[nabs-l] Discrimination at workplace and how to deal with it

Fri Jan 20 00:04:19 UTC 2017

That was a rude e-mail.  It could have just been an ignorant supervisor and
not a student, but I don't know.  Do you know for sure that was a student?
Either way, is discriminatory and demeaning.  Now, if reasonable
accommodations have been made to their fullest extent, and no more can be
made for you to do another job, then they have to show that. 

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alana Leonhardy
via NABS-L
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2017 3:29 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Alana Leonhardy <alana.leonhardy at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Discrimination at workplace and how to deal with it

Hello there,
If you don't want to file a Title IX complaint, I can thino of a few things
you could do instead. The email this student sent you basically says that if
you want to continue working where you are working, you have no choice but
to do nothing but dishes, even though other students can do other things.
You could forward a copy of that email to the student's supervisor with an
explanetory message of your own,, depending upon how your relationship with
your disability support services is you could talk to them, I don't know
what department in the university the dining room staff falls under, but you
could contact the dean of students since this is a fellow university student
as well as a university employee. Your university should have an ombutsman,
who you can talk to about this without having to file an official complaint,
this person will obviously have a better idea of how things are organized
and who you need to talk to than I do. Whatever you choose to do, the email
that you have recieved is damning and should be quite useful for you, hold
on to it as well as any further communications you receive on this matter. 
Alana 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 19, 2017, at 10:56, Zachary N. Griego-Dreicer via NABS-L
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi JJ nice to hear from you! Hope your semester has started out well.
>   Students are given most of the jobs of the dining hall actually. They
are given anything from dish room to server at many stations or chef's
assistant or are placed on the salad station etc. Some students apply to be
in the position of manager so they oversee the other students and help out
where necessary. The text I copied and pasted was from 1 such student, who
also deals with employment of all students.   The dish room doesn't have
very many challenges, and given the right training any student regardless of
disability can work any station (Managers do training for other employees
who are students. I know the dining hall like the back of my hand and would
only need training to work at each station. ) 
> Sent from my Macbook Pro 13
> 
>> On Jan 19, 2017, at 10:08, johnnie Jean duran <johnniejduran at gmail.com>
wrote:
>> 
>> I wasn't given quite enough information to thoroughly examine the 
>> situation. Although this is absolutely NOT ok, under any circumstance.
>> it's important to remember that when dealing with schools/colleges, 
>> that they are not willing to be responsible for any incident that 
>> takes place within their facilities. They have difficulties letting 
>> students with total vision complete these jobs, so of course they are 
>> absolutely terrified when they see a student with a visual impairment 
>> coming in. Once again, this isn't ok, but at the end of the day, 
>> whether they are an equal opportunity employer or not, they will not 
>> do anything that has a possible outcome of a  lawsuit or a hospital 
>> bill. But before I can give you my opinion on how the situation 
>> should be handled, I have several questions for you:
>> 1. Are there any possible safety hazards regarding the dish room that 
>> you can think of, just off the top of your head?
>> 2. Do the other students switch jobs often?
>> 3. If yes, how does the system of who does what work?
>> 3. What are some of the other jobs and responsibilities?
>> 4. Do you know the dining hall well enough so that someone doesn't 
>> have to navegate around it with you for the entire shift? (I'm pretty 
>> sure the answer to this is yes, but I just thought I'd ask)
>> 
>>> On 1/18/17, Zachary N. Griego-Dreicer via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
>>> Hi, thank you for your responses to my initial discrimination 
>>> question, I definitely feel that this paragraph I received via email 
>>> from one of my managers last week at The dining hall where I work 
>>> disallows  me from performing jobs that many other student employees 
>>> are responsible for, leaving me always with the dishes. I really 
>>> like the people I work with and would rather not relocate even if 
>>> it's to another dining hall because this dining hall is right near 
>>> my residence hall at school. One of my friends that works with me 
>>> has talked with me about this and thinks that the managers have not 
>>> dealt with very many people with disabilities before, but this 
>>> university is an equal opportunity employer which does not 
>>> discriminate based on anything. Or so they  claim. I've tried 
>>> approaching this particular manager as well as others to discuss 
>>> both in person and in  email, but getting pretty much the same response
as below. Additionally, I realize that people at my school would be
obligated to file an additional title IX
>>> complaint or whatever complaint this would be   with the affirmative
action
>>> because of this if it was gotten ahold of, which means that I would be
>>> involved in 2   title IX complaint simultaneously. I really enjoy
working at
>>> the dining hall to, and would rather not move. How do you guys think 
>>> would be the best way to resolve this so I can remain employed there 
>>> but with the ability to work at different stations other than the 
>>> dishes? The paragraph reads as follows (Employee names I edited out):
>>> Zach, while we all know you are very capable, we do not have other 
>>> positions we are comfortable putting you in. We understand you 
>>> worked with someone else at Dining room attendant one night, which 
>>> is great as extra help but we can't have someone chauffeuring you 
>>> around the entire shift. Similarly, with the positions as cooks 
>>> assistants much of these jobs are not supervised and require a lot 
>>> of moving around and dealing with dangerous materials. If you want 
>>> to continue working here your shifts will continue to be in the dish
room.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone 7 Using VoiceOver 
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Ms. Johnnie Jean Duran
>> http://www.gofundme.com/jjd-grad-fund
>> Secretary
>> North Metro Chapter
>> http://www.facebook.com/northmetrochapter
>> &
>> Secretary
>> Colorado Association of Blind Students (CABS)
>> http://www.facebook.com/cobs2014
>> http://www.twitter.com/cabslink
>> National Federation of the Blind of Colorado (NFBCO) 
>> http://www.nfbco.org 11th Grade John F. Kennedy High School Denver, 
>> Colorado
>> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/missjjd99
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> 
> 
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