Read on Twitter
Because of the ADA I'm allowed to sit down while talking to customers...after a dr note & month-long processing w HR bc corporate thinks that sitting down is "not respectful enough" to customers, despite state law saying that's not acceptable
Because of the ADA I can go to mediation 8mos after a major chain unhired me when they saw I was disabled, gave me the run around for weeks while my savings ran out, didn't return my calls (until after I told them I only wanted things in writing, then they called 2x)...
left me jobless in a pandemic right after mass layoffs flooded the market w unemployed people, told me I had to get a different mobility aid (when they didn't even know what mine is like), made me delay getting unemployment for weeks bc I naively thought I had a job...
requested more & more documentation after I'd given them 2 dr notes, continuing to do all this despite being warned explicitly multiple times which laws they were breaking and that I would file a case if they didn't just let me do the min wage job they hired me for...
made me lose my food stamps because I didn't meet the weekly work requirements, dodged my calls, never heard back from the manager since that day...the ADA affords me legal grounds to fight this, but it doesn't stop it. This case will go to mediation & I'll have to be quiet.
The major chain will get off w a slap on the wrist & no blemish. If I hadn't had savings, if I didn't live w family who wouldn't toss me out for not having rent, I would've been homeless bc of their discrimination, and they knew it was discrimination. I told them exactly how.
Being able to fight it at all is huge, but the ADA doesn't fix it. I still have to sit in the bottom row of my 1970s amphitheatre-style classroom. And I need relatively few accommodations. It's much worse for others. I can climb stairs if I have to. Some people can't.
I've told fast food workers that they need to move the pallets they'd left in the zebra stripes of their DP spot & they had no idea they couldn't do that. I go to Walmart and people leave stuff in the middle of the parking spots so they can't be used. Carts, car batteries, trash.
That's why it pisses me off when anti-maskers claim they can get away w saying they have a disability & invoking the ADA and HIPAA. If they were really disabled they'd know that's not at ALL how it works (and HIPAA is not even relevant??).
Ppl really think disabled people can just snap their fingers & the world will rearrange to suit them. Actual disabled people have to fight tooth & nail even WITH these laws. Students have to pay $2500 for testing to get MCAT accommodations even if they have school accommodations
Businesses drag their feet & claim it's too much of a burden to make any adjustments. If they know you're disabled they just won't hire you, bc you're too much work for them. 6 interviews w cane, no offers. 1 interview w/o cane, hired on spot. & then was upset I hadn't disclosed.
And after all that, if you succeed in getting what you need, people around you will still doubt your ability to do your job/education. They'll tell you that you don't belong, that you're taking space from an abled person. Your value is directly tied to productivity.
So, the ADA is great, but it's the tiniest fraction of what needs to happen.
