Your Rights as a Disabled American are Under Fire

        I feel so strongly about the miasma of our rights that I feel it would be a disservice to you if I didn't make you aware of the items listed below.  What you do with the information below is your business; I encourage you to act as your conscience dictates. 

     I strongly believe that we should not take our rights for granted.  To do nothing is not wrong, but it is a descision.

     Please read:

     ADA RESTORATION ACTION CENTER
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After years of being weakened in the courts, Congress
is coming to the rescue of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), the bipartisan civil rights
protections signed into law in 1990.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Representative
James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced the ADA
Restoration Act of 2007 on July 26, the seventeenth
anniversary of the ADA. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) have introduced
the bill in the Senate.

This vital legislation will restate and clarify the
intent of Congress in order to keep the promise of
the ADA. Please take action now to encourage members
of Congress to sign-on and pass this legislation which
was drafted with the support of a broad coalition of
disability organizations. 

Contact Congress:

Copy this link to tell your representatives in
Congress to support the ADA Restoration Act.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/adawatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6722&t=roadtofreedom.dwt

Sign the Petition:

Copy this link to show your support for passage of the
ADA Restoration Act. We will distribute the petitions
to Congress and the media.

http://www.roadtofreedom.org/petition

Tell Your Story:

Copy this link to tell your story about disability
discrimination, how the ADA has helped you or how the
promise of the ADA is still unfulfilled. We will share
these testimonials with Congress and the media.

http://www.roadtofreedom.org/story

Get On the Bus:

Follow the Road To Freedom: Keeping the Promise of the
ADA, our year-long, cross-country bus tour promoting
the restoration of the ADA. Freedom bus Check out the
tour schedule, read the blog and view photos of our
journey so far covering more than 14,000 miles, 30
states and 45 bus stop events.

Go to: http://www.roadtofreedom.org

Background:

Seventeen years ago, Congress passed the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) with overwhelming
bipartisan support.

However, in recent years, a number of Supreme Court
decisions have significantly reduced the protections
available to people with disabilities in employment
settings.

Courts are quick to side with businesses and
employers, deciding against people with disabilities
who challenge employment discrimination 97% of the
time, often before the person has even had a chance to
show that the employer treated them unfairly.

Indeed, courts have created an absurd Catch-22 by
allowing employers to say a person is "too disabled"
to do the job but "not "diabled enough" to be
protected by the ADA.

People with conditions like epilepsy, diabetes, HIV,
cancer, hearing loss, and mental illness that manage
their disabilities with medication, prosthetics,
hearing aids, etc. -- or "mitigating measures" -- are
viewed as "too functional to have a disability and
are denied the ADA protection from employment
discrimination.

People denied a job or fired because an employer
mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job or
because the employer does not want people with
disabilities in the workplace are also denied the
ADA's protection from employment discrimination.

     Credit for the content above is not mine although I wish I could claim it.  Reader Zed passed this on to me and I've printed it for you.  The above clearly states what you can do to protect yourself.  God bless us all, Colin

Comments

[troy worman]

very cool pics.