Day in Washington Podcast #14(c) – ADA Restoration Senate Hearing Opposition
Day in Washington- The Disability Policy Podcast explores and discusses various aspects of disability policy. Each episode will cover a specific issue within disability, and/or a disability-related news article. These 5-10 minute podcasts offer an easy to understand introduction to disability policy and resources for those interested in further study. You can find the text of each podcast in the comments. If you have difficulty downloading the podcast, please right-click and save it to your computer for playback.
Episode Summary:
This week’s podcast covers the comments from the opposition to ADA Restoration, specifically the written testimony provided at the most recent Senate Health, Education Labor and Penions Committee’s hearing.
Audio File: Day in Washington Podcast #14(c) – ADA Restoration Senate Hearing Opposition
Show Notes
- Introduction, Date of Podcast
- ADA Restoration Senate Hearing Opposition Comments
- Closing and Contact information
- Disclaimer
Resources
ADA Restoration Hearing on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Website
Video Webcast of November 15, 2007 ADA Restoration Act Hearing
Please note that the video is not captioned.
Testimony of Camille Olson, Seyfarth & Shaw, Chicago, Illinois
Day in Washington Podcast #11 – ADA Restoration House Hearing
Day in Washington Podcast #5 – ADA Restoration
American Association of People with Disabilities ADA Restoration Blog
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities ADA Restoration Page - Includes Written Testimony of Additional Supporters
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Day in Washington – Podcast #14c (December 3, 2007)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to a Day in Washington. Day in Washington is your disability policy podcast covering legislative issues of interest to the disability community. We also spotlight specific bills and other related news articles. I’m your host, Day Al-Mohamed working to make sure you stay informed. This is Podcast #14(c) and was scheduled for Monday, December 3, 2007.
This week’s podcast covers the comments of the Senate ADA Restoration hearing. As mentioned previously, on November 15, the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on ADA Restoration (H.R. 3195 and S. 1881 in Senate).
Previously, I had provided the opposition from the Chamber of Commerce and the objections mentioned by Camille Olson at the hearing. She specifically mentioned the question of what impairment wouldn’t be excluded. And offered the comment that employers would be forced to address requests for accommodation from individuals with the flu, with poison ivy, ankle sprains, stomach aches and so on.
Amongst those groups that provided written comments was the Human Resources Policy Association. The HR Policy Association represents the chief human resource officers of more than 250 of the largest corporations in the United States. They have stated that they strongly opposed ADA Restoration because the bills would expand the ADA to such an extent it would and I’m quoting here, “divert employers’ time and resources from addressing requests for reasonable accommodations from people with serious disabilities…”
You have to admit that that sounds logical. They’re saying that this legislation will undermine the cause of people with disabilities because the law will no longer cover the “truly disabled” only.
People with disabilities do not believe ADA restoration sets back their cause. Why? Because we all exist along a spectrum of ability. There is no set of the “truly disabled” and then everyone else. But the general public doesn’t always understand this. The HR Policy Association and the Chamber of Commerce don’t understand this.
They are trying to draw a line and say, people on this side of it are the “real” disabled and those on the other side are people without disabilities. Suddenly, their position makes things look rather arbitrary doesn’t it? Diabetics on one side – not disabled, quadriplegics on the other – disabled. But not amputees…because if they learn to adapt to their prosthetic really well, then they go on the non-disabled side of the line.
I believe that in their haste to define the world and define people – to label people. They miss the point of the ADA. To stop unfair and illegal discrimination.
To quote Chai Feldblum – Many of us may never experience discrimination because of our physical or mental impairment, while others of us might. But it isn’t because some of us are “truly disabled” and others of us are not. It is because of the TYPE of discrimination that some of us will suffer and others of us will not.
There is no “us” and “them.” That is what the disability community has embraced and extolled for years. Disability is as much if not more of a societal barrier than any physical barrier ever was. Unfortunately, that is a message that the rest of the world is still in the process of learning.
CLOSING
And that is it for this week’s edition of Day in Washington. For links to more information, please check the show notes. Please feel free to contact me at http://www.dayinwashington.com regarding comments or suggestions. I’d love to hear from you, but for now, this is your host, Day reminding you to stay well and stay informed.
EPILOGUE
Music for this podcast was provided by the podsafe music network @ podsafemusicnetwork.com. The music was composed and performed by 2012 and can be found at http://www.twentytwelverecords.com.
Any opinions and perspectives expressed in this podcast should not be taken as the official stance of any group or organization affiliated with the host. In addition, none of the facts, data, or grammar have been checked for accuracy.
Thank you for listening.
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