Return to Home PageThank you very much, Dr. [Marc] Maurer [President], for that kind introduction. And thank you for the wonderful work that the National Federation of the Blind has been doing under your leadership.
When I last stood before this convention in 1991, then as Director of the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Congress had recently passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many of us were filled with hope that the greatest piece of civil rights legislation since Title VII would, in a sweeping and permanent fashion, stamp out discrimination and bring people with all types of disabilities into gainful employment.
I remember, too, that there was a palpable skepticism within this organization about whether the new law would really benefit blind people. Some were afraid that the ADA might have a chilling effect on employment by leading to increased paternalism, fears about the costs of reasonable accommodation, and worries about the possibility of litigation.
Today, some are still, understandably, skeptical. Critics point to the nearly seventy percent unemployment rate that persists not only among people with blindness, but individuals with severe disabilities in general. You may feel that the law has not achieved its intended purpose. Or, you may support the ADA but believe that the federal government has not effectively implemented or enforced it.
I'd like to let you in on a little secret: I, too, often feel frustrated with the pace of progress. I'm not satisfied with rhetoric. I want hard evidence that Title I has made a difference in the lives of real men and women with disabilities. I want to see the unemployment rate plummet and know, without a doubt, that widespread underemployment is in the past.
But here's the reality: A problem of such magnitude which has persisted for decades cannot be solved in just a few short years. Passage of a federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities paved the way for further progress, but the ADA is only the center piece in a large jigsaw puzzle.
Perhaps the generations born in this new millennium, when they grow up, will think it remarkable that at one time it was actually legal to discriminate against a person just because he or she was blind. In the meantime, we still have a lot of work to do.
This month marks the anniversary of the ADA's passage, an opportune time to assess the EEOC's record in enforcing the employment rights of blind people. I believe that we have done well . . . but we must do better.
In assessing our efforts to date, how should we respond to the argument that a continuing high unemployment rate among people with severe disabilities means that the ADA is not working? To answer this question, we first have to acknowledge that a complex set of factors leads to high unemployment among people with disabilities lack of access to technology and transportation; federal benefits laws that served as disincentives to work; lack of quality education and training and, yes, outright discrimination.
Employment discrimination against people with disabilities, in turn, is also complex. Sometimes it stems from deliberate actions, or apathy, demonstrated by managers. But just as often, discrimination is born of ignorance, misunderstandings, and even misdirected good intentions. As the NFB has said for more than sixty years through leaders from Jacobus tenBroek, to Kenneth Jernigan, to Marc Maurer with proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to the level of a mere nuisance; the real problem with blindness is not the blindness itself, but the attitudes and misunderstandings about it.
At EEOC, we have been working hard to change these attitudes sometimes one person at a time.
Since 1992, when Title I of the ADA first became effective, the EEOC has received more than 175,000 charges alleging discrimination on the basis of disability. Of these, nearly three percent have been filed by individuals with vision impairments. Without ever going to court, EEOC has been able to resolve more than 4,500 of these charges by obtaining, in addition to jobs, monetary relief totaling almost 10 million dollars.
In other cases, the Commission's enforcement efforts on behalf of blind people have been unsuccessful, forcing us to use our litigation authority.
For example, in January of this year, we settled a case against Sears on behalf of an individual who was denied assistive technology to perform his job as a credit collections specialist. The man received $125,000 in monetary relief and Sears is now required to provide training on the ADA, including the rights of individuals who are blind, at its credit collections facility in North Carolina. Our Denver District Office is currently litigating a similar claim against a different employer.
EEOC currently has another lawsuit pending on behalf of a blind man who was denied a reader to take an employment test. Though the applicant told the employer that his Braille skills were not strong, the employer insisted that he take the test in Braille. The employer then denied this man the job, saying he had taken too long to complete the test.
I know how important Braille is to blind people, and that with proper training, it can be read as efficiently as print. All of us in this room also recognize, however, that not all blind people have received adequate training to use Braille. The ADA requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodations so that an employment test measures what the person with a disability actually knows, not the person's limitations. In this case, the employer failed to do that.
Each of these individual efforts helps to promote greater acceptance and understanding of blindness in the workplace. But the ADA has had a wider impact on business as well. Recent studies have revealed that the vast majority of employers are aware of and support the goals of the ADA. More than ever before, they understand at least in an abstract way that most people with disabilities can and want to work. Most employers now think of reasonable accommodations as part of their everyday business practices. And EEOC's ongoing outreach efforts tell us that many, many employers make voluntary efforts to learn more about compliance with the law. So it is clear that we must focus on moving beyond progressive attitudes to progressive practices.
During his first 10 days in office, President Bush announced the New Freedom Initiative to bring individuals with disabilities more fully into all aspects of American life. Recognizing that discrimination against people with disabilities is a complex problem, the President has called for increased funding for the Department of Transportation, swift implementation of the Social Security Administration's "ticket to work" program, and for economic incentives to address the lack of access that many people with disabilities encounter when it comes to assistive technology.
The EEOC has taken a lead role in fulfilling the commitment of the New Freedom Initiative. Rather than repeat or continue past efforts that have not shown results, we wanted to think outside the box. All indications are that businesses should be hiring more people with disabilities and yet, they're not. So we thought carefully about where the gaps and disconnects exist.
We recognized that small businesses the fastest-growing sector of the business community and the source of most jobs in this country usually lack on-staff and EEO expertise. We developed a series of free workshops for businesses with between fifteen and one hundred employees on their responsibilities under the ADA and the benefits of hiring people with disabilities.
Designed for the small business owner who does not have a lot of time to invest, these interactive workshops last from two to three hours, are customized to the needs of each audience, and provide information in layman's terms. We also provide information about tax incentives for hiring and retaining qualified people with disabilities. Though these incentives have been available for more than a decade, they have been a well-kept secret. To date, EEOC has conducted more than forty workshops in cities around the nation.
Last summer, EEOC issued a free publication entitled The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Primer for Small Business. If we charged for it, I would say it is a best-seller! In October, we ordered 10,000 copies for our Publications Distribution Center, and by December, we had to order another 10,000. The Primer is also available on our web site, where it has received more than sixty thousand hits to date.
To be effective, strategies aimed at enhancing the employment of the blind must be in synch with emerging issues of the twenty-first century workplace especially those which are technology-driven. For example, I think an absolutely critical issue for blind people is the accessibility of on-line recruiting and application processes that most employers in this country now use. I applaud the NFB's efforts, under Title III of the ADA, to fight for Internet accessibility. The question for EEOC is whether Title I imposes similar obligations on employers.
The impact of technological changes in the workplace on the blind also cannot be ignored. I have heard about blind individuals who were successfully employed until technological changes made it impossible for them to do their jobs effectively. We must give serious thought to the impact on technological changes in the workplace that may erect new barriers for blind people, even as they purport to remove old barriers for everyone else.
I know that some of your members have been speaking with EEOC staff about issues such as accessible technology and the treatment of blind employees in sheltered workshops. We thank you for bringing these issues to us, because, as the world's largest organized group of blind people, no one knows the issues better than you do. We also need you to file charges with us when you believe that you have experienced discrimination. EEOC cannot right a wrong if we don't know about it.
In closing, I have a question for all of you, and please be honest. How many of you believe that if you have a problem related to employment, the EEOC is the last place you want to go? I know that there is a misperception out there that EEOC is unapproachable. We need to work harder to change this image.
To that end, and consistent with our outreach efforts under the New Freedom Initiative, I want to strengthen our relationships with organizations of and for people with disabilities. I believe that EEOC's relationships with these organizations are stronger now than they have been in a long time, and they are getting even better. For example, earlier this year we began a collaboration with the American Diabetes Association that is expected to lead to a number of tangible results, including issuance of a fact sheet to educate the public about the rights of people with diabetes under the ADA. We are also working with the National Council on Disability to issue technical assistance on the rights of people with disabilities when using mediation as a form of alternative dispute resolution.
Please join me in this spirit of partnership. EEOC is looking for opportunities to make presentations, conduct workshops, and just answer questions at your conventions and gatherings nationally and at the state and local levels. Most importantly, though we need to hear from you suggestions for concrete initiatives that EEOC can undertake to enhance employment opportunities for the blind of this nation. There are many open questions that EEOC cannot and should not answer on our own.
Thank you.
This page was last modified on July 8, 2003.