[nfbcs] Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against Disabled

[John G Heim]

I am ashamed to admit that at the time, I didn't know the EEOC existed.  
Even today, I know next to nothing about it and how it can help. I 
thought my only course of action was to get a lawyer and sue. I did call 
several lawyers and they all refused to take the case. They said I had 
had incurred no damages and therefore there was no money in it.

On 03/10/2016 10:42 AM, Gregory Kearney via nfbcs wrote:
> Did any of you file a complaint with the EEOC about these events. In particular I am thinking of the last one which would, from the account, seem to be a public service employer?
>
> Commonwealth Braille & Talking Book Cooperative
> Greg Kearney, General Manager
> #320, 185-911 Yates Street
> Victoria, BC V8V 4Y9
> CANADA
> Email: info at cbtbc.org
> Web: www.cbtbc.org
>
> U.S. Address
> 21908 Almaden Av.
> Cupertino, CA 95014
> UNITED STATES
> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
> Phone: +1 408-780-6535
>
>> On Mar 10, 2016, at 8:33 AM, Daryl Marie via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> I once interviewed for a job  where the hiring manager told me flat-out that she wouldn't consider me. She told me I couldn't possibly be fast enough on a computer to be able to respond to emergencies appropriately. No matter that I have emergency dispatcher training...
>> Nothing I said or did would have changed her mind, and she flat-out told me that.
>> As bleak as this article and our own experiences have proven things to be as it comes to hiring workers with disabilities, IMHO, I would rather be unemployed than work for an organization that doesn't respect me as a person. I just got out of a REALLY BAD job situation, and I fully believe that. I never thought I would feel that way, but life with blindness can sometimes be hard, but you truly do need a cheerleading squad behind you, even if it's just one person telling you you CAN.
>>
>> Daryl
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Tracy Carcione via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
>> Sent: Thu, 10 Mar 2016 09:10:20 -0700 (MST)
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against	Disabled
>>
>> I once interviewed for a job, taking a bus, a train, and walking several
>> blocks in Manhattan, only to find the interviewer could not be convinced I
>> wouldn't need someone to lead me to the bathroom. Grrrr.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G Heim via
>> nfbcs
>> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 11:03 AM
>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>> Cc: John G Heim
>> Subject: [nfbcs] Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against Disabled
>>
>> http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/upshot/fake-cover-letters-expose-discri
>> mination-against-disabled.html
>>
>> I think I have talked on this list about wanting to commission a study
>> similar to the one mentioned in this article except with a blind applicant
>> applying for IT jobs. The study has people with spinal injuries and
>> Asperger's Syndrome applying for accounting jobs. They found disabled
>> applicants were 26% less likely to get a call back. Of particular interest
>> are some of the comments.
>>
>> "Given two candidates of roughly equal qualifications the rational decision
>> would be to hire the one without disabilities. It's going to be less
>> expensive, on average . [...] So statistically, a disabled job applicant
>> would need to be sufficiently better qualified for the job to overcome the
>> disability to be the 'correct' choice."
>>
>> Long time readers of this list will know I've speculated about this effect
>> for years. My guess is that this factor is much greater for blind applicants
>> than it is for the types of disabilities in the study. A blind person does,
>> in fact, have greater challenges to over come. But I suspect that even worse
>> is the lack of understanding about just how much a blind technologist can
>> do. A perspective employer once flatly refused to interview me when she saw
>> that I was blind. She essentially accused me of faking my resume and simply
>> would not believe a blind person could use a computer.
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
--
John G. Heim; jheim at math.wisc.edu; sip://jheim@sip.linphone.org