Expand Civil Rights?
7 07 2008All..
Click this and tell me if it is a good one or a wimpy bill? It is about Congress strengthening Civil Rights bill.
NYT Article On Civil Rights This may require free registration.
My interpretation is that it is still wimpy, but headed in right direction.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed B
This IS a bit wimpy. This is known as the ADA Restoration Act of 2008. While it is a step in the right direction because it closes previous loopholes created by judges who determined such silly things such as a person who wears a hearing aid can not be deemed to be disabled under the ADA and so forth. It basically keeps the courts from considering some mitigating factors that they have used in the past to disqualify someone from coverage under the ADA.
However, it does NOT impact other significant loopholes, such as a provision that says movie thaters can not be forced to provide captioned movies, and so forth. The ADA, while well-intentioned, was so vaguely written that it was basically toothless in many regards. I look forward to the day when it comes with real teeth for the other, lesser known portions of it (we all know about job discrimination, and now it better protects us from that) such as captioned movie access, interpreters in the educational setting, and so forth. As an example, due to the vagueness about interpreters, many people have argued that if they provide interpreters for the deaf, the deaf individual has to pay for them. This has lead some states to adopt administrative regulations that better protect deaf and HOH people by clearly spelling out where and when and WHO is responsible for paying for interpreters. It’s basically the states cleaning up the boondoggle of the federal level.
I fully supported this bill, even though I found it narrow in scope, because I knew that wars are won one battle at a time.
Interesting ! so if you sign you aren’t disabl;d via communication, wear a hearing aid you can hear, or a CI, so it finally recognises what deaf have campaigned for, i.e. deafness isn’t a disability ? All you have to do, is never leave home…… then mainstream and hearing cannot discriminate against you… The UK is getting tougher on disability too, if you use an aid or a terp, then you AREN’T disabled, but ENabled, no excuses….! Just think we have imagined it all this time…
Yes, silly isn’t it? I can not believe that those judges actually found people to not be disabled just because they wore a hearing aid, etc., but it is sadly true. While I am a “strict interpretationist” of our laws, I also understand that not only are judges and lawyers instructed in law school on the “black letter” of the law, but also on the “intent”. In the case of the ADA, the intent was perfectly clear. But corporations, in hopes of not having to comply, chose to litigate in a nit picking manner, splitting hairs on every little word and nuance, hence judges issued silly rulings such as a deaf person who wears a hearing aid can not be determined to be deaf during the times which they wore the hearing aid, so they would not be covered under the ADA while they wore their hearing aid. This new amendment effectively closes that “loophole”.
I relaize this is what they (attorneys) are paid for, to give their clients the best effort legally possible, but my goodness, we have litigated common sense right the hell out of the judicial system.
I agree, using terps and aids does ENABLE us, but it does not change the fact that we are still disabled. It finally recognizes now, that deafness (for example) IS a qualified disability under the intent of the ADA for purposes of protection from job discrimination, access to terps, and so forth.
Eddie,
Your analysis is right on the point. The truth is that we still have not reached a full functional equivalence. Interpreter for example is a big help, but it is not free. I still cannot walk into a store and then ask for an interpreter to discuss with an attendant to advise me what kind of pair of pant I should get and what kind of style I should be looking for. For now, my wife will have to ;-]
VRS and possibly Captioning Telephone VCO service (CapTel) really have leveraged the playing field in the telephone network and they have helped make it possible for many deaf/hoh to be more competitive in the cold and cruel world ;-] Even so, hearing persons – at least most of them – looks at my deafness first, and then as a person second. Not an ideal.
We’re getting there, but still ways to go yet.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed B
GOOD! Thanks for your sharing! My friends Michael told me your this article (I met him on a deaf dating site,mydeafmatch.com, he is hard of hearing, handsome man, really a good man). And he sent me the URL of your article.
The new ADA law also defines service animals. Trying to eliminate service pigs and other animals. However, it may cause problems for those who use ferrets, yes, ferrets, for service animals. I know several folks who use hearing ferrets in the home and ferrets are used for helping folks with mental disorders.
The new law does not address the fact that people and businesses hang up on relay calls. About 40% of my relay calls are not answered. Sometimes they are blocked by answering machines; other times the person whom I am calling hangs up.
The new law does not address those annoying “press 1 for xxxx” things either. Sometimes the relay service has to re-dial several times to get through the voice menu system. This happens even when you tell the relay operator you want to speak with a live person or give them the name of a specific person or department.