"If I'm addicted to Valium now, I'm protected under the ADA."

John Stossels' misleading column attacking the Americans With Disabilities Act , complete w/ lies by a "labor lawyer".

Other doozies:

"Once you hire them, you can never fire them. They are lawsuit bombs," http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/JohnStossel/2006/06/07/200198.html

Can you say unemployable? Especially in todays job market.

How many disabled people does ABC news hire? 1 or none?


According to the 2004 National Organization on Disability/Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities:

Only 35 percent of people with disabilities report being employed full or part time, compared to 78 percent of those who do not have disabilities. Three times as many live in poverty with annual household incomes below $15,000 (26 percent versus 9 percent). People with disabilities remain twice as likely to drop out of high school (21percent versus 10 percent). They are twice as likely to have inadequate transportation (31 percent versus 13 percent), and a much higher percentage go without needed health care (18 percent versus 7 percent).

He criticizes the person he's interviewing because they can't immediately answer a highly specific question about the ADA without checking first. Sheesh, when it comes to law, I don't very many people who wouldn't want to check first, to be sure they're right. But Stossel makes it look like the person's a hypocrite for doing so.

And the bit about being addicted to Valium: okay, I don't work with the ADA, but I work with HUD's definition of drug addiction as a disability, and I can say with assurance that a person who is *currently* abusing drugs is not eligible for the HUD assistance I work with; however, a person in treatment for drug addiction *is* considered disabled by HUD. But that appears to be an important distinction being ignored by Stossel. My guess is, the ADA does *not* protect a person who is breaking any law when it comes to abusing drugs. But again that's a distinction too subtle for this jerk to take notice of.

I am not....

Can I go home now mom? I don't like these people.