| Dear White House Administration and those with disabilities in Higher Education - What positive changes have taken place sense fall 2008?
I have never returned to any campus for fear of retaliation. Is it safe to return and can I bring my guns back to my farm so the police cannot make an excuse for "due cause?"
Unlike our Governor Rick Perry who has 24/7 armed security protection paid for by the state, we really do have a Coyote infestation and an occasional rabid animal. A three foot copper head just bit my dog on the nose yesterday before I step on it! Once in a while we have a Private Security Firm creeping around in the dark like lone wolves of terrorism!
Speak Up or Forever Hold Your Peace!
Letters to the White House Administration [edited] by G N O'Dell 04/15/2010
Higher Education ADA regulations have become so overwhelming burdensome that they no longer aid the disabled student with equal access to colleges and universities, which is the original ADA Act legislative intent enforced by the Office of Civil Rights.
If you have had the misfortune of participation in the process, you will have experience retaliation not only from the school that you filed against but the Office of Civil Rights.
If you have the misfortune of living in a succession philosophy state such as Texas, and file a grievance, you will be targeted by Private Security firms funded by the 911 Patriot act for terrorism, and will be investigated as if you are an enemy of the State. The Office of Civil Rights as well, will use of the 911 Patriot Act against you and is an unnecessary expense- a wasteful burden on tax payer. Do I need to mention the consequences of the poor student who is attacked by this type of retaliation for filing an ADA grievance?
"If I ever lose my mouth, all my teeth north and south, I won't have to talk no more!" (Cat Stevens)"
The way it once worked, and it did work much more efficiently, was the right for a student to declare a Handicap to his classroom professor before, or the first few days of class, then the professor could make an assessment concerning the disability and try to find a way the student could complete all the tasks and be honored with the same credit value after completion of the course just like any other student.
Example: A student with an amputated foot should have the right to approach the professor of Physical Education Class and declare his/her handicap and the professor can make an informal assessment by understanding the students impairment and modify the curriculum in a way that would demand more or equal participation that would satisfy the course just as any student with both feet.
After successful completion of the course by the disabled student, credit for the course would hold the same value as any other student.
The way it works now [Fall 2008], the student must register with the department of disabilities, and once that is done, given a visa as if to walk the campus or attend a class, the disabled student is treated as if a foreign national that must show his visa on demand. Prior to 2008, and it may still be a practice, all disabled students registered with the department of disability were considered having a mental illness, even if the disability was/is an amputated foot.
Students should have an opportunity to opt out of college disability registration and declare a handicap with the professor of a particular class without any formalities or repercussions and ensures that the disabled student's diploma at the end of the 4-8 year process has the same value as any other student.
Certainly, there are many cases were the student is dependent on the services of the campus disability office and should use those services and be free to file an ADA grievance, just as a student that has disclosed an informal handicap request to his professor without the fear of retaliation!
The biggest problem that we have seen is there are some students that are severely mentally impaired and could be a danger on campus. There is only one way to solve this problem and that is that every student (each and every one) are required to submit a mental health certification at the time of registration. If birds that do not have wings cannot fly, then it is just a fact of life that those that suffer from mental illness that could be a danger to others should not be registered on a college campus in the first place.
Lastly, a student should be able to by-pass disability campus registration with the disability office by declaring themselves with a handicap and make minor reasonable request such as a chair or those things that are not an overwhelmingly burdensome on the school.
Any person that believes the disabled are protected by the ADA act as if they are no longer mistreated, abused, raped, killed, retaliated, discriminated against, and protected by law are complete fools and I believe the money invested in the DOJ Office of Civil Rights Disability office is a complete waste of funding because it is totally ineffective [As of Fall 2008].
Why do I believe that the DOJ Office of Civil Rights is ineffective [April 2010]? The principles and ideologies where set into place to win the election of George Bush Senior without the consultation of those that are disabled and the appointments to that office and workers should be those suffering by a disabling condition who are by-far the experts in the knowledge of what the DOJ should base their founding principles and ideologies.
Further, the hiring of disabled experts in management positions of the DOJ can rewrite and rebuild a better cost effective program that works and the attorneys assigned to enforce the law would actually represent (work for) the disabled and would be chastised or terminated for trading personal political favors to play down important cases that would make the ADA work like it should.
This same approach can be applied to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; however, I never see anyone with a disability working in these offices; especially in a management or chief directive office of these departments.[In Texas we have one exception but he is an elected official, Greg Abbot Texas Attorney General]
If you cannot get a job in the government organization that writes the laws of affirmative action, how can you expect the private sector to hire the disabled if our government officials do not take the lead and hire these highly qualified experts in the area of the disability concerns, that far exceeds the criteria that is used to hire or appoint to these offices.
Original unedited blog posting by G. N. O'Dell:
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