Comments on: The ADA – friend or foe? http://workingwithchronicillness.com/2009/06/the-ada-friend-or-foe/ Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:01:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Megan Oltman http://workingwithchronicillness.com/2009/06/the-ada-friend-or-foe/comment-page-1/#comment-18831 Megan Oltman Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:47:23 +0000 http://workingwithchronicillness.com/?p=949#comment-18831 How funny Rosalind, I was just going to call you to discuss a similar issue! Your readers might want to take a look at an article I did for Health Central as well - "Working with Migraines: Rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act" http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/c/11175/68921/disabilities-act. The more people know about what their rights are - and Aren't - the better! I think Sandy's article is terrific and she has an important point. This isn't about entitlement to more or special rights, it's about leveling the playing field. But does the existence of the ADA make discrimination against the disabled more likely? I really don't think so. Historically all of our labor protective laws spawn of employer fears and HR cautions but have done much more good than harm. Having to go to court is often not a practical remedy and always a last resort. But without it, there is no yardstick to measure employer's practices. - Megan How funny Rosalind, I was just going to call you to discuss a similar issue! Your readers might want to take a look at an article I did for Health Central as well – “Working with Migraines: Rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act” http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/c/11175/68921/disabilities-act. The more people know about what their rights are – and Aren’t – the better! I think Sandy’s article is terrific and she has an important point. This isn’t about entitlement to more or special rights, it’s about leveling the playing field.

But does the existence of the ADA make discrimination against the disabled more likely? I really don’t think so. Historically all of our labor protective laws spawn of employer fears and HR cautions but have done much more good than harm. Having to go to court is often not a practical remedy and always a last resort. But without it, there is no yardstick to measure employer’s practices.

- Megan

]]>