[nfb-talk] Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act

[Michael Hingson]

Paul,

I agree with you, but many of us have encountered many cab drivers who cite
religious reasons for denying blind persons with guide dogs. Anything that
opens a discrimination door is a problem.

While we are protected under the ADA the door is still open. 


Best,


Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul Wick
via nfb-talk
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 1:36 PM
To: Steve Jacobson; NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Steve and Mike,

The issue with the Muslim cabbie and guy dogs would not arise under this law
because disability is already a protected category in Indiana public
accommodations law. 

As an aside; speaking as a Muslim who is not a Guide dog user just to set
the record straight. All the juristic schools in Islam see guide dogs as
permissible animals to be around (analogous to hunting dogs) The
discrimination practiced by many Muslim cabdrivers is cultural not strictly
religious.
Best,
Paul

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 31, 2015, at 1:27 PM, Steve Jacobson via nfb-talk
<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> While there may be some who are all right with this law, I wonder how 
> many people have considered that regulations that require that cabs 
> transport guide dogs probably would not hold under this law.  Further, 
> there are religions that believe people are blind due to sins of past 
> lives and that exposure to such people may risk one's own religious 
> future.  People really need to think carefully about this.  So often, in
an effort to protect one's own perceived religious beliefs, we forget we are
also protecting the beliefs of other religions as well, including those
whose beliefs we do not embrace.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Steve Jacobson
> 
> On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:11:46 -0500, John Heim via nfb-talk wrote:
> 
> 
>> The NFB should issue a statement condemning Indiana's religious 
>> freedom act.
> 
>> I've been discriminated against in my life. I once was  turned down 
>> for a job because the person who did the interview literally would 
>> not believe that a blind person could use a computer. I'd been 
>> working as a programmer and systems administrator for 15 years at 
>> that point. Another time, I actually diagnosed a network problem 
>> during the job interview. I plugged my laptop into the network, ran 
>> some diagnostics, and explained what the problem was right there 
>> during the interview. But I didn't get that job either because they 
>> said part of the job was drawing images for their web site. 
>> Admittedly, It's debatable whether that second example is 
>> discrimination. In fact, I personally would not call it 
>> discrimination but people I've mentioned it to have felt otherwise. 
>> The point is that I know what it's like being turned down for a job 
>> because of something you can't control.  I know what it's like when 
>> that happens to you when you're worried about having health insurance for
your family and making the house payment.
> 
>> I remember coming home from the job interview where I diagnosed the 
>> network problem, dancing around and telling my wife I'd nailed it. I 
>> remember the feeling I got a few days later when she read me the 
>> rejection letter that said they really needed someone who could see. 
>> I said it was their loss and tried to believe it. But we really 
>> needed our health insurance.
> 
>> Now you have a bunch of lawmakers in Indiana telling us it's okay for 
>> someone to turn a person down for a job because they're in a gay 
>> marriage. Most of those lawmakers in Indiana have probably never been 
>> discriminated against in their lives. They don't know what it's like.
> 
>> What they are doing is just wrong. And even if you don't agree, we in 
>> the NFB need to stand  up against discrimination in all of it's forms.
>> This law is intended for use against gays but there's no reason it 
>> can't be used against racial minorities or even disabled people.
> 
>> We have to add our voices to those who have come out against this law. 
>> It's the right thing to do.
> 
> 
>> --
>> John Heim
>> john at johnheim.com
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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