3 We regularly talk to individuals who have been forced to turn down job offers, or who have been fired, or who otherwise left jobs because they couldn't arrange reliable transportation. A young man with cerebral palsy was fired from his job as an elevator operator when his employer was told by a so-called rehabilitation professional that it was unsafe for people with CP to work around electricity. We can also go beyond individual cases for proof that disabilitybased discrimination still exists. We know from recent surveys that nearly one million people in Massachusetts have a disability. Half of them have not graduated from high school, nearly twice the percentage of the population as a whole. Half of the working age individuals with disabilities are not even in the labor force, twice the percentage of the population as a whole, despite the fact that the Massachusetts unemployment level is under 3%. A majority of them have incomes below the poverty line, half again as many as the total population. Over 50,000 live in homes having one or more architectural barriers. The We don't have to look far to understand why people with disabilities are in such desperate straights. Since the time of Christ, and probably before, people with disabilities have been systematically denied the opportunity to take control of their own destinies. dominant religion of the times have preached a gospel of charity and paternalism toward people with disabilities. We were portrayed as unfortunate, helpless individuals who needed looking after by our more fortunate bretheren. This attitude still exists today, as exemplified by the Jerry Lewis Telethon. No wonder they don't think we can do the job! But that is beginning to change. Those of us with disabilities are beginning to demand that attitudes and practices change, that we gain control of our lives. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1988 exemplifies the change. The Act was drafted by disabled people, for disabled people. It recognizes the broad pattern of discrimination which exists today, and proposes a broad range of measures to correct the problem. But, best of all, it establishes, once and for all, that equal opportunity for people with disabilities is no longer the "charitable, kind" thing to do; it is a right, guaranteed by the same constitution that guarantees the rights of blacks, Asians, women, and all other groups that are not part of the power establishment. For too long we have not only not been able to sit in the front of the bus, we haven't been able to even get on the bus! For too long, we have not only not been able to use the "white" bathroom, we haven't been able to use any public bathrooms. This bill will change that. The Americans with Disabilities Act will remove physical and attitudinal barriers that confront us. It will give control of our lives to us. It will move us from being objects of charitable acts to being self-determining individuals living in dignified independence. The management and staff of the Office of Handicaped Affairs is committed to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1988 as a reaffirmation and extension of the progress we have made in Massachusetts. We will work long and hard for its passage. 5 In closing, I thank the House Committee on Select Education for coming to New England and listening to our stories. We have heard ample proof today that discrimination based on disability flourishes. Together we can, and must, put an end to it. Mr. OWENS. Thank you, Mr. Davis. We have run out of time. Mr. Brooks. STATEMENT OF JAMES BROOKS, PARALEGAL, DISABILITY LAW CENTER Mr. BROOKS. Thank you for the opportunity of testifying here. My name is James Brooks. I am a paralegal at the Disability Law Center. We provide legal services to disabled people. The significance of this legislation exists at different levels. For those of us who work at the Disability Law Center, this particular bill will afford our clients another level or layer of protection when all other recourse has failed. I firmly believe that as an individual who faces discrimination on a day-to-day level, there can never be too much protection. One cannot put a price tag on freedom. Day in and day out, we see clients whose lives will probably have been profoundly changed if this bill had existed. For instance, we have had an elderly couple who are mentally ill and were seeking a home interest loan. However, due to discriminatory attitudes, they were denied that loan. Or there was a homeless person with AIDS who was being denied public housing due to people's primitive values towards people with AIDS and due to the refusal to perceive this person as being part of the disability community. Although we were successful in advocating for that elderly couple and that homeless person with AIDS, I cannot help but wonder if we would have if we had already had a civil rights bill in place, would those two cases of injustice have existed. In preparing this last night, a friend of mine called who is a disabled friend of mine and we talked about the real meaning of this whole thing. The real meaning beyond the fact of getting up and relating horror story after horror story about what it is to live day to day and face oppression. And she told me something very significant which I will want to pass on. She said that what this bill really means is that a person in a wheelchair will not have to, when they need to get on a train, have to go down an elevator that is usually not working, unsafe or smells. Or they will not have to, when they cannot get on a train, have to wait two hours for a cab that will not stop because the driver thinks it is too inconvenient to put you in his cab. Or for a person who when they complete their college education or their high school education has nowhere to turn and feels that the only recourse is to commit suicide. That is what this legislation really means. Mr. OWENS. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. STATEMENT OF ELEANOR BLAKE, FITCHBURG, MA Ms. BLAKE. Congressman Owens, committee members and all those present, good afternoon. My name is Eleanor Elizabeth Crow Blake, better known as Betsy. I am a victim of manic depression. I am a mental health advocate and I am a graduate student in rehabilitation counseling, specializing in psychiatric rehabilitation at Boston University. As a mentally ill person, I have been discriminated in all areas of life, including socially. First of all, I live in poverty. This is because I need to get graduate training in order to be qualified for my chosen profession, yet, I cannot go to school and work, too, due to the amount of stress that would be placed on me and, thus, endanger my mental health. I have been discriminated against in the work place. I have often filled out job applications which ask the illegal question, "Have you ever had an emotional illness?" That has nothing to do with whether or not you can perform the job. Gaps in work history is one of the biggest nemeses for mental health clients. In a job interview, I was repeatedly asked about these gaps. One time the interviewer pursued it with extreme, very annoying persistence, even though I told her that I would rather not talk about it. She kept saying, "It will not affect your chances to get hired." Finally, I gave in. I did not get the job. I had another problem with my most recent employer, an activities director at a local nursing home. I was hired as an activities assistant. During that time, I never divulged the fact that I was mentally ill or what medications I was taking, fearing I would not get or retain the job. But after a year, my medication was reduced and changed. And I became actively mentally ill, again. I had been a success at the job, but my supervisor kept saying over and over: "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me what medications you were taking?" Again, this was done obnoxiously. It soon became clear by insinuations and stalling that I would not be rehired. From 1981 to 1986, I was majoring in human services at Fitchburg State College. The human services major policy is that a person has to be quote/unquote, psychologically fit in order to graduate from their program. I had a straight A average both in the program and in general, but because I had to leave the college for hospitalization in our local state hospital, I was deemed not quote/unquote, psychologically fit, and bounced from the program. There was also talk of preventing me from graduating from college at all. But I spoke out and was allowed to. I had to switch my major and therefore take additional courses. I graduated in 1987, summa cum laude with a grade point average of 3.82. Of course, in most cases of discrimination in work or education, there is no proof. There never is any proof, but the result is the same. I have a lot more to say, but I will give it in my report. [The prepared statement of Eleanor C. Blake follows:] |