#Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

happy 34th anniversary of americans with disabilities act (ADA)! remember ADA is bare minimum!

[bitchesgetriches]

✨NEW POST!✨

The Social Safety Net for Disabled People Is Broken

The Center for American Progress interviewed disabled people who had been through the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course that is the bureaucratic process of applying for disability benefits. If I may summarize their experience in one sentence, it would be: The dehumanization is the point.

These folks described how they were treated like criminals and frauds; evaluated by unqualified medical professionals; judged by people who had no idea what their disability entailed; and how they spent money they didn’t have on lawyers just to access basic ADA protections.

Keep reading.

[whenweallvote]

Voting should be accessible for all of us. 🙌 Passed in 1990 with strong bipartisan support, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

For 34 years, the #ADA has protected communities throughout the U.S. and works to ensure people with disabilities have a full and equal opportunity to vote in every election.

Make sure that you are registered to vote today at weall.vote/register. #DisabilityPrideMonth

[reverseopossum]

Friendly reminder from a physical therapist that literally everyone is one bad day away from being disabled. You may not think protections like the ADA are for you, but they are.

[chronicallycouchbound]

The elevator in my ADA “accessible” building is broken. It has been for days. No word on when it’ll be fixed.

The fire alarms just went off, briefly, then stopped. There is no evacuation plan. Today is a bad pain day, it’s raining and I had to go grocery shopping (including going up and down some steps) with my in home care worker earlier. I could maybe get to and down the stairs by myself. Maybe. I don’t know if I could get my partner’s cat out with me (I would do my damn best though).

I have neighbors who also are wheelchair users, some who are in heavy powerchairs who live on the upper floors. Me and those neighbors haven’t spoken much outside of basic pleasantries by the mailboxes over the years— I think we’re all housebound. We are effectively strangers but we have shared cries for help. I know their screams and they know mine. Intimate terror.

The alarms have stopped and as of right now I am safe. My neighbors are safe.

I’m focusing on trying to catch my breath and lower my heart rate back to a safe range. I can’t stress enough how traumatic it is to be disabled in an inaccessible world.

[gnabnahc]

the way some people talk online is so deeply out of touch in regards to concerts its astounding

[bun-parade]

Is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) just a farce that's supposed to make us feel like the government actually gives a shit about people with disabilities? Cuz after talking to a lawyer, I found out you can disclose your disability to your employer, fill out all the necessary ADA forms for them, and they can and will still deny you accommodations. And then they can and will find any reason to fire you because you've told them they need to put more resources into you. According to the lawyer, ADA does not protect you from being fired for your disability if the employer says that your disability negatively impacts your ability to do the job.

For example, I was diagnosed with ADHD in October of 2022. Got a new job that November, disclosed my ADHD in January of 2023, and then was fired within 2 weeks of disclosing. They used the ADA questionnaire form to prove that I couldn't do the job. My training was never completed, and because of that (and ADHD that I had only just started medicating for), I made a big mistake and someone else caught it before I could. Almost cost the company a lot of money.

All the lawyers I spoke to said I didn't have a case because I made that 1 big mistake. It didn't matter that they outright denied my accommodation request from my psychiatrist. It didn't matter that they never finished my training and set me up for failure. Because I made 1 mistake not even 3 months into my new position, and because I had essentially given them a form that said I couldn't do the job without accommodations, they were within their right to fire me.

It's now almost August 2023 and I still have not found a new job. So what the fuck is the point of ADA?

Update: Finally landed a decent sounding job! I'm not going to disclose my disability this time. At least, not officially with HR.

[disabilityhealth]

Alright they touched my emotional support act so now I have to prepare myself to fake my death on the Capitol steps

[mentohol-blog]

Today was my last day of classes as a grad student. Everyone asked how my trip was. One of the members of my cohort gifted me an authentic Lundqvist jersey (it’s got the fight strap and everything)! We reminisced over the previous two years. And I cried all the way home.

Potentially triggering topics below cut (Discussion of recovery from suicidality. Brief mention of being groomed in the past).

I've always excelled academically. That doesn't mean school has been easy for me. I was Valedictorian when I graduated high school, and it was a struggle to get me to go and give my speech. I hated that school and didn’t want to be anywhere near the people in it. My best friend had just disclosed very personal, sensitive, information about me as an act of petty revenge on her part for me “dating” (aka, being groomed by) her much older uncle, and people I had known since I was five years old were no longer speaking to me because of it.

Undergrad wasn’t much better. Again, I graduated with the highest honors. (This was in large part due to ADA accommodations. I couldn’t have made it without my wonderful caseworker, who taught me how to advocate for myself while also being my backup if needed. Know your rights. Reach out to accessibility services and see what's available to you. Both private and public universities are required to provide accommodations for students with a disability under ADA). But this time, I was even more alone. I made no friends in college. I didn’t SPEAK to anyone in college. I sat in the back, kept my head down, and pretty well went off the rails for four years.

But now I have many friends I made in school. Friends who know me well enough to ask how my trip went and care enough to genuinely want to know the answer. Friends who know me well enough to gift me a jersey of one of my all-time favorite players. We have each other’s numbers. We’ll reach out when we need help with the other’s specialty. I’m the “old person” guy. Have questions about resources for older adults? Need a hospice worker? Want to refer an elder for therapy? They know to contact me. This is the first time I’ve been known for something that was under my control. It’s a nice feeling. Being known.

It took me a long time to get here. But I realized the other day that it’s been two months since I’ve been acutely suicidal. That's a brand-new sensation. I can't remember a time when I WASN'T suicidal. I'm still growing used to the feeling. I'm glad I made it. I mean it. I decided years ago I was gonna stick around, but I thought I was gonna stick around in pain. I didn’t realize I could reach the point where I wanted to live. I hope anyone reading this who feels hopeless realizes things can improve. I’ll never be “cured.” But I’m now at a stage where I can live, not just survive.

Everyone’s recovery journey differs. It took decades for me. I’ve seen others improve in weeks or months. Hearing someone say “keep fighting” when you’re in immense pain physically, mentally, or both, feels heartless, but I’m glad I did. Because I never would have known I could open my eyes in the morning and not feel sorrow at the act of awakening if I hadn't. I never would have cried tears of joy while wearing a Lundqvist jersey gifted to me by a friend.

[bitchesgetriches]

Read more:

The Social Safety Net for Disabled People Is Broken 

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

-fae

[yourheartinyourmouth]

I saw your addition to the post about the subtitle inaccuracies on streaming services being illegal and reportable, does that also apply to dubbed media having discrepancies because the subtitles for the original language are reused for the dubbed version? Its a problem with pretty much any anime ive watched on almost every streaming service.

I have auditory processing issues related to my autism, so i often need subtitles but when the subtitles are translated differently compared to the dubbed translation it literally makes the show unwatchable for me

so i am going to preface this by saying that i am by no means an expert, but yes, i believe they do!

according to the ADA, subtitles for dialogue in English have to exactly match the audio, and anything that does not follow that is out of compliance. in any case, i would strongly suggest you report the streaming service for noncompliance.

there are no legal ramifications or repercussions for you if the FCC chooses not to take action, and if they do, you will be helping yourself and millions of other folks (i also have APD and rely on captions).

thanks for reaching out!

[cameoutstruggling93]

Hey Gang!

I've been doing a lot of research at work my students when it comes to disclosing a disability in the workplace as well as educating them about their rights and responsibilities under the Americans w/ Disabilities Act (ADA) as an employee. I know a lot of us on here struggle with some sort of disability (myself included) so I just wanted to share these resources.

Job Accommodations Network

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Docs With Disabilities

National Organization on Disability

[antiterf]

Okay as a disabled trans man, let me tell you how this sounds a lot better than it actually is.

The ADA is an amazing bill, it took a lot of work from disability activists to pass. It is still seen as a bit too progressive for a lot of corporate America because it requires businesses to accommodate their employees and to let disabled people use their services.

It is unique to disability because of accommodations. It needs to exist separately from other rights bills because disabled people cannot simply get equal access and have actual equality obtained. This bill is one of the few that focus on equity.

I have yet to be actually protected by the ADA as a disabled person. All of my progress and accommodations are from Section 504, which has a limited reach but is more enforced by the U.S. government.

Here are some reasons why this ruling has me incredibly conflicted:

Putting the protection under the diagnosis of gender dysphoria allows employers and other authority figures to require trans people to have that diagnosis to request "accommodations." Which will likely be seen as being able to change their name at work or school without a legal name change, go by pronouns other than their agab, use the correctly gendered spaces, etc. It puts the entire transgender identity into the hands of doctors.

Meaning that if a trans person wants to get basic respect, an employer can require them to get a doctors note for it. You need healthcare, time, and luck getting a doctor that will diagnose you if you are not already diagnosed.

This should be obvious but yeah, requesting accommodation gives employers the right to have some access to your medical records. Many people do not know that it's against the law for an employer to request medical records unrelated to disability, and employers will try to do that with trans people.

It has been stated by researchers that gender dysphoria should not be diagnosed unless specifically requested by the patient for health insurance coverage because of the stigma it causes and because how little health providers are informed on it.

This legal ruling for the United States puts all trans people under a medicalized view. It puts our rights not in our hands but in the hands of medical authority. A lot of trans people do not have a good fucking time at the doctors office despite the overwhelming support that transition should be seen as medically necessary.

It clarifies that gender dysphoria is seen as a mental disorder like other disabilities. If American society ran on the social model of disability, where disability is seen as a natural variation, this would be fine. Sadly, it runs on the medical model, where disability is seen as something to get fixed. This ruling implies that gender dysphoria is unnatural instead of a normal reaction to having a gender identity that does not match your birth-assigned one. This goes against the view that even medical practitioners take with gender dysphoria.

The ADA needs to be enforced by the individual in courts. If you are discriminated against, you need the time and money to go to court for years on something that is usually hard to prove. I got fired from a job for requesting accommodations but never did anything about it because even if I did have a case, not many lawyers would bother taking a reward from a minimum-wage job.

Small businesses (businesses with under 15 employees) do not need to abide by the ADA. At all. Under this, a small business denying trans people services is still completely legal.

"Analysis of cases decided under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which addresses employment discrimination, reveals that defendants have consistently prevailed in well over 90% of cases since the ADA’s inception."

Luckily the amended ADA in 2008 allows for the protection of those who are perceived as disabled, so even without diagnosis, there can still be a case when it comes to discrimination from strangers.

Still, even though it's disability pride month, it is not good to be lumped in with us regarding rights because often it's "hey that's illegal" and nothing comes of it. Public attitudes influence how laws are enforced, and public attitudes on disability are abysmal.

I am not trying to play the oppression Olympics, I am trying to give a good overview. This can be an improvement for some trans people, and it especially helps with the constant healthcare bans we are seeing. I am incredibly worried about this, though, and I need to share why that is.

[mkaleidescopel]

HEY YOU! Do you use a mobility aid? Is finding accessible routes to and through buildings difficult?

(I am assuming yes because many designers neglect accessibility as a priority) WELL! I am an architecture student and would love to know:

What features or lack of features in architecture are the biggest detriment to your freedom of mobility?

please please answer in tags or respond to the post

I've never used a mobility aid so I could use some perspective on designing functional spaces that accommodate that. I know there's a sizable population of disabled users on this site so I figured I'd put it out there <3

(Please inform me if any of my language is wrong/offensive)

[bitchesgetriches]

The Social Safety Net for Disabled People Is Broken

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