Janet,
I thought of the same thing, and I do intend to do some legal research
when I get to a law library. I may try to do the research on the internet,
but I am not very comfortable with the internet.
When I was still working and the State of Wisconsin was intent on
making the attorneys computer saavy partially as a means to hold down
secretarial costs (which was odd since we (the attorneys) cost more and the
State was adding "secretarial duties" onto us and then hiring more
attorneys??) We were first trained on Macintoshes, and then we were shifted
to IBM compatibles and windows because the rest of the state government was
using IBM or IBM compatibles and the governor (Tommy Thompson at the time)
did not want the State Public Defender to be the only agency to have
Macintoshes--by the way, $2 million of the people's money was budgeted to
change us over to IBM and the actual cost was over $1million. And there was
no reason for the change.
By this time I was diagnosed, and my boss here in Green Bay was
(overly) concerned about making or providing accommodations for me. I left
my office one day, and when I came back the next day there was a new IBM
compatible on my computer table. I could not get the mouse to work; I could
not get it to click. We were all, attorneys, investigators, paralegals,
secretaries, etc., required to go to these training sessions, and we were
sent to this classroom where we each had our own computer. The teacher and
the instruction materials were provided by a private company, and we were
supposed to follow her as she went through these exercises.
I couldn't click the mouse, and I was holding everybody up, i.e. the
teacher. The investigator from Appleton was next to me, he tried to help me
by opening the program to change the settings on the mouse, he would hold the
mouse and have me click it, he would show me how to use the keyboard commands
rather than the mouse, and then finally he just clicked it so I could stay
with the rest of the class. The teacher did not like any of that; she
complained and complained. I did tell her that I had Parkinson's Disease,
that I had tremors in my hands, and that I could not work this mouse. This
woman is prowling around behind me, complaining; she is prowling around all
the rows, but more and more she comes to stand behind me. I am not saying a
word, I am very, very stressed and she is angry, and I do not understand why
she is so angry, but I know she is angry and she is escalating. She is
getting angrier and angrier, and she does not like it that I, and now the
other people in the room, my co-workers, are saying to her that I can't work
the mouse because I have this disability. She stands behind me and she
starts to yell. I can't move even if I wanted to, and I am afraid, I am
afraid that she is going to be violent, I am closest to her and I am her
target. We have three investigators in our region, and they are all former
police officers; all three came over and pushed themselves between her and
me. I am busy thanking God. And she is busy still yelling at them, yelling
and yelling at them and at me.
I don't remember very much after that: my investigators got me outside
and sent me to have lunch. All of us, sans the teacher, have lunch together.
Everybody is very supportive and protective of me. I do notice that people
are making phone calls, lots of phone calls, and having conversations away
from the table. I do not want to go back to that room, but I am basicly
given a direct order to go back. I am flanked by the investigators, they
give me a computer by the door, one of them produces a powerball, hooks it
up in place of the mouse, and helps me until I can get it to click. I am now
ready. The teacher is not there, and she does not come. We have a new
teacher. Somehow the people in my region over lunch contacted Madison and
Madison contacted the private company and the company discharged the teacher:
Wow! Who says state government does not work. Her behavior was described
and It was mentioned that she had anger issues, and that there had been
complaints about her from the training sessions in other regions, but the
official reason for her discharge was discrimination based upon disability or
handicap during the training session in Green Bay.
* * * * * * * *
* * * *
I thought that part of the problem I had in using the computer was the
size of the keys on the keyboard: I hit the wrong keys. my fingers slide off
the right key and hit something else, etc. Some days it is o.k., but other
days, I can't type anything. Calculators and telephones have big numbers; I
thought there naturally should be keyboards with big keys. My investigator
did a search of the internet and all he could find was this weblike thing
which held the keys but there was no difference in the size. I called
several companies, and the reaction was mean and/or derisive: like who would
want that or need that? One guy said that the keyboard was a standard size
and that, if the size of the keys were changed, the whole thing would have to
be changed. I said why not, why not make the keyboard bigger. The guy says
you, the handicapped person, would not be able to use it because it would be
too big and too far for your fingers to go. Yah? I don't think so. We
could try it.
Once it was established that the keyboard was standard, I started to
ask what type of accommodations these companies could make for me or provide
for me so that it would be easier for me to use the computer: the answer was
always none in the end. When I shopped around for my own personal computer
last year, I did not care about gigabites and all that stuff, I asked about
accommodations for disabled/handicapped people, my big key question--and the
answer was still none, no accommodations. And I thought this was so strange,
that these companies should have a responsibility, maybe even a legal
responsibility, to provide accommodations for us. I don't see why the ADA
and other laws cannot be stretched to cover the issues you have raised Janet.
And, at some point, I will research this, and I will let you know what I
find, what I decide. This is longer than I intended--I have to leave soon to
go to my mom's house for Easter or she will send out a posse, Happy Easter,
Happy Chocolate, Katie
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