Spinal Cord Resources Network » Law Center

Careers and the disabled in recessions

ghgeorge — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:43:52 +0000

Disabled workers have been shown over and over to be excellent workers. Many jobs like IT do not require anything more than someone with a college education that is sitting at a desk with a phone and a computer. Since many paraplegics can easily do work sitting at a desk there is no reason that they should not be considered for the job. Unfortunately many bosses assume that the disabled are brain damaged and are incapable of doing any real work in any capacity. Many of us see this in our lives as we go to the mall. Someone will come up to us an d start to talk in baby talk to us because they think we are stupid because of the wheelchair. One would hope that Stephen Hawking does not have to deal with this type of idiotic behavior. Mr. Hawking is the epitome of smart people that are trapped in bodies that do not work properly. We are fully capable of doing amazing things if only we get the chance to do the work and are given the right tools to make our job easier. (Computer World).

It is quite sad that the disabled have the hardest time in getting a job and when they do it is usually a low paying job tied to a boss that thinks they are stupid. Even in the best of financial times it is difficult for the disabled to find a good job. In this complete meltdown of many sectors of our economy makes it all but impossible for the disabled to get good employment. We are competing with people that are over qualified for a position but is in need of money to keep their house and car that they will do almost any job. So the low end jobs are going to engineers with master’s degrees that would never take that job except that there is nothing available in their market and they have been out of work for the last 18 months. The only answers I can think of is schooling and working for yourself. Because many of us are on SSDI or worse, it is very easy to get money to go to school – all the way to PhD. That would give anyone a huge boost in their ability to get a job and to increase their income. Of course it is a lot of work over many years, but then again nothing that is worthwhile is simple or easy. So we get to decide what we will do with our lives, sit at home staring at the boob tube, or get off our collective wheelchairs and get back to school and work.

There are many positions for teching available for secondary as well as college and research. I have found that schools are much more willing to take a chance on someone that is disabled than a company and they are easier to work for. Some universities are willing to put you through school to fill a job that they cannot find qualified people for. At a public university in Florida I saw a position open for a mathematical researcher and the school was willing to put you through to a PhD for free if you were willing to work at the university for five years. Not a bad deal – you get awesome paperwork and schooling for free along with a good job with benefits for the next five years or more. Stuff is out there for us, but we need to look for it and let the able bodied know that we are no different than they are, we are just stuck in a movable chair.

Disabled demanding games they can play too

ghgeorge — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:39:50 +0000

Disabled gamers have had virtually no place to go to that writes up how well the games work for those with disabilities. In fact, some gamers have taken things into their own hands and are starting to sue large game companies that ignore the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the law all companies are required to make their products useful to the disabled so that everyone can have access to them. Sony is the fist of these lawsuits where the disabled are trying for force game companies to work with the disabled community that deserves good games too. In the meantime, AbleGamers have created a website so that the disabled community can look up which games are easy to play if you are a paraplegic or quadriplegic. They also have search criteria if the game supports closed captioning, speed and difficulty settings as well as color changes to help those that are color blind.

While it is great that a group has taken up the job of trying to help the disabled community to make good decisions on which games play well and which ones that are missing basic help for them, all game companies should think of the ADA during design phase. Typically it is not difficult to add difficulty levels or to add closed captioning since the characters are speaking the words anyways. Changes to keep colorblind players happy is also a relatively simple process because there are well known color combinations that cause grief and those could be easily changed in the graphics engine without any other modifications to how the game plays or how it looks.

One would think that game companies would want to add to the number of customers that can purchase and play their games if the work to do that is easy and cheap. But instead the game companies completely ignore the disabled community because there is no one to club them over the head to let them know that we exist. The lawsuit against Sony will wake that company up, but what about the others? The idea is to get them to make minor changes without pricing the company into bankruptcy because of legal costs or dramatically increased development costs. This could be fixed by adding a few disabled people to the testing teams so that fixes can be worked on right away and the company can get write-ups in disability magazines and websites saying they are working with the community to make their products available. This would open up a brand new market for arcade games to people that would love to play and pay for them but can’t because they are unplayable. But with a few changes we all can have fun on our computers and game consoles.

New transport law in North Ireland

laura — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:50:16 +0000

For years the disabled have been complaining that taxis and bus drivers have refused service, charged extra to take them on board, or have just roared past them because they didn’t want to deal with a wheelchair on the bus. Finally a new law, the "Disability Transport Regulations" now require that taxis, buses and trains treat the disabled as any other able bodied passenger, including charging the same price and taking the as passengers. There have been many complaints over the years that mass transit workers refuse to help the disabled and many times drive past taxi and bus stops that people in wheelchairs are sitting in. Many people complained about empty buses blasting by eh bus stop without even slowing down because the driver did not want to deal with getting someone in a wheelchair onto the bus and locked down so they were safe during the ride. Many taxi drivers charged extra fees to load someone that was disabled into their vehicle and for luggage that they were required to put into the trunk because the rider could not carry them into the car themselves. This discrimination has made it very difficult for the disabled to get around the cities and to get to work or shopping centers. Trains were also on the list of transit workers that either refused to help the disabled by saying the lifts did not work or simply ignored people in wheelchairs. Those same companies are now required to have lifts and other equipment to safely transport the disabled. The "Equality Commission" has been playing a series of advertisements on tv and radio to let the disabled community know that they have new rights and transport workers know their new job requirements. It is hoped that these advertisements will get taxi drivers and bus drivers to realize that they must stop for disabled citizens and they cannot charge more money or refuse service simply because of the disability.

SCRN has written many articles about issues in Europe as the disabled were removed from airplanes because the pilot didn’t want them on board to taxi drivers refusing to take people in wheelchairs because it took to long to get them into the car. It is good that governments realize that the disabled should be treated no differently than the able bodied and should not get substandard service or be charged extra because of their injury or medical condition. It will be interesting to see how the advertisement blitz works and whether workers will actually take it to heart that they need to help those that cannot help themselves. It is not clear who will be doing the enforcement of the law, but they better have plenty of officers around to make sure things are working properly. People are creatures of habit and will not do more work or do things that they do not want to unless they are forced to. Secret officers should try to get on mass transit to make sure it is working properly and if not there needs to be stiff fines to be paid. Once a few workers get hit with big fines it will go through the grape vine that they have to follow the law or else.

The ever increasing doughnut hole

ghgeorge — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:34:59 +0000

The doughnut hole, or the payment that Medicare patients make when their medications cost more than $2700 a year is going to get bigger. The new bill in Congress is supposed to close the payments over the next 10 years so that all pharmacy payments will be covered by Medicare. However, because of increases in pills and decreases in money coming in to pay for federal programs those on Medicare can expect to pay more for the next three years. After that the new legislation, if it becomes law will eventually catch up with those increases and will start to close the doughnut hole. That does nothing to help the people that take expensive drugs and have to come up with $2700 every year or just stop taking their pills. Many people that are on blood pressure medication or pain pills just stop taking their medication and for the rest of the year hope that their health does not decrease enough to be hospitalized until the beginning of the next year when Medicare picks up again. For those that can come up with the $2700, at $4300 Catastrophic Care kicks in and pays for 95% of all medications regardless of the amount. So those what are trying to live off of Social Security Disability payments have to somehow come up with over $2000 a year and give up on either a car or a place to live. This hole was put in place by the Republicans who said that the government could not pay for all drugs and this was a way to make sure that everyone would have access to the Medicare pharmacy program. However, it only creates a situation where people that need drugs cannot afford to keep taking them and are forced to stop taking them and put their health at risk. In the mean time the new Medicare bill requires pill manufacturers to give everyone a 50% discount to help individuals pay for their pills. No one knows how much that discount will help those that cannot afford their pills now, but the already existing programs to help those to pay for drugs only help a tiny fraction because the companies decide who their are going to help and by how much. (Source: Washington Post)

This political football has created a group of people that cannot pay for their drugs because of a crazy program that is based on Social Security that was never supposed to give people enough money to pay for their medical bills. So instead we have a drug industry that makes billions of dollars in profits on the backs of those that pay for research on the pills that we are charged $1000+ a month for. These companies due to keep generic drug makers from creating drugs that can be afforded by all. It is interesting that the costs of the same drug in the US is a fraction of that amount in Canada or even India. Each country pays a different amount but we are too stupid to make these same deals with the drug makers. To add insult to injury Medicare is not allowed by law to purchase drugs from other countries for less than what we are charged for them now. The US pays for all of the research but does not gain any of the benefits of that research. Instead the poor of the country are forced to pay outrageous amounts of money for drugs that they need to stay alive. We need to make some decisions as a country on how we deal with those that are disabled and elderly. Either we are going to pay for their medical care or not – not the bits and pieces we are now. By only allowing these people to take their drugs every 6 months, their health is deteriorating to the point that they are dying before they should because of the damage caused by not taking their medications. Lets close the doughnut hole and give people the medical care that they need to live useful lives.

UK: Disabled see worst layoffs in decades

ghgeorge — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:40:42 +0000

Five percent of the disabled people that had a job have been laid off in the last 12 months as the ever enveloping recession hits all areas of employment. The job losses put the disabled people at risk in losing their cars and homes forcing them on the street or in nursing homes because there is no place for them. The disabled that are looking for a new job are finding out that the rolls of unemployed able bodied workers is also at the highest in years. So while they are competing with an ever increasing unemployed group the disabled are running into discrimination from employers that do not want to hire the disabled. There is a feeling that that the disabled will not work as hard as the able bodied and that they will have to modify the work area to help the disabled worker to do their job. Since no company wants to pay anything more than necessary for each worker it makes sense to get rid of the disabled workers as soon as possible and replace them with able bodied workers. According to reports fifty two percent of the disabled have experienced discrimination in the workplace. Because there are no laws that specifically protect the disabled from being replaced by the able bodied, it is expected that a larger percentage of the unemployed will continue to be the disabled until the economy improves or new laws are enacted to protect the disabled. For those that have a job, most find that the only jobs available are temporary jobs that have no benefits and are the first to be fired if the company cannot keep sales coming in. To make matters worse most disabled have little or no savings because of medical bills and other payments that the able bodied typically do not have to pay. This means that those that lose their jobs do not have anything to fall back on to pay the mortgage or car payment and run the risk that they will lose their only transportation to work or the doctor. (Source: The Independent)

Unfortunately the disabled are usually the ones that are the first to be laid off and that employers take advantage 9of those workers because they know how important the salary is. There are laws in place to protect the disabled so they will not be discriminated against but there are few agencies that are able to enforce the law. Even if the disabled person can prove that they have been discriminated against they need the money to hire a lawyer to go after the employer. If they do go after the company then they can be fired for other reasons. So most times the disabled just deal with the discrimination and hope that they can hang on to the job until the economy gets better and they can get another job.The government is working on a new law to protect the disabled workers called the "Equality Bill" and Parliament is discussing it. People that have been discriminated against are asked to contact their MP and let them know what happened and what could be done to fix the situation. Until this bill is passed into law the disabled will not have the same protections as the able bodied and will have to put up with unsavory managers that take advantage of their situation.

Older population means increasing disability population

ghgeorge — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:58:47 +0000

After many warnings about the rapidly aging baby boomer generation were ignored, insurance companies are stating to deal with increasing disabled populations. Canada is especially seeing these changes because of their medical care system that covers everyone in the population regardless of their age or medical condition. Tests and procedures for the disabled are much more expensive than those for younger populations that typically do not see the doctor except for flu conditions. To offset these additional costs governmental agencies are trying to get the disabled back to work but are running into issues with employers. Many employers do not want to hire someone that is disabled, figuring that the disabled are mentally unable to do any work. Even if the disabled are hired they are typically paid a fraction of an able bodied worker performing the same job. This makes it virtually impossible for the disabled to pay for their own medical care and also feed and clothe their families. Programs were put into place to help the disabled to pay for food and other items but because of the recession, all these programs are running in deficit with some being fazed out because of increased numbers of disabled and no money to help them. Substantial work needs to be done to help the disabled and to help the large number of elderly that are requiring the same programs that the disabled are presently using. There is not enough money for all and Congress has to make more money available or the disabled will be forced to live without medical care or access to a pharmacy. (Source: Topnews)

The medical care bill changes are the least of our problems with an ever increasing disabled population. All these programs are running out of money or are rationing what little money is left. Vocational Rehab which has been helping the disabled get back to work are finding that they can only help those that are presently in the program. Any new people are being put into a queue that may or may not be funded this year or next. So we will have large groups of people that want to get back to work but cannot even talk to a counselor because there is no money to convert cars or put ramps in a home. Decisions have to be made on what will be done to help the disabled and how will funding be increased over time as workers who have been paying taxes over the last 40 years move over to Social Security and disability payments. Somehow we need to get more workers paying into these programs or we will be in deficit. The government has been in deficit for many years and managed to start to pay things off in the 1990s but economic problems have put all these programs in serious trouble.

Many analysts have said that Social Security and Medicare will run out of money by 2030, forcing people into nursing homes or halfway houses to pay the bills. Many of those people will be disabled by that time and will need specialized care if they are remove from their homes. No one knows where the money for those doctors and nurses that can work with the disabled but they must come from somewhere. It is doubtful that the population of the United States will put up with pushing the elderly and disabled on the streets panhandling for money because the governmental programs that were put in place to help them are now of money for good. No one wants to increase taxes but something has to be done or there will be substantial changes that will make the middle class disappear with a divide of services between the super rich and the ever increasing poor population.

Book publishers try to bilk the blind

ghgeorge — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:38:17 +0000

Virtually all American companies tied to publishing books either on paper or electronically are fighting a proposal by the World International Property Organization to allow countries to share books that are in electronic format to be used by the blind. According to to the companies, the sharing of documents amounts to stealing their works even though these works have been paid for and were made available to libraries and other organizations that make them available to the public. The companies further complain that this treaty would diminish existing laws that protect the works from being pirated or otherwise stolen. The proposal would free up thousands of books to millions of blind people for little or no cost. The largest catalog belongs to the Library of Congress which has almost 500,000 titles that are available in universal Daisy format which includes both paper and digital braille. The books have been converted to braille by federal grants and donations and as such the publishers have been paid for their works. However, people cannot access books outside their borders such that bind people in the United States cannot gain access to books in Canada. The treaty would allow the blind to easily access all books that have been converted to braille regardless of where they are located. (Source: Wired Magazine)

It is sad that these companies are fighting to keep books out of the hands of disabled people across the globe. We all know that knowledge is power and that the better educated a person is t he easier time it will be to find a good job or continue in college. By tightly controlling what books are available to the blind, they are deciding what books the blind should read. The individual no longer has control over what materials they have access t, instead large corporations decide that and put whatever price tags for entry on these products so they can control the disabled. The Library of Congress, Google and the Gutenberg Project all pay the publishers to convert the books into electronic format so that they will be available to many people including those using electronic book readers and the blind. Those works are then placed in public libraries so that they are available to everyone. Evidently the book publishers believe that libraries are really large groups involved in stealing all of their works by making them available to everyone without charging them a fee.

The disabled are usually at the bottom of the economic ladder, trying to live off of Social Security Disability payments and eking out a life for themselves and their families. Most do not have money to purchase books at $15-$50 a pop, especially for technical or college texts. By making these available in formats like Daisy the blind can keep up with the latest trends and make themselves useful to the market for jobs. By locking them out of millions of titles available around the world you lock them out of works that everyone who is not disabled can access. This creates a group of underserved that can only access what companies deem they need to read rather than letting the consumers make that decision. What books and literature should we not allow the blind to read? How about the Jewish population or African Americans? Are we hiding books that show how the have been systematically discriminated against? Is this how we keep the disabled from ever moving up the economic food chain?

The fight against allowing people to read what they want is a scary idea that needs to be stopped. The free press needs to publish stories on what is happening to the blind so that advocacy groups can step in to protect the rights of the disabled in the United States and Europe. Wile you finish this article, think about what books you should not be allowed to read by corporate america.

Testify in congress for pain issues

ghgeorge — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:14:48 +0000

Those having to deal with the federal government in the payment or remittance of equipment or services have an excellent idea of the red tape that is involved. For those of us with CRPS, it can be almost impossible to get the governmental people on the other end of the phone to understand. They have a list of what is needed and required, not what you need that ends up being paid for. So you don’t get what you need but rather what they think you need. To help get past these problems the CELA conference is looking for people that have CRPS and are willing to go in front of congress and tell them what you have gone through.

Have you or a loved one been denied Complex Rehab Equipment that would enable a healthier, happier and higher quality of life? Did you know your government is providing reimbursement based on which equipment they think is best for you? Their decisions are not based on what actually is best for your unique medical needs. So basically – you are getting rehab equipment – but what the government feels is appropriate for you. Not what is really best for you to live an independent healthy lifestyle. If this scenario sounds familiar and you would like to get involved and help change the way the government reimburses for Complex Rehab Equipment, go to

http://www.uptilt.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=6do,1afgq,2v1u,g8eb,cbdq,h55k,6y3w

and apply for a Consumer Scholarship to the CELA conference in April 2010. This is an expenses paid trip to Washington, DC where you can tell your story in person to members of Congress on Capitol Hill. Your involvement will help change the government’s perspective for you and others with disabilities. To apply for your CELA expense paid scholarship to Washington, DC go to

http://www.uptilt.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=6do,1afgq,2v1u,g8eb,cbdq,h55k,6y3w

To learn more about CELA 2010 go to

http://www.uptilt.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=6do,1afgq,2v1u,bh0q,f5pm,h55k,6y3w

Royal Bank of Scotland loses disability case

ghgeorge — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:52:10 +0000

In a landmark case that will change the way the disabled are treated in England, an 18 year old man tried to get the bank to modify their entryway so that he could use the bank from his wheelchair. After refusing to fix the problem, David Allen was forced to sue the bank in that the bank violated his rights under the Disability Discrimination Act which states that companies must make reasonable adjustments so that the disabled have the same access as those that are able bodied. The bank fought the case and lost not only this case, but a case that awarded Mr. Allen money and the refusal of moving the case to the Supreme Court. The company said that they had sent a letter saying that the were sorry for the inconvenience but he could do Internet banking from home so they didn’t need to do anything. Mr. Allen did not open an Internet account because he wanted face to face interaction with the bankers and did not want to be a prisoner in his home because the bank would not allow him in to do his banking. Three judges agreed and awarded Mr. Allen money for the violation of his civil rights, the bank has to pay for a ramp fore wheelchairs, and they have to pay for all legal costs. The bank still thinks that the letter they sent explaining how sorry they were was enough and the whole thing was over blown. However, this is a landmark case that will be used by others who have had their civil rights violated by companies that refuse to make their businesses open to the disabled. (Source: Times Online)

It is good to see that bills passed by the government to help the disabled are working as the Americans for Disabilities Act is working in the US. For years the disabled have been forced to live with the fact that the cannot shop or go to restaurants merely because they are in a wheelchair and the company does not want to put in a ramp or elevator. With this act, companies will need to take notice when a disabled person asks for help. It is obvious from the callous remarks by the bank that a mere letter is supposed to make a disabled person feel better that they should really be stuck at home on the Internet instead out with the rest of those that live in society. We are proud that Mr. Allen was courageous enough to take on a large entity as the Royal Bank of Scotland which was money, lawyers, and resources to try and bully these types of lawsuits. Everyone deserves to be out in public and to do everything that an able bodied person could normally do. We can’t stop shopping for food, banking, going to school, work or any of a wide variety of things that all people should have access to.

This case underlines the importance of these acts and laws that protect the disabled from those that hate them and are callous to what it takes to get around in a wheelchair. It is very difficult to get around in a city with a wheelchair only to find that the bank won’t let you in to do your business with them. Large companies in the US must have disability coordinators to work with the disabled so that companies don’t get into situations like this poor gentleman ran into. Lets hope that the disability act in England will be adjusted in the same way so that we don’t have managers and lawyers making stupid decisions merely because they want a interview room or feel that there are not enough disabled customers to make it worthwhile to them. Disabled people put up with enough just in life’s issues with being stuck in a wheelchair and the pain and suffering associated with medical issues without having to deal with idiots that take our money to stay in business. It takes a lot of gall to tell us that you really don’t want us around, but boy keep on sending your money to us.

The notoriety of this case will also let businesses know that if they do not follow the law they will be taken to task and made to do the right thing. The bank as fully willing to go to the Supreme Court so they wouldn’t have to put in a wheelchair ramp. Fortunately the three judges saw through their scam and stopped the case from moving farther up the court chain. This is a good day for those that work hard to help the disabled.

Medicare recipients already dropped

ghgeorge — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:28:55 +0000

For those that have not followed all the reports on the new medical bill making it’s way through the Senate, Medicare recipients are losing doctors, hospitals, and general care right now. My doctors have to be careful which medications that the prescribe because many times the company paid by Medicare will not OK the drug. This is markedly different from standard insurance policies where you go in, talk to the doctor, and get your prescription all without having to beat up the insurance company or fill out all kinds of crazy reports explaining why you need the drug. This of course assumes that you can even get a doctor to see you. Many of us on Medicare are finding out that doctors will simply not see you anymore. It is too expensive to see Medicare patients because the government keeps dropping the amount a doctor is paid to see a patient. So now it is to the point that no one wants to talk to you unless it is in the emergency room. Even there the last thing the hospital wants to do is to admit you. They will do the minimal amount of work necessary to make sure they are not sued for lack of medical care, and then kick you out the door. Many times blood work is pulled but you are still shown the door even if the results will be several days in coming. So you could have something that should be handled in the hospital, but you are tossed out before anyone figures that out. And if something is found what are the chances that the hospital will actually call you back to come in and be admitted? Winning the lottery is looking better all the time. We are all experiencing the healthcare breakdown, but we supposedly are not there. Guess what will happen after the new bill is passed? Not only will general practitioners refuse to see you, but specialists will also show you the door. Insurance companies have forced doctors to change from being healers to small business owners that have to carefully watch the bottom line. They have to be able to pay for nurses, malpractice insurance, equipment and an office. How does that happen if the doctor cannot make money off each patient.

Doctors cannot work like the government – run for years in deficit and then print up new money to pay for the previous losses. They need to be able to pay for bills and salaries as they come in and if they do not get enough money from patients coming in then they have to close down. That is in essence what is happening to the Medicare recipients and local doctors. They cannot afford to take care of us at the rate the federal government pays out so they flat out refuse to see us. So much for the medical coverage handed out by the government. I paid huge sums of money to the tax structure of this country before I was injured. As a software consultant I paid all that was owed so others could be helped and that I would be if something terrible happened. Well that time was three years ago when a hit and run driver ran me down and left me for dead in the street. As a tertraplegic stuck with complex regional pain syndrome I find it all but impossible to hold down a job because I am hospitalised as least once a month for pain or things tied to the pain. The last week of the month is back to back visits to all my doctors so we can figure out how to deal with problems with my spine and infections that are in the bone. So I live off of SSDI and hope and pray that Medicare allows my doctors and hospitals to continue to see me. My pharmaceutical issues would blow most people away and to show how fun things have been I hit the doughnut hole in June, and blew past it in August and am now having Critical Care government payments covering my drugs at 95%. That is until next year when I somehow have to find $2500 to get though the doughnut hole again. I’m hoping my pain doctor can get me on cheaper drugs soon, and that is assuming he will still see me after the new medical bill becomes law.

There are many things to be fixed in our medical system, but the way we are doing it now will guarantee the death of thousands. If we cannot see our doctors and hospitals and get the drugs we need at a rate we can afford, then we might as well throw in the towel and stop pretending that Medicare pays for things. Lets start thinking about how doctors pay for their bills and how they can stay in business and allow Medicare the pay at those rates or we will soon see a time where Medicare is a terrible thing to have to deal with. Here is to our Senate and House members to talk to everyone involved and forget about the insurance companies and lawyers who are killing out medical system. With the bill going through congress we are all running out of time.