4 ms·

> Maybe I'm being too pedantic. But honestly, the number of people who genuinely believe that they are entitled to get literally whatever they want however they

> Maybe I'm being too pedantic. But honestly, the number of people who genuinely believe that they are entitled to get literally whatever they want however they want it, regardless of any other factor, simply because of their disability is just astounding. As I said, it's life-threatening, and I can assure you that autonomic dysreflexia is one of the worst feelings that one can go through as a human. This issue is solvable via a basic reasonable accommodation, that I have a right to get. I also have a decent work ethic, and I understand that I am paid to work--and that is the only thing that I should be doing at work. This is about common decency and basic human rights, not about entitlement. The fact that you are conflating the right to use restroom (a basic human need), at a consistent, non-excessive time interval (so that I do not experience a life-threatening state) to be some sort of entitlement is absolutely ridiculous. I hope you are not a lawyer, because if you are, you really need to change your perception around disability related matters. However, I will be mindful about the language I use, so thank you. And no, I would not be looking for some settlement, which would be ridiculous, foolish, and incredibly short-sighted. The issue I am trying to address here, besides the matter of disability rights, is just human decency and respect towards others. Amazon does not exalt such values as a company, but especially so by how it treats its employees.

Loughla 6y ago
>This is about common decency and basic human rights, not about entitlement. The fact that you are conflating the right to use restroom (a basic human need), at a consistent, non-excessive time interval (so that I do not experience a life-threatening state) to be some sort of entitlement is absolutely ridiculous. I really want to be clear. I am not doing that. I am genuinely not saying you are one of those people, and I apologize for my words if that's how it sounded. Your case sounds pretty straight forward - just make sure there's a bathroom somewhere close. My experience is that many individuals in the disability world (keep in mind I work with youth and young adults and their parents/advocates) are very entitled. They believe there are no boundaries on what is an acceptable, and reasonable accommodation. That is what I was getting at. That statement legitimately had nothing to do with you. It was a statement. I get defensive about this because I genuinely get sued three or four times a year for access complaints that are completely unfounded. I am a huge advocate for disability rights, and believe the current system of basic access is inadequate. But I am also sick of being accused of discrimination because I don't treat every individual that I work with like a small doll made of crystal.
- disabled 6y ago
  I’m sorry that you go through this. Next time, I will be more considerate when posting and tone it down. A lot of the issues you mention with young adults is a generational divide in the disabled community: the post-ADA generation and the pre-ADA generation. The post-ADA people never had to truly fight for their rights against people that had true actual contempt against their existence as disabled human beings. On social media, it gets weird. The disabled identity online is completely incongruent with any semblance of a professional life, so if one wants to be successful in real life, it is best to run away from it if you are a disabled person. The disabled culture online scares normal and typical people, and for good reasons: people rage post about the indignities and injustices that they face as human beings on a regular basis. It makes normal people extremely uncomfortable at minimum. I have self-respect so I don’t have social media accounts besides HN and a Reddit account, which I use to assist others. Of course I could post horrible injustices that have occurred to me. But what would that do? Nothing, besides cause outrage. That is the problem right there. The post-ADA generation often does not realize that there are people out there that have absolute contempt just for your existence as a human being, and to win, you have to fight a nasty battle, take the high road, and chances are, you will lose and lose again. Eventually you may win, but you will probably be dragged in the dirt during the whole process. There are consequences but taking risks and doing the right thing ultimately prevail.
  - Loughla 6y ago
    I had the privilege of working with one of the individuals who is featured in one of the iconic protest photos from the 1990 capitol crawl. I'm not as old as this person, and my personal experience with disability, and all of my professional experience are post ADA/AA. Listening to her story about life in the 50's and 60's and her experience with being (in her words) "institutionalized in hell" was just startling. It really put things into perspective for my professional career, and honestly, I can say that one day had more of an impact on my personal and professional trajectory than most other things I've done. It's still socially acceptable to mock and discriminate based on disability. People do it all the time. It's just. I don't know what the word is. Terrible doesn't seem strong enough. It's ridiculous. I don't know that there is a reason for me telling this story, other than to agree with your last sentence. The problem that I've run into, though, is that those individuals who really could make a splash - in my profession (higher ed), these tend to be folks on the autism spectrum who do not fit into stodgy, higher education 'conventional' expectations - do not have the know-how or the tools or the want to make a real flashy impact. They're afraid of social and economic consequences for speaking up. About half of my job is working with these folks to change systems and modify work/study spaces to implement universal design; for me, neuro-atypical universal design is the hardest to pin-down. That's what makes being sued all the time such a pain in the ass. It's always by someone who is self-diagnosed, and someone who leans into the 'perceived' part of disability definition. Maybe I'm getting too in the weeds here. Anyway. Not really sure what the point of all of this was, other than to say, thank you for the discourse. I appreciate it.

Loughla 6y ago

>This is about common decency and basic human rights, not about entitlement. The fact that you are conflating the right to use restroom (a basic human need), at a consistent, non-excessive time interval (so that I do not experience a life-threatening state) to be some sort of entitlement is absolutely ridiculous. I really want to be clear. I am not doing that. I am genuinely not saying you are one of those people, and I apologize for my words if that's how it sounded. Your case sounds pretty straight forward - just make sure there's a bathroom somewhere close. My experience is that many individuals in the disability world (keep in mind I work with youth and young adults and their parents/advocates) are very entitled. They believe there are no boundaries on what is an acceptable, and reasonable accommodation. That is what I was getting at. That statement legitimately had nothing to do with you. It was a statement. I get defensive about this because I genuinely get sued three or four times a year for access complaints that are completely unfounded. I am a huge advocate for disability rights, and believe the current system of basic access is inadequate. But I am also sick of being accused of discrimination because I don't treat every individual that I work with like a small doll made of crystal.

disabled 6y ago
I’m sorry that you go through this. Next time, I will be more considerate when posting and tone it down. A lot of the issues you mention with young adults is a generational divide in the disabled community: the post-ADA generation and the pre-ADA generation. The post-ADA people never had to truly fight for their rights against people that had true actual contempt against their existence as disabled human beings. On social media, it gets weird. The disabled identity online is completely incongruent with any semblance of a professional life, so if one wants to be successful in real life, it is best to run away from it if you are a disabled person. The disabled culture online scares normal and typical people, and for good reasons: people rage post about the indignities and injustices that they face as human beings on a regular basis. It makes normal people extremely uncomfortable at minimum. I have self-respect so I don’t have social media accounts besides HN and a Reddit account, which I use to assist others. Of course I could post horrible injustices that have occurred to me. But what would that do? Nothing, besides cause outrage. That is the problem right there. The post-ADA generation often does not realize that there are people out there that have absolute contempt just for your existence as a human being, and to win, you have to fight a nasty battle, take the high road, and chances are, you will lose and lose again. Eventually you may win, but you will probably be dragged in the dirt during the whole process. There are consequences but taking risks and doing the right thing ultimately prevail.
- Loughla 6y ago
  I had the privilege of working with one of the individuals who is featured in one of the iconic protest photos from the 1990 capitol crawl. I'm not as old as this person, and my personal experience with disability, and all of my professional experience are post ADA/AA. Listening to her story about life in the 50's and 60's and her experience with being (in her words) "institutionalized in hell" was just startling. It really put things into perspective for my professional career, and honestly, I can say that one day had more of an impact on my personal and professional trajectory than most other things I've done. It's still socially acceptable to mock and discriminate based on disability. People do it all the time. It's just. I don't know what the word is. Terrible doesn't seem strong enough. It's ridiculous. I don't know that there is a reason for me telling this story, other than to agree with your last sentence. The problem that I've run into, though, is that those individuals who really could make a splash - in my profession (higher ed), these tend to be folks on the autism spectrum who do not fit into stodgy, higher education 'conventional' expectations - do not have the know-how or the tools or the want to make a real flashy impact. They're afraid of social and economic consequences for speaking up. About half of my job is working with these folks to change systems and modify work/study spaces to implement universal design; for me, neuro-atypical universal design is the hardest to pin-down. That's what makes being sued all the time such a pain in the ass. It's always by someone who is self-diagnosed, and someone who leans into the 'perceived' part of disability definition. Maybe I'm getting too in the weeds here. Anyway. Not really sure what the point of all of this was, other than to say, thank you for the discourse. I appreciate it.