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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

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person's skin. or the presence of a disability.

reasons,

For the above

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

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As the legal profession opens ita doors to many it once shunned, handicapped lawyers are presenting themaves 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 Apposed to be advocates for the un heard," said Laura Cooper, a 32-yearald wheelchair-bound lawyer who heads the American Bar Associa ton'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 Petti & Martia

Rejected as 'Frea

Paul Miller a recent Harvard graduate who heads the legal affairs Committee of Lite People of Amerka, said firms often showed bias agains: dwarfs "I did as well as most

my classmates in law school, but I had to make hierally hundreds of job Inquiries," he said "A Philadelphia firm told me they didn't want clients la think they were running a sideshow freak act."

Ms Cooper's bar committee is king date on the nurober of dis abled lawyers ("No one has ever bechered to count us," she said) and is finding such statistics hard to come

Organizations for bilnd lawyers repart combined rolls of nearly 500 members, said Steven Speicher, di rector of the American Blind Law

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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

Association, Lincoln, Neb. There a bill 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 Deal refers prospective clients to a list of 13 deal lawyers. Lit.

People of America keeps a list,

Federal civil rights laws offer the duabled almost no protection, and handicapped lawyers are lobbying lor & measure extending prsections now accorded other groups by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 It prohibits most private employers from dis crimination based on race, gender and religion

The bull endorsed by Vice Prest Sone But in his campaign, would bar eplayers from turning away appl

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 recruinn cam. puses.

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 could schedule important events in places that I can't get to," she said. "But it happens all the time, includ

Disabled lawyers are also putting
direct pressure on law firms to ac
quire new aids, including synthetic
speech systems that already let blinding depositions and compulsory bar
lawyers use computer research tools
the Westlaw and Lexis. Hearing-im-
paired lawyers want amplification
devices in courtrooms. Mr. Miller

seminars."

Her committee is drawing up rules for accommodating the disabled at bar exams. Robert Raven, president

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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 court. ronms and offices that are often inaecessible."

The Firms' Point of View The firms say that from their poin 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 compensation."

He said his firm could accommodate only a limited number of disabled lawyers "We could have one person off the partnership track be cause 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 Chester, 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 law yers would take. "The local bar sent me all ka disabled referrals, ev dently 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, conlined to a wheelchair, is a commissioner of the Equal Employment Op portunity 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 immedi ately 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.

I have seen families living in absolute fear at the thought that one of their family members' HIV positive status might be disclosed. I witness people who are HIV positive and who are healthy, contributing members of our society, lose their jobs, lose their homes, their medical insurance and other necessities of life due to discrimination.

The question always arises how can people be so mean? How can our society be so cruel? With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Congress will be able to lead our societal structures in providing a compassionate response of equal protection to people with disabilities in our Nation, including people with HIV infection. These stories and hundreds like them provide the impetus for action for the National Commission on AIDS and for millions of compassionate and concerned Americans.

The wonderful work of many commissions and task forces that have addressed the AIDS epidemic have virtually expressed unanimous agreement that antidiscrimination protections are the cornerstone to addressing the complex public policy issues presented by AIDS. The good work of these dedicated and concerned citizens has moved many city and State legislatures to enact antidiscrimination measures. But a great deal more needs to be done.

In my own experience, neither the city councils of Dallas County nor the Texas State Legislature have formally adopted the recommendations made by the commissions established to advise them. The action by the U.S. Senate last month was the first hopeful and direct statement that perhaps the Congress will take the leadership and move the ADA, with the blessing of President Bush, in a timely manner.

Please be assured that for myself, the Commission and most importantly persons living with HIV and their loved ones, this action is enthusiastically welcomed. Mr. Chairman, our Nation's public policy is dependent on the responsible and informed actions of Congress. The ADA is a bill that utilizes 15 years of antidiscrimination protections for people with disabilities in federally assisted programs and extends those protections to the private sector.

The bill's inclusion of people with HIV infection, AIDS and those who care for them is a hallmark in our fight against this epidemic. There may be yet challenges against inclusion of such individuals. Exclusion would be a tragic mistake. As Secretary Sullivan, a fellow Commissioner has stated, discrimination against individuals with a virus is unacceptable. This administration is committed to enacting legislation that will prohibit such discrimination.

Therefore, I urge you to remember that this bill has the strong support of the President. Bipartisan leadership of the Congress, a multitude of national organizations including public health professionals, religious communities, service organizations and advocacy groups, and particularly the National Commission on AIDS.

We as a nation have the blessings of wealth and resources. We pride ourselves in our compassion and spirit. In passing the ADA, the Congress will embody the best of the American spirit and send the needed message that equal rights and compassion are a standard that this Nation will uphold with pride and vigilance.

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