Why I’m Forever Grateful for the American’s with Disabilities Act
My mom is a trailblazer. You probably won't think it if you saw her. She walks a little unsteady and occasionally bumps into things. She doesn't drive but rides a three-wheeled bicycle around the neighborhood with a license plate that reads "Nana's Car." She plays her weekly neighborhood pinochle card game with extra-large playing cards, uses a talking scale and watch, and listens to, rather than reads, all her book club books. My mom does all of this because she is legally blind.
The technical definition for legal blindness is a visual acuity of 20/200 or worse, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less, even with prescription eyewear. You know that large "E" on top of most vision charts? Persons who are legally blind generally can't distinguish that letter, even with prescribed eyewear.
As a nurse for over 40 years, mom supported laboring and postpartum mothers, cared for babies in the neonatal ICU, and researched women's health issues. During the latter half of her career, she started losing her vision. It eventually progressed to the point that she had to switch to a job that utilized her talents in different ways (it's hard to do spinal taps and draw blood when you can't see too well). She left the hospital setting and began working as a triage nurse at a large pediatric practice where she remained until retiring about five years ago.
My mom was able to continue working for many years thanks in part to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which passed in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.
A legally blind diagnosis means that mom is considered a legally protected class under the ADA. When she began losing her vision, the ADA was in its infancy. Many employers (especially small businesses) weren’t well-versed in the policy and didn’t know how to address disabilities in the workplace. For a person who dedicated her entire life to helping others, mom wasn't comfortable when the script was flipped. Asking for help was hard and she hates being the center of attention. But she knew her rights. And with a gentle tenacity, she started paving the way for persons with disabilities in her workplace.
Luckily, the staff at the pediatric office was wonderful. Everyone from the doctors to the nurses watched out for mom, helped her, and most importantly, advocated for her. Through the support of her employer, my mom was able to continue to utilize her talents and serve parents and children for many years. They provided her with reasonable accommodations such as assistive computer programs that enabled her to significantly enlarge the content on the screen, high powered magnifiers to view written text, and a part-time schedule, when needed, to accommodate her eye fatigue.
Our society still has a long way to go in terms of acceptance and inclusion of persons with a disability. And unfortunately, just because something is a law doesn’t mean that it’s always followed. But I am forever grateful for those trailblazers who pushed, and continue to advocate, for the rights of disabled individuals. Thank you.
Here are some additional resources for working with persons who have disabilities: