federal government that was built by FDR and was perfected by Eisenhower, the government that John F. Kennedy inherited—a government that could imagine sending people to the moon within a decade has been largely destroyed. The federal government can’t rebuild New Orleans or even build a fence along the Mexican border without Haliburton and a thousand lobbyists and hangers on who work for the lobbyists and who used to be known as "loan sharks" but nowadays are called "public policy advisors".

The Reagan legacy is both a tale of privatization and deregulation of commerce and the successful misrepresentation of government as a problem.

God help the politician who would step to the microphone and tell the people that schools and roads and bridges and water treatment and meat inspection and the center for disease control cost money. These things don’t run on private donations.

Both FDR and Eisenhower understood that these things must necessarily be paid for by taxing the wealthy more than the middle class. And the wealthy disliked these men. Reagan was the political son of Senator Barry Goldwater who was the GOP’s reactionary answer to Eisenhower.

Say what you will but President Eisenhower understood how FDR had saved America from foes both foreign and domestic. God how the right wing wealthy hated the old general.

How will our nation build new bridges or clean our water supply?

Will we hold a bake sale?

Will we have special TV telethons depicting collapsed bridges and calling on the good hearted public to phone in a generous donation?

Governor Corzine has proposed a comprehensive plan to save New Jersey’s transportation infrastructure because everyone knows that we’re in a crisis.

The plan calls for some substantial tax increases. All of these are staggered over time and they are carefully indexed to cost-effective public management of capital resources.

(People forget that FDR’s "New Deal" was not wasteful. An efficient government working on behalf of the public can account for every dime. We forget this at our peril.)

While the respective presidential candidates talk about change in vaporous terms and when the Bush administration is calling for more tax cuts to stimulate an imperiled national economy, only Governor Corzine has had the courage to step forward with a proposal that reminds us of FDR and the old general.

Will we pay taxes in order to remain a first world nation?

I for one am praying that the people of New Jersey will show the courage to do what’s right. The people of the garden state must return our faith to accountable and democratic government.

The private sector ain’t gonna fix the roads. They can’t even run an airline.

S.K.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

Nira earned her wings today on American Airlines. We flew from LaGuardia to Chicago and then onward to Iowa. She took it all in stride and worked between flights as if she’s been in O’Hare airport a thousand times before.

Now that we’re back in Iowa City we find of course that the temperature (with wind chill) is 20 below zero. Compared to this, Yorktown Heights New York is almost Montego Bay.

Yah Mon! It’s colder than Sibelius’s head back here in the Hawkeye state.

Now that Nira has left the hallowed halls of Guiding Eyes I know that this will be a year of "firsts" for her: first crowded airplane flight; first grumpy ticket agent and cluster of irate passengers; first opportunity to take a whiz in perma frost; first semester watching her immoderately eccentric human partner teach his classes at the university; and then, henceforward, we can scarcely imagine all the firsts. There will be for Nira many new friends and places over the coming years.

I am a better traveler in the company of my guide dog. Guiding Eyes has given me three intrepid guides and together we have visited 43 of the U.S. states and four foreign countries.

But it’s not the travel that’s so uplifting: it’s the expectation and imagination that relates to traveling. Together Nira and I will travel far and safely and with the joy of discovery.

And just think! Guiding Eyes does this for everybody who is legally blind and wants a superb canine traveling companion. And because the average blind person can’t easily afford a forty five thousand dollar guide dog, they do this remarkable work free of charge.

So there are a lot of people to thank.

Thanks.

The Spanish poet Unamuno once wrote that "we die of cold and not of darkness"–which I take to mean that human indifference is much worse than any near gloom.

But metaphorical assertion aside, it’s really cold in Iowa and if you are coming this way I’d suggest you pack your long johns.

S.K.