Do you feel you have suffered from prejudices?

[Sand&Salt]

Originally Posted by Jezku

me too, Sand...pre ADA, i explained to an interviewer why i answered "No" to the "Do you have a disability that would interfere with your ability to do this job?" for a Library Pager position after graduating from college, with a detailed explanation that my partial facial paralysis was the result of a forceps injury during the birth process. she got up and screamed "You lie!! You lie!! Look in the mirror!!" i didn't know if this response was a way to gauge how an applicant would reply to on-site discrimination, so i did my best to stay poised and professional after that experience, doing whatever else was required of the average job applicant. my father told me "she may have been disappointed that you answered "No" because she wanted to be able to fill that quota for 'brownie points'"
so glad ADA law of 1990 happened because being *perceived* as having a disability is not enough to 'prove' that you have one.

Oh that is really awful, Jez! Unforgiveable and so hurtful!

But let me tell you, it may be "nice" that the ADA exists on paper, but in real life, they are worthless. I was told by an ADA mediator that 95% of cases go to the employer. It is almost impossible to prove.
Been there, know that.

[Jezku]

and a civil service job, too : (
but i've heard enough horror stories from my Dad about how he was treated on his civil service job--he had a back injury and his colleagues tried to harass him for needing to wear a back brace on the job. it wasn't until my mother intervened that the harassment was stopped; he could have suffered worse damage for the pranks they were pulling on him during that period. my sister works a civil service job and her recent brain tumor surgery seemed to bring on workplace abuse from both colleagues and employer from what i've been told. my late fiancé's sudden diagnosis of cancer didn't change how he was treated in the workplace; his employer claimed that "isn't a real emergency" when he was in the hospital. how this whole scenario goes depends on the proactivity of the interviewee/employee, and whether issues of this nature are considered 'worth taking seriously' by employer/workplace. it helps to move on to another job in cases like these, if you can. not "everyone" is like this, and i've been fortunate to find respectful employers who understand the give-and-take benefits of an equal relationship in the workplace.