talents, potential, and enthusiasm of the millions of working age Americans with disabilities who are isolated, segregated, or unproductive simply by virtue of the inhospitable and inaccessible environments in which they live. There will also be a direct financial benefit to the federal government. In my case. when I finally was able to obtain permanent employment I no longer had to collect my monthly Social Security disability payment. Medicare benefits or vocational rehabilitation funding. Instead, I became a productive, taxpaying citizen able to support the domestic and medical bills I incurred through salary and benefits obtained on the job. Even though the federal benefits that I was receiving before I became employed were minuscule compared to those received by most persons with severe disabilities, only four years after going to work I now estimate that the net direct and positive financial impact on the federal government due to my employment is approximately $40.000 to $50,000 per year. This benefit is reaped not just directly by the federal government, but also indirectly by all taxpayers including the covered entities that will incur the direct costs associated with the ADA. The other direct beneficiaries in this process will be employers. In my case. Pettit & Martin now has a professional employee who is enormously grateful for the opportunity to work and live independently. The result, I believe, is that I exhibit on-the-job performance well above firm expectations, a level of dedication and commitment to the firm that is typically not found among associate attorneys, a willingness eagerly to perform the hardest or least-desired tasks on assigned matters, and a readymade desire to achieve excellence in practice that is difficult to instill in any employee. I know from whence I came, and I would just as soon not go back. In addition to these measurable benefits, the ADA represents the idea of possibilities to millions of Americans. The ADA is a statement to millions of Americans with disabilities that we may all dare to dream. It is a statement to even more Americans that if they or a loved one were to develop a disability, they would not need to stop dreaming. The ADA simply makes possible for persons with disabilities what we have always wanted to believe about America that the truest measure of a person is the content of that person's character, and not the color of the person's skin. or the presence of a disability. For the above reasons. I heartily urge you to adopt the ADA as it is composed in the Senate compromise. THE NEW YORK TIMES THE LAW FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1988 P. B6 Disabled Lawyers Join in Drive on Bias in Hiring By LIS WIEHL As the legal profession opens its doors to many it once shunned, handicapped lawyers are presenting themselves for consideration. They are raising their voices against discrimi nation by law schools and law firms and pushing for special legislation and Improved hiring "Lawyers more than anyone are supposed to be advocates for the unheard," said Laura Cooper, a 32-yearold wheelchair-bound lawyer who heads the American Bar Association's Disabled Lawyers Committee. "If they don't do better, who will?" After graduating near the top of her law school class at the University of Washington and winning a judicial clerkship, she was rejected 400 times before she got her first job offer, from the San Francisco firm of Pettit & Martin. Rejected as 'Freaks Paul Miller, a recent Harvard graduate who heads the legal affairs committee of Little People of Amer. Ica, said firms often showed bias agains: dwarfs. "I did as well as most of my classmates in law school, but I had to make literally hundreds of job Inquiries," he said. "A Philadelphia firm told me they didn't want clients to think they were running a sideshow freak act." Ms. Cooper's bar committee is seeking data on the number of disabled lawyers ("No one has ever bothered to count us," she said) and is finding such statistics hard to come by. Organizations for blind lawyers report combined rolls of nearly 500 members, said Steven Speicher, director of the American Blind Law. yers Association, Lincoln, Neb. There are at least 12 blind judges. Tapping the Rights Act Several hundred lawyers in wheelchairs have graduated from law schools in the 80's. Many are Vietnam veterans. The National Center for. Law and the Deaf refers prospective clients to a list of 13 deal lawyers. Lit. the People of America keeps a list, The New York Times/Michael Tweed Laura Cooper, head of the A.B.A.'s Disabled Lawyers' Committee, with her specially equipped van. After graduating near the top of her law school class, she was rejected 400 times before she got her first job offer. The handicapped are lobbying for a bill in Congress. cants unless a disability would interfere substantially with the job. It would also require, within certain cost limits, that employers remodel the place of business if, for instance, a doorway was too narrow for a wheelchair. Certain employers would also have to get special equipment for the disabled. wants law schools to use their lever age with firms that recruion campuses. Many Impaired lawyers said their feelings of alienation began in law school. "It was a hint of things to come," said R. Donald Brown, a 50year-old blind lawver in Seattle, who heard students complain that his presence cheapened their degrees. His wife, Lisa, also blind, is to become his sole law partner. "Professors tell us bluntly that we'll never keep up with the reading," he said, "but with recorded materials and volunteer readers, we get it done.".. The sites of bar examinations can pose problems for applicants in wheelchairs, said Ms. Cooper. "It is inconceivable to me that lawyers Disabled lawyers are also putting places that I can't get to," she said. could schedule important events in direct pressure on law firms to ac"But it happens all the time, includquire new aids, including synthetic speech systems that already let blinding depositions and compulsory bar Lawyers use computer research tools like Westlaw and Lexis. Hearing-impaired lawyers want amplification devices in courtrooms. Mr. Miller seminars." for accommodating the disabled at Her committee is drawing up rules bar exams. Robert Raven, president of the American Bar Association, said he could foresee tet special sites. Disabled lawyers say' law firms hire women and members of racial minorities but not the handicapped. "It is nearly impossible for us to get hired," Ms. Cooper said. "The jobs we find are usually low paying ones, working with people who don't readily believe in our worth, in courtrooms and offices that are often inaccessible." The Firms' Point of View The firms say that from their point of view, the issue is largely economic. "I'm not sure what the response of our firm would be in hiring a blind lawyer, but we'd certainly have in look at the costs," said Kenneth Anderson, hiring partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles. He fears that disabled lawyers might not be able to work long hours. To compensate for lost efficiency, we would probably adjust comperisation." He said his firm could accommedate only a limited number of disabled lawyers. "We could have one person off the partnership track because of a mobility impairment, but we can't have 15," he said. His firm has more than 600 lawyers. At Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, the hiring partner, Evan Chesler, said that in evaluating disabled applicants, his firm would apply its usual standards, but would not want to "put people into situations they can't handle." Those Who Scrabble By Because few disabled lawyers have been hired by big firms, most have government jobs or small practices When Mr. Brown opened his practice he depended on clients no other lawyers would take. "The local bar sent me all its disabled referrals, evtdently believing that disabled clients should have disabled lawyers," he said. "Can you imagine a deaf client and a blind lawyer talking?" Some disabled lawyers get high government jobs. Evan Kemp, confined to a wheelchair, is a commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But firms that do hire disabled lawyers often assign them 10 tax work, estate plaing and real estate. "Many firms hope they'll quietly turn out memos where no one will see them," Mr. Speicher said. "The few who break into litigation are often polled off cases immediately before trial." Mr. EDWARDS. We now hear from the Rev. Scott Allen, who is a member of the National Commission on AIDS. STATEMENT OF REV. SCOTT ALLEN, COMMISIONER, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON AIDS, WASHINGTON, DC Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I'm Rev. Scott Allen, a Commissioner on the congressionally mandated National Commission on AIDS. I am pleased to provide testimony on the importance of the Americans with Disabilities Act, with particular focus on antidiscrimination protections for people with HIVrelated conditions. My work with AIDS has been varied and diverse. I am employed by the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. My specific experience began with AIDS when I was the founding director of the AIDS Interfaith Network of Dallas, an organization that provides AIDS education for our religious communities and pastoral care for persons living with AIDS, as well as their family members and loved ones. In addition, I have served as a member of the Dallas County AIDS Planning Commission, and on the Legislative Task Force on AIDS for the State of Texas, chairing the State Responsibility Subcommittee. As a citizen, minister and participant in the development of AIDS policy at the local and State level, I fully support the Americans with Disabilities Act. I urge the House to move expeditiously, so as to provide important redress for the acts of discrimination that have such devastating impact on the lives of many Americans, particularly those with the HIV virus and with AIDS. As a Commissioner for the National Commission on AIDS, I am charged with the important task of advising Congress on the implementation of the recommendations of the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic. Admiral Watkins and the other Commissioners are to be commended for their exhaustive and thoughtful articulation of the important issues related to the HIV epidemic. As you well know, the centerpiece of their recommendations was the passage of a bill to address discrimination experience by people with AIDS and HIV infection. They specifically recommended comprehensive Federal antidiscrimination legislation which prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in the public and private sector, including employment, housing, public accommodations, and participation in government programs, should be enacted. All persons with symptomatic or asymptomatic HIV infections should be clearly included as persons with disabilities, who are covered by the antidiscrimination protections of this legislation. That recommendation was endorsed by President Bush immediately after issuance of the Commission's report. One year after the President's Commission made that recommendation, the ADA moved through the Senate. The President's endorsement was clearly a key factor in the Senate's overwhelming passage of ADA. It is now incumbent upon the Congress, with the assistance of the National Commission, to move this bill as quickly as possible without damaging amendments. Truly, with an epidemic that has affected more than 100,000 Americans with 37 million other Ameri cans with the disability awaiting the protections guaranteed under this act, the political and moral imperatives are clear. To underscore the priority of the ADA, the National Commission on AIDS passed its first resolution in support of this bill. We stated: We the members of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome strongly support passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, legislation which would implement the key recommendation of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus epidemic. People living with AIDS and HIV infection and those regarded as such deserve the same discrimination protections as all people with disabilities. Such protections from discrimination are not only necessary to enhance the quality of life for people with AIDS and HIV infection, they are, as the Presidential Commission and the Institute of Medicine have reported, the linchpin of our Nation's effort to control the HIV epidemic. Thousands of Americans who would seek voluntary counseling and testing services, and many who need lifeprolonging medical treatment, will not come forward if they believe that doing so could result in the loss of their job or lack of access to public accommodations. Legislation that is based not only on compassion but sound public health principles is a must if we are to reach and assist these individuals. We are extremely pleased that the majority of the U.S. Senate and the White House have made a bipartisan commitment to enact the Americans with Disabilities Act. We oppose any effort to reduce the scope of coverage of the present bill, particularly in respect to HIV, the special focus of this Commission. The ADA will provide a clear and comprehensive mandate to greatly extend discrimination protections for people with disability. We are proud to endorse this landmark legislation. A diagnosis of HIV infection and its related diseases is clearly a devastating event in a person's life. The subsequent act of irrational discrimination that occurs has been one of the unfortunate landmarks of our Nation's response to the HIV epidemic. A review of a front-page headline over the past 8 years will awaken in most of us the urgent need for a bill like the Americans with Disabilities Act. Remember, Ryan White, denied entry to school. The Ray family, burned from their home. A woman with AIDS denied entry with her children to a public swimming pool. A bright young attorney forced into poverty because he was fired from his job. The ADA will not be able to address all forms of private discrimination, but it will provide protections in the critical areas of private employment and public accommodations. Mr. Chairman, you may wonder how a Baptist minister from Texas sojourned through the local ministry to families affected by AIDS to city and State task forces and then finally to the national level and congressional testimony on this bill. The answer is simple. I have seen first hand the dual tragedy of HIV infection and illness, coupled with the cruelty of discrimination. I walk with people on a daily basis who encounter the cruelty of discrimination. I've listened to their words of bewilderment as to how a society as ours could be so callous to a person who is sick. |