DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY PROJECT -- DEAF WORKERS WEEKLY BULLETIN -- November 7, 1998 Greetings, Now with the election over, Democrats scored a big victory sweeping 3 seats in Orange County. I have personally known these 3 democrats who won seats in Orange County. I volunteered in the campaigns of 2 of these people. Loretta Sanchez and Lou Correa will both be very instrumental in helping me get the Deaf center up and running. Speaking of my Deaf Center, I've decided to run it from my living room for a while until Lou Correa's friends find me office space. The Deaf center now has 4 clients and 13 volunteers. Next weekend, thousands of Deaf people will go to the Deaf Expo in Ontario. I will be there. Richard Roehm ---- EDITOR'S LETTER TO ORANGE COUNTY'S REGISTRAR OF VOTERS REGARDING POLLING TEST FINDINGS. November 4, 1998 Registrar of Voters c/o Don Taylor 1300-C S. Grand Avenue P.O. Box 11298 Santa Ana, California 92711-1298 Dear Don, The National Coalition to Access Political Election (CAPE) has launched a national survey for voters with disabilities to help them determine the areas that are in need of help in the inclusion of people with disabilities in the electoral process. In this spirit, I have decided to do a survey of 27 polling locations just to demonstrate my zeal in helping people with disabilities be active participants in the electoral process. I am very disappointed that your agency still accepts polling locations that are either inaccessible or are run by people who are ignorant of the rights of people with disabilities to participate the electoral process. Polls surveyed 27 Cities : Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Anaheim, Tustin ( 3 had inaccessible paths )( 10 had no disability signage )( 18 had no special voting booth or location for wheelchair users )( 1 had no assistance for people with visual disabilities ) A copy of this letter has been sent to the National Coalition to Access Political Election. They can be reached at P. O. Box 7268, Concord, N.H. 03301. It is imperative that all polling places be made accessible to everyone. I would be more than happy to assist you in any way to help make future polling places fully accessible. The disability community is one of the largest and most underrepresented groups in the state as well in the nation. The disability community is also becoming one of the fastest growing disenfranchised group of discrimination victims in the United States. Thank You, Richard Roehm ---- SIGNING 'I LOVE YOU' GETS GRANDMOTHER IN TROUBLE WITH THE LAW BARTOW, Fla., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A grandmother landed in the Polk County Jail for a few hours after using sign language to say ``I love you'' to her 10-year-old granddaughter, who at the time was testifying in a sexual abuse trial. Circuit Judge J. Michael Hunter found the woman in contempt of court and sentenced her to 30 days in jail. But a few hours later, Hunter granted a request that the woman's sentence be suspended. Hunter told the woman it wasn't what she said but rather that the incident may have had an effect on the jury, compromising the integrity of the trial. He declared a mistrial. The names of the grandmother and the girl were withheld to protect the identity of the girl, an alleged sex abuse victim in the case. ---- A SLEEPY CASE THE EMPLOYER NEVER KNEW Frivolous ADA suit may yield employer's attorney fees. Adkins v. Briggs & Stratton (7th Cir 10/23/98) http://www.kentlaw.edu/7circuit/1998/oct/98-1463.html Adkins was discharged for sleeping at the wheel, and sued the employer claiming he was discharged because of his disability. Adkins had narcolepsy, which was diagnosed four months later, so neither he nor the employer knew he had a disability at the time of discharge. The District Court dismissed Adkins' complaint for failure to state a claim because it is impossible for an employer to discharge an employee "because of" a disability the employer knew nothing about. The District Court then denied the employer's motion for attorney fees on the ground that Adkins' claim was not frivolous; the 7th Circuit reversed and remanded as to attorney fees. Although an award of attorney fees to an employer is discretionary, Adkins' claim was clearly frivolous, and the District Court's ruling on the attorney fees motion was inconsistent with the ruling on the motion to dismiss. ---- DUBIOUS AID FOR THE DISABLED A promising law may hurt, not help The Americans With Disabilities Act has a disability of its own, says a study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economists K. Daron Acemoglu and Joshua D. Angrist. Instead of enhancing the hiring of people with disabilities, as the act, which took effect in 1992, was intended to do, it seems to have actually reduced the employment of disabled people, the authors report. Critics of the act have long charged that it may actually induce employers to avoid hiring the disabled. For one thing, the mandate for "reasonable accommodation" of disabled employees can require costly investment in such items as special elevators. For another, employers may fear that disabled employees will be prone to sue them over wages or dismissal. The law's defenders, on the other hand, have argued that its ban on discrimination in hiring-and the possibility of lawsuits if it is ignored-would discourage such a reaction. Whatever the theoretical arguments, the economists report that their analysis of Census Bureau survey data from 1987 to 1996 indicates that the act's impact on employment of the disabled was negative. While men aged 21 to 58 work, on average, 45 weeks a year, disabled men work less that half that. And between 1992 and 1993, the first full year in which the act was in effect, there was a sharp decline in weeks they worked, from 20 to 18, and smaller drops in the hours worked by older men and young women. While the negative impact faded in later years, it was still apparent. Some experts argue that the drop in employment occurred not because of the disabilities act, but because disabled people found it increasingly attractive to receive disability or income-support payments through the Social Security system. But Angrist rejects that argument, noting that the Social Security program increase has been long and gradual, while the drop in employment of the disabled was sudden and sharp. By Peter Coy BY GENE KORETZ ---- MORE CASES OF NON-DISABLED USES FOR THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT Asking non-disabled applicant medical questions violates ADA. Griffin v. Steeltek (10th Cir 10/29/98) http://lawlib.wuacc.edu/ca10/cases/1998/10/97-5103.htm When Griffin applied for a job the employer asked him questions regarding his medical history and condition. The employer did not hire him, allegedly because he lacked the necessary experience. Griffin then sued under the ADA claiming that asking the questions violated 42 USC section 12112(d)(2)(A), that he was not hired because of his answers to the questions, and that the employer's stated reason for not hiring him was pretextual. The District Court granted summary judgment to the employer because Griffin did not allege that he was disabled or perceived as disabled, and did not establish a prima facie case; the 10th Circuit (2-1) reversed. The court relied on its previous case involving asking employees about medication use, Roe v. Cheyenne Mt Conf Resort, 124 F.3d 1221 (10th Cir 1997). The court pointed out that Section 12112(d)(2) makes it a violation to ask prohibited questions to all applicants, not merely those who have disabilities, as compared to the reasonable accommodation section which applies only to disabled individuals. The policy of eliminating disability discrimination "is best served by allowing all job applicants who are subjected to illegal medical questioning and who are in fact injured thereby" to bring a claim rather than limiting that right to those who are in fact disabled. Congress wanted to curtail all questions which would serve to identify and exclude disabled individuals, and allowing non-disabled individuals to sue will enhance the blanket prohibition drafted by Congress. The court distinguished Armstrong v. Turner Industries, 141 F.2d 554 (5th Cir 1998), which denied a claim by a non-disabled applicant. The 5th Circuit assumed without deciding that a non- disabled individual would have a claim under Section 12112(d)(2), but found that the applicant had not demonstrated a cognizable injury which was caused by being asked the impermissible questions. Griffin sufficiently alleged injury: that he was not hired because of his responses to the impermissible questions. The DISSENT would have done what the 5th Circuit did in the Armstrong case: first assume (and not actually decide) that the ADA provides a cause of action to a non-disabled applicant, and then ask whether Griffin demonstrated a redressable injury. On the second point the dissent would find that any violation of the ADA had nothing to do with why Griffin was not hired. There was an unrebutted affidavit from the employer's plant manager saying that the sole reason for not hiring Griffin was insufficient experience. ---------------------- Dear Mr. Roehm, I am executive director of Director of Disability Rights Advocates, a nonprofit law center. We are investigating a case concerning employment discrimination by a leading nationwide company against deaf job applicants. We are trying to line up potential "testors" to apply for jobs with this company to evaluate the extent of the discriminatory practices at issue. (The discriminatory practices include failure to provide interpreters at job interviews.) I am writing to you to see if you have any suggestions regarding possible ways of finding such testors, or know of people who might actually be interested in being testors. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Larry Paradis ---------- I agree, Richard, with what you have said about the importance of your posts on Edudeaf, and other lists of which I have been a member. I appreciate your viewpoint, and learn from it. I applaud you for the work you do, and thank you for taking the time. I am especially appreciative when you keep the post relatively short, clear, and free of emotional baggage. I weary of reading 'loudness', and soon delete the posts when someone shouts at me. "Dr. S. B. Ribitz is planning to reduce funding for deaf education by adjusting the per capita funding formula " is far more effective for me than: "That atrocious enemy of all right-thinking advocates for well-deserving benefits regarding deafness issues, Scumbag Ribitz, is plotting within his ivory tower, out of touch with the populace, to singlehandedly rip educational food from the mouths of infants ....." Yes, Richard, we do need you, and many more folks like you, which is why I want to continue to be an educator for the deaf leaders of tomorrow. Please take the time to exercise that incredible gift of word-usage you have demonstrated to bring us to feel your depth of committment, but also honor our committment, and our intelligence, keep it short, polite and free of clamor. Thank you, Jean Wright, mom, voter and educator from Ohio ---------------- From this post: FUTURISTIC SPACECRAFT BEGINS QUEST TO TEST TECHNOLOGY CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- A spacecraft that is equipped with an ion engine that can think for itself rocketed away from Earth last Saturday, on a quest to test technology straight out of "Star Trek." NASA's "Deep Space 1" soared through clouds aboard an unmanned rocket, bound for an asteroid 120 million miles away. "This is a terrific beginning," said Marc Rayman, chief engineer and deputy mission manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. The launch kicked off NASA's New Millenium program of "high risk, high payoff" technology missions that the space agency hopes will lead to frequent, affordable trips into space. Besides the ion-propulsion engine, Deep Space 1 is flying 11 other futuristic technologies, including a self-navigating system, powerful lens-covered solar wings and a radio beacon designed to inform ground controllers how the spacecraft is doing without being asked. "Deep Space 1 is taking the risks, so that future missions don't have to," Rayman said. Although ion engines have flown before, Deep Space 1 is the first deep-space probe to rely on such a device for primary propulsion [main engine]. Ground controllers plan to fire up the engine in a few weeks, once they're sure everything is working. The ion engine will provide the extra "kick" needed for the drum-shaped spacecraft, which weighs more than 1,000 pounds, to rendezvous [meet] with asteroid "1992 KD" next July. It will travel an estimated 450 million miles before catching up with the moving, mountain-sized asteroid rock. The autonomous [works by itself] navigation [guidance] system will guide Deep Space 1, managers hope, to within 6 miles of the asteroid. Artificial intelligence in this system will allow the spacecraft to take charge of some of its own commanding [to give orders to itself!]. Without the ion engine, Deep Space 1 would need 10 times more fuel to reach the asteroid. Right now, the spacecraft only needs to carry 180 pounds of xenon gas to run the ion engine, which makes the size of the spacecraft smaller, and saves a lot of money. The spacecraft only cost $152 million, which is much cheaper than before. Here is how the solar [sun]-powered ion engine works. Xenon gas gets hit by atomic particles [pieces of an atom] called electrons. This breaks up the xenon gas molecules, and the broken molecules are called "ions." These "ions" then get pulled by electricity at high voltages to a "high voltage grid" [like a screen in a screen door, only with very high electricity], and then the ions spew [like a volcano -- shooting out FAST] from the spacecraft at a speed of more than 62,000 miles per hour. The xenon ions can provide constant [continuous] accelleration [speed] to the spacecraft for months, or even for years! ============================= (Paulette Caswell makes a) COMMENT... "Star Trek" is finally here. Cheap and affordable space travel will happen soon. People will be working in space -- mining, doing jobs, doing research, and exploring. LET'S MAKE SURE THAT OUR DEAF CITIZENS ARE NOT LEFT OUT!! Deaf people are some of the BEST explorers in the world, and we need to make sure that deaf people are PREPARED to enter the new work with computers, spacecraft, science and mathematics. DO THE "DEAF" RESIDENTIAL HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS, AND NTID, AND GALLAUDET PROPERLY PREPARE DEAF STUDENTS FOR SPACECRAFT TECHNOLOGY AND SPACE-RELATED WORK? Are the graduates of NTID and Gallaudet properly prepared with English, Math and Science skills to EQUAL the programs at MIT, Cal Tech, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the other TOP technology schools in the USA? Or will our current and future deaf students be left out of exciting work in space-related jobs? It is OK to focus on "culture" and "ASL" on a personal level... but if we don't make sure that the EDUCATION of our deaf students is appropriate, the people in our deaf community will not be able to go to space, or to get the highest-paying space-related jobs. Our entire world is focusing on technology. "Technology" means that a person MUST have high English skills, and the ability to understand technical vocabulary. ARE "ASL" INTERPRETERS BEING TRAINED PROPERLY FOR TECHNICAL VOCABULARY, AND FOR COMPUTER AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION IN SCHOOL SETTINGS? Math and Science skills also depend on high English skills -- most of the problems given in Math and Science classes are "word problems," and if a person does not know English well, then the person cannot pass Math or Science classes. The deaf community is now in a RACE against time. We need solutions to education, from pre-school up to high school, that will prepare deaf students for the FUTURE. If deaf students are properly prepared when they graduate from high school, then they can enter MIT, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Harvard, Yale, or any other TOP university they wish, to get the skills to get good jobs in the space and computer industries of the future. For college and university rankings, look up http://www.usnews.com , go to the ".EDU" section of the website, and look up the "Top 25 National Universities" and "Top 25-50 National Universities" -- these are the TOP research universities in the United States, which should be the FIRST choices for intelligent deaf individuals who want good jobs for the future. Let's all make sure that ALL deaf students are prepared properly to enter one of the TOP 50 NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES when they leave high school! ============================================================== DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY Orange County, California Richard Roehm President Internet : Deaf@activist.com Deaf_Workers_OC@usa.net Website Nesmuth@worldnet.att.net Http://www.i-sphere.com/eyedeaf/dwoc.htm =============================================================== Circulation Information Direct Email subscribers : 47 Indirect Email Subscribers : 39 Feel free to redistribute this newsletter in it's entirety and if you are planning to add a mailing list as a subscriber then let me know for my records. 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