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Chapter Seven Access to Jobs and Health Care UNLIKE OTHER TARGETS OF job discrimination , people with disabilities have an obstacle embedded in the language that defines them. The term "disability" has varying meaning in at least three different contexts : In the Workers' Compensation program "disability means the damages that one person collects from another as a result of an insult or injury. In the Social Security DisabilityInsurance program, disability refers to a condition that links ill health and unemployment."! And in the context ofcivil rights laws, "disability" is linked to discrimination . Disability advocates believe that the Supreme Court misinterpreted the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act in three 1999 employment cases, treating them as if they pertained to benefits-the first two definitions-rather than, more appropriately , relating the claims to the third definition-discrimination.2 Since disability is commonly associated with disability benefits-implying the inability to workemployment for people with disabilities appears to be a contradiction. On the contrary, with modern technology such as computers, motorized wheelchairs , teletypewriters, and Kurzweil readers , an increasing number of people with disabilities will be employable. The growing disability and aging population-a consequence ofadvances in medicine-presents a compelling economic argument for encouraging these people to become job holders. This rationale played a significant role in the enactment ofthe 1990 ADA, a law focusing heavily on employment. Eleven years before the ADA was passed, disability advocate Frank Bowe stated that it is betterfor people with disabilities, as well as for the nation, if they are working, supporting their families, and contributing to the community rather than being dependent; it is better ifthey are taxpayers rather than tax users.3 Employment Discrimination The 1998 study by Louis Harris and Associates for the National Organization on Disability (NOD) reveals that 79 percent of the nondisabled population ofworking age are employed, compared to only 29 percent of people with disabilities, a difference of 50 percentage points.4 NOD president Alan Reich comments, "At a time when the U.S. unemployment rate is at an historic low and there is a crying need for workers, it is as- tounding to learn that the employment gap remains so wide." Although the primary intention ofthe ADA was to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities , "at least 85 percent of the charges are filed by those who are already employed."s The difficulty in proving employment discrimination is compounded by the inability of rejected applicants with disabilities to compare their qualifications with those of people who are hired. Despite being a highly regarded graduate with a master's of science in social work from Columbia University, Caren Potokerwho uses a scooter because of rheumatoid arthritis-required almost two years and nearly fifty interviews to get a job appropriate for her qualifications.6 Although her fluency in Spanish should have made her especially employable in New York City, she "faced blatant discrimination" in her interviews as she was asked insulting questions, such as "Why are you in that thing?" and "What is wrong with you?" Potoker still believes that she was "lucky" to finally get a position: "It just happened that the agency that hired me was opened to employing people with disabilities." Most Americans with disabilities who are employed hold only marginal jobs, and many of those who are unemployed are so discouraged that they are not even looking for work.7 The experience ofwheelchair user Raphael Nisan-a forty-three-year-old immigrant from Baku, Azerbaijan, who is seeking American citizenship and employment -illustrates how the system sometimes places impediments in the path of even the most ambitious and determined job-seeker with a disability: I interviewed at at least a dozen places. I had my accounting certificate, plus all the years of work experience in Baku. But nobody would hire me. One place was willing to give me a shot, but I couldn't get Access-A-Ride to give me a subscription for van service to and from ACCESS TO JOBS AND HEALTH CARE III work. So I couldn't even get there for the tryout. And without a job, I couldn't buy a car. And without a car, I couldn't work.s Moreover, women as well as racial and ethnic minorities with disabilities confront dual employment discrimination. Rebecca Ogle of Justice For All notes that "it's a ceiling for all women; it's a double ceiling for women with disabilities."9 While CommissionerJoyce E. Tucker ofthe EEOC refers to the...

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