[NAGDU] Agency complaint failure

Sun Feb 21 01:36:28 UTC 2021

Peter,

Thanks for your post. I agree with you all around. Your treatment by the state was most disappointing. It continues to show, however, that we must advocate for ourselves and that we must find more effective ways to do so.

Best Regards,

Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU On Behalf Of Peter Wolf via NAGDU
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 4:09 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Peter Wolf <pwolf1 at wolfskills.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] Agency complaint failure

Hi friends,

This is the story of filing a discrimination complaint in response to discrimination.   Now that it is over I will tell you what happened, and what I learned from it in case it may be helpful for you in the future.  

About 2 years ago, I was rejected from an Arco AM/PM store with my service dog.  

It happened immediately upon entry, as I asked to use the public bathroom, and planned then to make a purchase.   The clerk said quote, no, no dog, no bathroom.  He asked for my dog’s certification papers.  I responded appropriately that by federal law, certification is not required, this is a service dog for vision impairment, and that if he might notice, my dog was also wearing clearly labeled service dog equipment.  (She also wears a visible blue service tag issued by the county with her licence tags).  He escalated from there through several exchanges in which I attempted to encourage him to reason.  Utimately, I stated that if this continued further, it would be necessary to call the police to enforce the law against discrimination.  After he voiced disregard for the law, told me again to leave, and and told me to go ahead and call the police, I left the business and did so. I filed a police report there, from the parking lot.  

I followed up by submitting a complaint to the DOJ that week. After some months, I got a letter from them, stating, essentially, thank you for filing a complaint.  We get a lot of them.  We are busy. Sorry, we can't help you.

With some referral help from NAGDU leadership, I initiated a complaint with the California Department of fair housing and employment. This is the agency that would handle a complaint like this for either a housing problem, or misbehavior like that, which I encountered at a business.  For this process, they wanted a complete write up of the incident. I produced that, and of course the reference to the police report number. I answered whatever other questions they had. The person initlally handling my claim was nice, communicative, and seemed to be informative and effective.  

later I received a form letter stating, thank you for submitting your complaint… This process will have approximately a one year wait to initiate.  You will be contacted for a phone appointment (many months later).  When the date rolled up on calendar I was not contacted. So I contacted this agent. She did follow-up, and I did end up having that phone interview appointment in the months again that followed.  In it, we went over what happened, and, I was told it would go to investigation…And, that (this) process…would take another year.  

My goal was for the agency to force the business to correct discriminatory behavior.  To my surprise, the agency informed me that while this was an acceptable goal, a defendant would also likely be imposed a fine, which would be paid to the submitter of the complaint.  As nice as that was to learn, my main goal was twofold.  I wanted the behavior of the business to be curtailed.  Secondly, I recognized how I felt personally, in response to the incident itself.  I don’t know anyone who likes rejection.  A felt response to discrimination is unpleasant, but it wouldn't kill me.  Secondarily however, what if a person who had some form of psychological or other disability in which they lived in a more vulnerable, perhaps thinner-skinned operating state, was subjected to the same situation?  I have known folks personally, for example, who live in wheelchairs, and who have to do a remarkable amount of work (either through an attendant, or using assistive tech to type, scan, then project a synthesized voice from it through neurological conditions), simply to communicate.  That’s not exactly the kind of “set” from which to think on the feet, then immediately respond as in “Quit it or I’ll have to call the cops” and, avoid feeling crushed or perhaps abused from the experience.  I knew that once I left the business, I could certainly go somewhere else to find a bathroom, buy that bar of chocolate, and not look back. in light of the experience and then the cosideration about others, it made doing the work to submit a complaint seem all the more appropriate.

So, back to the agency.  In the following year, I finally received the follow up.  They closed the case, citing insufficient evidence.  After tens of hours I had spent initiating, writing, substantiating, reviewing and resubmitting, phoning, etc., I saw no reason to respond to a ten day window to appeal the case.  What would be different?  I called the two agents with whom I had worked and asked ( and I quote):  What is necessary to have a complaint be effective, to change a business's discriminatory behavior - do I have to live with camera crew?  At that, made the decision not to waste any more time and, let it drop.   

I learned two things from this two year process.  The first was, no matter what, be awake and do the right thing.  I at least felt clear in my conscience that I had taken the most appropriate action to document, follow through, and communicate to make it public, even if the end result wasn’t effective.

I learned that no one is going to take care of me, just because I might want to make a situation accountable personally, or hold a more considerate goal than a personal one.  It meant that perhaps someday in my life, I might just happen to be standing somewhere where an injustice happens, where I could be proactive in the best way I can in the here an now to help someone if not just myself.   This might mean, for example, calling for law enforcement immediately, right then and there, before a discriminatory conversation gets any further, such as before walking out of the business.  

And finally, in regard insufficient evidence:   As I have learned from observing the recent public video documentations of discrimination, which are uncountable in our current society, it seems that perhaps the only way if caught alone facing descrimination, and be able to address it, is to actively document it, hard data.   I don’t have a phone on me all the time.  Perhaps I’ll change that.  How much better and quickly can a vision impared person (or anoher affecting disability),  activate and make video, so that hard evidence can be provided?

This incident, and time wasted in dealing with agencies, has been disappointing.  I mean, in the sense of knowing that if I want more of a surety of addressing injustice of discrimination, should it happen in the future, then I might go forward having a portion of my mental real estate occupied by a degree of mistrust for others’ behavior.  

What I take away from this is that I won’t do that to myself.  I have learned that whether through an Uber rejection (been there), this discrimination event, or whatever else, always hold to high ground and live as awake as possible.  Crap happens sometimes.  Don’t waste time and consciousness dwelling on how to deal with it again.  Just keep learning to live more and more awake and perhaps it will get easier to roll with what comes.  The NFB slogan cites inconvenience, rendering it more positive than the alternative.  If I adapt and twist it to this situation, like sometimes, whoops, dumping too much pepper into tonight’s stew, there may be nothing (and no agency) that can make it taste better when it happens.  An inconvenience.  But in how I share with you, friends, I hope you also take something good from this,  Sometimes the meal has an inconvenient taste… Keep going, and keep working to be better.  That’s what I walk away with.  

Peter

Connecting With the Wisdom of the Earth
Executive & individual coaching, consultation, and nature-based facilitation www. Wolf Leadership Institute . com 707. 829 - 0776

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