[nfbwatlk] Re job hunting: an "Inconvenient truth?"

[Elizabeth Rene]

Mike, I note with interest your assertion that blind people are losing the attitude that they have the first responsibility to figure out how to get things done in the workplace.
At the risk of raising a red herring, or sounding like Rush Limbaugh, do you think the concept of "reasonable and necessary accommodation" has contributed to this malaise?
In the early days of the ADA, I began to wonder if my own attitudes weren't shifting.
Putting aside for a minute Washington's own law against discrimination, RCW 49:60, that arguably had provisions stronger than those of the first (unamended) ADA, in the pre-ADA days, I bought my own accommodations, when I could afford them, deferring and definitely the idea of buying a house or taking nice vacations. Very often my employers didn't like the technology I brought in because it didn't necessarily mesh with their's. So I would do each project twice, writing my brief, for instance, then editing it using their system so it could be used as cut and paste material for other lawyers in the office (we all shared each other's work). That meant deep deadline anxiety, late night hours, and obliterated weekends. And sometimes out right writers block, because my draft had to be perfect the first time if I didn't want to write, rewrite, and rewrite with my nose 2 1/2 inches above my desk.
Although the concept of reasonable accommodation was "in the air," it came to the fore with the passage of the ADA. And this was a good thing, because the technology developing was far too expensive for most individuals to buy. For example, my last workstation at the Department of revenue in Olympia in the early 90s cost $57,000 – training included – and it didn't work very well at all. They could almost have given me the money and told me to go away for a year. But I digress.
With the passage of the ADA, responsibilities seem to shift from the blind employee to the employer, to "accommodate" the blind employees disability.
This seemed to set up an adversarial dynamic between employer and employee, with the employer asking self, "can I afford to hire this person?"and what if the technology didn't work, as it sometimes didn't in the early days, and maybe still doesn't sometimes. Poor performance became the employer's responsibility, for failing to provide the right accommodation. Conversely, blind employees, job applicants, and students have had a responsibility to disclose their disabilities and request accommodations, rather than emphasizing their ability to do the job.
We have come to expect "accommodation" as a civil right.
With this I don't decry the ADA. I have benefited from it as has everyone else.
But I think the word "accommodation" has had unintended negative fallout.
Women didn't ask for "accommodation" when we  insisted on gender appropriate bathrooms in the workplace, maternity leave, and equal pay for equal work.
I'm glad that accessibility technology and equal access have begun to seep into American culture as an accepted norm.
But the concept of reasonable  "accommodation" has always made me feel like Tiny Tim.

I think there needs to be a new paradigm – a language shift that truly describes what were striving for without the paternalistic overtones. And, given the evolving technology and advancing neuroscience, I wonder if there isn't some way to tackle barriers that we have long taken for granted: e.g. why does it take us often twice as long or more to do a writing task or take an exam than sighted people?
I don't know the answers here. I'm just raising the question. And I'm all for collaboration, teamwork, and anything else that draws people together rather than isolating individual people with an ethic that forces them to be or appear completely perfect and self-sufficient at risk of seeming "dependent." That "I can do it myself!" stance has had its own negative fallout for blind people, making us seem emotionally brittle and unfriendly to sighted people, and cruelly judgmental of one another.
What I'm trying to suggest here is what every advertiser knows – that language shapes thought and feeling. It communicates self perception and teaches others how to regard the speaker.
As our movement evolves in fellowship with people having other disabilities, I wonder if it isn't time to shake out our language, dust it off, and throw out any outdated words that pinch, have worn thin, or make us feel frumpy?
Does this resonate with anyone?
Thanks.
Elizabeth
 

Elizabeth M René 
Attorney at Law 
WSBA #10710
KCBA #21824 
rene0373 at gmail.com