NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/activism/21504

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 4.4 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Nigel Allen)
Subject: AFSCME Notes Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act
Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 04:28:29 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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Here is a press release from the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

 AFSCME Notes Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act
 To: National Desk
 Contact: Janet Rivera, 202-429-1130 or Marcia Magid,
          202-429-1215, both of AFSCME

   WASHINGTON, Jan. 26  -- The president of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME), the nation's largest public employee and health care
workers union, today noted the one-year anniversary of the
implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), saying
that the law has "ensured equal opportunity for the 43 million
Americans with disabilities both in and out of the workplace."
   "With the unemployment rate for people with disabilities
approaching 67 percent, the ADA has knocked down many employment
barriers," AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said.  "However, many
societal hurdles still exist. We, therefore, must continue to be
committed to enforcing the ADA and fighting discrimination against
persons with disabilities."
   The ADA, which became law in 1990, prohibits discrimination
against a qualified individual with a disability, who with or without
a reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of a
job that he or she holds or desires. The law also requires state and
local governments to evaluate their policies and programs to identify
and correct any that do not comply with the law.
   The specific accommodations that an employer may be required to
make depend on the specific work situation as well as the applicable
law or regulation. The issue of "reasonable accommodation" is one in
which AFSCME has long played an active role.
   AFSCME members have had many victories fighting for reasonable
accommodation even before the ADA. In California, a blind AFSCME
steward won the right to have a reader paid by the employer to assist
three blind and visually impaired welfare case workers and himself.
In New York, AFSCME/CSEA Local 100 won the right for a member with
dyslexia to take a tape-recorded civil service examination. Another
member received a portable oxygen tank he needed.
   Some employers attempt to avoid hiring an employee by claiming
that an employee's disability or potential accommodation will present
a safety problem to the employee, to other employees, or to the
public. AFSCME and other labor unions have a vital role to play in
countering an employer's charge that an individual poses a direct
threat to others or him/herself. For example, the Pennsylvania State
Department of Transportation fired a bus driver who wore a hearing
aid because the Department felt that the hearing aid could fall out
of the driver's ear and cause a safety problem. A federal court
ruled, however, that the Department of Transportation had no more
right to fire a bus driver who wore eyeglasses that could fall off.
   Even before the ADA, many AFSCME councils and locals across the
nation enhanced the lives of their members with disabilities by:
installing special telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs) in
the local office; providing signers at meetings and conferences;
putting newspapers and magazines on tape for the visually impaired;
holding conferences on issues of special interest to members with
disabilities; and installing flashing lights for telephones and
alarms for the hearing impaired.
    AFSCME International has addressed challenges facing disabled
Americans in a number of ways, including writing a manual, "Fighting
for the Rights of Employees with Disabilities," and producing a
closed-captioned video of the same title.  In addition, AFSCME has a
long-standing commitment to making the union accessible to persons
with disabilities. These efforts include the use of a TDD and a
special printer, as well as putting the union's publication, Public
Employee, on audio tape. Further, the International has conducted
training workshops throughout the country on the ADA.
 -30-
--
Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario    [e-mail]