Disclaimer
The information presented in any of the Demand Our Access podcast episodes, on the Demand Our Access website, or otherwise shared in conjunction with or through association with the Demand Our Access project is expressly not individual legal advice.
Applying the law depends on the circumstances and events that comprise every situation. Since legal advice is fact-specific, nothing about the Demand Our Access project can provide an individual, a group of individuals, or any organization legal advice.
Introduction
This episode has two main topics: advocacy updates from Desiree and I; and playing the blind card while advocating.
The next live episode will take place on February 15 at 2:00 EST. I don’t yet have a planned topic for that episode. If you have any comments and/or suggestions, please write me at Jonathan@DemandOurAccess.com or complete the contact form at Demand Our Access.
Advocacy Updates From Desiree and I
My Advocacy Updates
While I can’t yet discuss everything I’m working on, I want to mention my complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), and issues I’m having with the Oregon
Employment Department (OED).
My EEOC Complaint
The EEOC has accepted my charge of discrimination and notified my former employer. While awaiting their response, I have decided that, if they agree, I will attempt to resolve my discrimination through mediation run by the EEOC. I have made the choice to try mediation, even though I doubt it will be successful, because mediation could bring about a much faster result. Also, there is the reality that the current administration is seemingly considerably less likely to litigate cases of disability discrimination. But even if they don’t, I still have hope that the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry, which has a partnership agreement with the EEOC, will investigate if mediation fails.
My Issues with the Oregon Employment Department
After trying for more than a month, I made the difficult decision to stop seeking additional unemployment benefits. The truth is that constantly fighting for the access I need to consistently get the unemployment benefits I’m entitled to receive from an agency with little to no knowledge of its legal responsibilities under Title I and no desire to meaningfully provide the accommodations I’m entitled to receive from them was causing me tremendous stress. So, I have begun the process of trying to force them to follow the law by filing with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry. At this point, I don’t believe the Department of Justice will assist me. So, I hope I can, at least, make it so the next blind person needing accommodations from OED to get the benefits they deserve doesn’t suffer the amount of discrimination I have suffered.
Desiree’s Traveling with a Service Animal
As you may know, Desiree has a new guide dog. While you are listening to this, she is in Florida at a conference. Prior to flying to Florida, she had to complete the forms necessary to fly with a service animal. What you are about to hear is the inaccessibility she encountered while completing the required forms.
In her recording, Desiree mentioned the company Open Doors that enables you to register your service animal with five different airlines.
Playing the Blind Card
Introduction to Playing the Blind Card
While I’m calling what I am talking about here the blind card, it’s important to note that the analysis I will share here applies to all situations where a disabled person uses stereotypes and assumptions about disabled people and those of us with disabilities to encourage nondisabled people to make something more accessible. Obviously, what I’m sharing here is strictly my opinion. I recognize and appreciate others will disagree. I’m sharing this anyway to hopefully stimulate thought and provoke what I believe is an important discussion.
The last episode of the Demand Our Access podcast focused on how we can advocate during these difficult political times. During the question and comment portion of
the live version of the podcast, the issue of playing the blind card while advocating was raised a couple of times. Since I never play the blind card, I thought I would take some time to explain my personal opposition to playing the blind card while advocating.
Why I Never Play the Blind Card
I never use the negative stereotypes and negative assumptions many sighted people have about blindness and those of us who are blind when I’m advocating is that feeding on those stereotypes and assumptions continues the disrespect, whether understood or not, by the sighted person of me and the rest of us who are blind. Simply put, if someone believes blind people are less capable, believes we deserve credit for doing everyday tasks that are easy for them but which they incorrectly assume are more difficult for us than they are, or develops (whether encouraged or not) a feeling of pity for us that person will never fully respect us. Also, that person will never see us as their equal. If someone doesn’t respect blind people, doesn’t see blind people as their equal, or pities blind people that person will never believe blind people are entitled to the same rights and privileges they take for granted. This truth often will not prevent the sighted person from granting us a short-term, relatively easy accommodation or otherwise trying to help. In the long run, though, it will prevent the sighted person from working toward the societal change we need to create a world that is accessible and inclusive to us.
More problematic with playing the blind card is the greater harm we cause our community. As we all know, those of us who are blind have a difficult time finding work. In many instances, we struggle for equal inclusion in social settings. As I think most of us are aware, the struggles we often face finding work and making true friends results from the negative feelings many sighted people have about blindness and blind people. What we don’t often consider when playing the blind card to achieve short-term access is how playing that card and creating feelings of pity for us on the part of the sighted person further complicates the ability of all of us to find work and make meaningful friendships. When someone makes a document accessible because they feel sorry for a blind person’s inability to read print and isn’t even aware that by failing to make their document
accessible they violated the law and the civil rights of blind people that sighted person is unlikely to ever change the processes that resulted in the document being inaccessible. By failing to change those processes, the person will force all blind people to continue to have to request accessible documents; instead of providing the access provided everyone considered worthy of access. If that person is unaware they violated the rights of blind people by creating an inaccessible document and they gave one blind person an accessible document because they felt sorry for them is that sighted person likely to hire a blind person? Is that person likely to be capable of considering a blind person to be their trusted friend?
The truth, as I see it, is that by playing the blind card we are encouraging the continuation of negative stereotypes and negative assumptions about blind people and blindness. By assisting in the continuation of those negative stereotypes and assumptions, we are not educating people about our civil rights, holding them accountable for violating our civil rights, and making it harder for our community to achieve the kind of access and inclusion we all individually deserve. By perpetuating the idea that people should accommodate us out of pity or with a nod to our imagined incapabilities, we are enabling society to continue placing the burden of ensuring greater access and inclusion largely on us. We will only create a society that is accessible to and inclusive of us when we are proud enough and strong enough to consistently promote the need for sighted people to see our rights as civil rights and when we refuse to use their negative stereotypes and negative assumptions about us and our disability to foster feelings of pity for us. When someone pityís you that person will never hire you. When someone pitties you that person will never truly love you.
I am doing Demand Our Access so we can advocate from a position of education and strength. Hopefully, with greater understanding of our rights, more of us can advocate for our community from the perspective of we have the right to be fully included.
In closing, I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t, where appropriate, educate people as to why something is inaccessible. But I strongly believe the best way for us to create a society that is accessible to and inclusive of us is for us to mix that education with strong reminders that we have civil rights laws that need to be followed.
If so-called hearts and minds advocacy worked, we wouldn’t be living in a society where much is still inaccessible.
Conclusion
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Demand Our Access podcast. I appreciate your support.
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