Government

When A Majority Of America Is ‘Disabled,’ Will We All Get Better Parking?

Guilty until proven innocent.

Does that sound like a good idea?  Of course not, and yet businesses may be faced with just such a reality unless Congress steps in and stops the proposed changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act before the new rules take effect May 24th of this year.

According to various estimates, we already have as many as 40-50 million Americans currently qualifying as disabled and that requires their employers to make certain accommodations so these disabled persons can function in the workplace. Additionally, there are countless government programs, costing billions of dollars annually, built to support and assist people who genuinely require assistance.

Protecting and enabling Americans with various challenges, and helping them contribute to our society is a worthy cause indeed and these laws were written to assist a small minority among us with a legitimate need. But what does it say when the rules are changed to the point at which a majority of Americans can now be considered disabled?  What will be the financial and social implications of a country where most of it‘s people are officially labeled as ’disabled?’

A Fox News story on these changes has brought to light some surprising realities that should concern all of us;

Although the new regulations cannot classify any condition as a disability per se, there is a list of maladies that will be viewed that way “in virtually all cases.” The list includes: autism, diabetes, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Overall, lawyers for employers say the regulations shift the burden of proof in disability claims.

They say that employers will now have to show why a worker doesn’t require special accommodations, rather than employees proving that the measures are merited.

“It‘s going to be very difficult for employers to argue in just about any case that an employee is exaggerating their disability or that the person isn’t genuinely disabled,” McGlothlen said. (McGlothen is an attorney representing employers in ADA cases)

There are those who would argue that the ADA has done more harm than good.  Meet Greg Perry, an author of more than seventy books, seen here on Penn & Teller‘s HBO debunking TV program called ’Bullsh*t’:

A brilliant quote – ‘Coercion never produces compassion.‘ Perry’s points are valid and he is a great example of someone with physical challenges succeeding because he wanted to succeed, not because a government program.

Comments (70)

1 2
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 3:28pm

    Voting for the same old representation that has given us enhanced ghettos and zero tax base should qualify as a mental disability.. Does this force the employer to put in a crack house?

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
  • RightPolitically
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:52pm

    Disabled parking spaces are a big scam. Like most every other ideas put forth by politicians, it is a corrupted mess. Political skills by people faking disabilities is all it takes to get a little blue card to hang from one’s car mirror. And as usual, the lying, whining cry-baby liberals are first in line for theirs. SCAM CITY!

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
  • TheShocker
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:38pm

    The Big Government/Welfare/Warfare state is not salvageable. The ADA, welfare payments, food stamps, unemployment benefits, government employee benefits and pensions, wars for oil, wars for empire, humanitarian wars, unsustainable debt, on and on and on.

    Cloward and Piven, overwhelm the system, two can play that game. Starve the beast, jump on the wagon, just be ready when the wheels fall off.

    Report Post »  
  • barackem
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:37pm

    Amen. The same can be said of hiring practices that came out of the civil rights movement. People are now afraid to put themselves in the cross hairs of the federal government by hiring a ‘protected’ minority. It is much easier to fly under the radar by not hiring a minority in the first place rather than take the chance of having to fire someone who can then go to the government and complain they were fired because of their race. It makes no difference to the blowhard politicians who care more about looking compassionate than actually creating a society that is compassionate.

    Report Post »  
  • brntout
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:19pm

    And to think the A.M.A added alchoholics to the list of diseases.Oh wait they need not apply because they shouldn’t be behind the wheel unless sober.

    Report Post »  
  • MrTW
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:15pm

    The ADA attempted to force developers to build more Handicap Rental units. So they set the law that any building of 7 or more units one would have to be Handicap. So the builders went to Four plex buildings to avoid the new requirement and therefore fewer handicap units were built. Then the ADA had our law changed to force us to build one handicap unit in a building of 4 units or more so the builders went to 2 unit buildings and fewer handicap units were being built yet again.

    Remember the ADA is a government agency whose sole purpose is self preservation. I agree that if there is a market for handicap units then they will be built and besides it is good for business and it is the right thing to do. But all the government regs have done is make for fewer handicap units on the market.

    Report Post »  
  • IsleOracle
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:04pm

    People with real disabilities and groups that support them need to speak out against this watering down of the disability definition change and the types being included in the bill. There is already a waiting period for people with disabilities to receive help from their various states (Medicade – TX, FL, CO, etc.). When these “new” disabilities are added there will be even less help available.

    Our budget is upside down from the local to federal level when it comes to prioritizing spending.
    At the top of the list should be funds for the people in our society that need assistance due to both physical and mental handicaps…. then we can consider the other services and tasks that deserve tax payer dollars.

    The Bush Presidents (H & W) in concert with the legislature did a great deal to insure our country’s disabled people are treated with respect and dignity; and, they can be dependent on government programs to supply them with the resources they need in their daily lives along with a path to self sufficiency.

    This new direction should be carefully considered before being enacted…. the impact on the currently defined disabled will be disasterous. It will be filtered down into the elementry school level and propagate up to the work place – all of which will become weighted down with the burden of the costs.

    Will the healthy, functioning, and self-sufficient among us suffer? NO!
    Will more monies be allocated to account to the swelling numbers of disabled? NO!
    Just the disabled will be faced with further sufferring.
    Where is our kindness and charity?

    Report Post » IsleOracle  
  • ares338
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:03pm

    It took me 5 years of filling out form after form. I used lawyers at first but I quickly saw that was a joke. I finally just did it on my own. I would much rather still be working.

    Report Post » ares338  
    • IowaWoman
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:38pm

      That is sad news to me. I have liver cancer, diabetes, Fibromyalgia (from liver treatments), Rheumatoid arthritis (also from the cancer treatments). The last two finally did me in. I am in constant pain and exhausted 90% of the time. I just quit my job last week, I just could not do it any more. I can not say I will be alive in five years. I don’t think I shall have a problem getting my doctors to sign. I have worked 40 years, never collecting unemployment, welfare, or food stamps. From what you say it appears I shall have paid into SS for 40 years and will receive nothing back. I don’t think I shall have a problem getting my doctors to sign.

      Report Post » IowaWoman  
    • razeus1
      Posted on April 1, 2011 at 5:34am

      wow…5 yrs!! I applied and was approved in under 1 yr! I had yrs of documentation to prove the deterioration CMT has caused me physically. I would give almost anything to be able to work!!!!!!
      I just
      Don’t understand how anyone could live “comfortably” on Disability $ or work comp $, It just doesn’t amount to that much! I must have missed that meeting on how to get free or next to free aide or $$!
      Not that I would take it unless absolutely necessary “cause I always think someone else is worse off than me……”there, but for the Grace of God, go I”

      Report Post » razeus1  
  • momprayn
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:58pm

    Yes – not good. The innocents seem to always have to suffer because of those who lie, cheat, steal, lazy, etc. They‘ve made it where it’s very hard to do what’s “right” – even giving your money to help we’ve learned. We found there’s a certain limit to the amount you can voluntarily give to someone else yearly or you suffer with tax problems, etc. Everything is geared to pushing us into a complete Socialistic nation. Also a problem is the incompetency of the Govn’t. My grown daughter with 3 kids was forced to quit her job b/c of debilitating Lyme disease and other ailments where she was bedridden & unable to do the simplest things. And she‘s one that wants to work and doesn’t want anyone’s help, etc. but was forced into this. She applied for Disability, filled out all the silly paperwork, got all the necessary signatures/forms from her doctors (not easy) – that was 2 years ago and has not been paid yet — always gets a rejection letter b/c of some minor, ridiculous “reason”. So she went to a lawyer & he said that happens all the time. So now we wait for it to go to court. They don’t want to pay her. A big reason is that there are so many that are dishonest and don’t deserve it – and they tend to put off even those that have all the proofs. Thankfully, she has her parents to help her, but what of those that don’t??? But this new law is ridiculous and just makes the problem worse. Let’s face it, they (Govn’t/Dems) don’t want this nation to have this “work ethic”/capitalism, etc. They want us dependent on them. I pray all the time this is turned around & we all must unite to do our part to do it.

    Report Post »  
  • ares338
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:57pm

    Hmmmm….more Tea Party applicants than anyone else. I wonder how someone would know that? Someone must be physic or maybe just trying to cause an argument.

    Report Post » ares338  
  • ares338
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:52pm

    I am disabled and have a parking permit. Most places I go have adequate handicap facilities and I don’t see the need to go overboard. If there is a store that I can’t get to I go somewhere else. Everyone shouldn’t be put out because of handicapped individuals.

    Report Post » ares338  
  • dawg of gawd
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:51pm

    I guaran-effing tee that there are more Tea Party applicants than anyone else.

    Report Post » dawg of gawd  
    • 1chancey1
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:06pm

      Yeah right. We all know that is a self-entitled liberal move. The Tea Party is to busy working and paying taxes so that scum like you can live on the government cheese and spend all day on this site. Or does Soros pay you by the word?

      Breaks up. Grown ups have to go back to work.

      Report Post »  
  • stucker
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:43pm

    I do medical transcription and read these bogus claims each and every day. For every legitimate claim, it seems there are three that are just plain ol’ malingering — fancy term for fakin it.

    Report Post »  
  • BetsyRoss1513
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:43pm

    It really is remarkable when a really FAT person sits at my desk, presents a disability Medicare card at age 36, huffing and puffing, saying ‘My ankles/knees hurt, I can’t breathe.”

    DA. Why do you suppose THAT is?

    Report Post » BetsyRoss1513  
    • dawg of gawd
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:50pm

      i don’t know. Maybe you should ask J.C. MCGLYNN up there.

      Report Post » dawg of gawd  
    • J.C. McGlynn
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 8:34pm

      I don’t/won’t make any excuses for my problems. I’m a tea partier. Also worked for 40 years. Becase of the jobs I have 10%hearing loss, arthritis, gout, high blood pressure among malidies yet I DO NOT have handicap tags and if I could find a job (@ 55) I’d do it. Not slacking by choice.

      Report Post » J.C. McGlynn  
  • BetsyRoss1513
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:36pm

    Remember not to park in those spaces designated as marked; we need to make sure people with PTSD get a parking spot up-close when they’re about to unload a clip in a Walmart. Heaven forbid they should have to walk far!

    Report Post » BetsyRoss1513  
    • pavnvet
      Posted on March 31, 2011 at 9:54am

      BetsyRoss You are a total jerk. I have PTSD and otherillnesses related to Agent Orange exposure that makes me a 100% disabled veteran. And yes I have a handicapped plate that I commented on above. I also have a concealed carry permit. Unless someone is declared incompetent, they are allowed to own a firearm. I would much rather have an ex-military guy with PTSD have a firearm, then some jerky kid, a schizophrenic, a drunk, a druggie or a criminal.

      Although there are some with PTSD that have homicidal ideation, most sufferers from PTSD can’t stand crowds, have hypervigilance, agraphobia, suicidal ideation, exaggerated startle response, panic attacks and flashbacks among other symptoms. These are very real symptoms and cause many with PTSD much anxiety to just work up to taking that little trip to Walmart you think nothing of. As I said, I also have other ailments such as Degenerative Disc Disease and Peripheral Neuropathy to name a couple. Each step I take is painful, yet I do try not to limp. To look at me walking, you would probably say there is nothing wrong with me.

      I am sure there are those that take advantage of it. However, to assume that someone looks good enough to walk, doesn’t make you a doctor.

      Report Post » pavnvet  
  • Fred-Dayton
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:27pm

    Get more people on disability receiving our tax dollars – gee that could overwhelm the system and help collapse it so it could be rebuilt as our leaders desire. No…. couldn’t be that.

    Report Post » Fred-Dayton  
  • hauschild
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:06pm

    It’s a BS law, first and foremost because being FAT should NOT constitute being handicapped. And, that’s really what ails most of the folks that claim to be handicapped.

    Report Post »  
    • brntout
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:59pm

      I confronted a very and i mean very obese woman in a a handicap parking spot as she exited her escalade as to what justified her placard,She said that if she parked further away she would be too out of breath to do her grocery shopping. Just couldn’t help responding “well it would be helpful healthwise to do so” to which the liberal defense to shout me down began.Never laughed so hard in my life right in her face.

      Report Post »  
  • TMink
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:02pm

    I am a clinical psychologist and get people who want my services to “prove” that they are disabled. None of the people who want this actually ARE disabled. I tell them that it is my job to help them be abled and I will not help them get support that they do not absolutely require.

    Most of them fire me!

    The worst was a mom who wanted disability for her son who had ADD that was not as severe as mine. That was an interesting conversation!

    Subsidize sloth and guess what happens?

    Trey

    Report Post »  
  • WHITE LOTUS2x
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:51pm

    This one I can identify with. I had to get a temporary handycap sign this last summer and it was for 6 mon. In 6 months I used it about 10 times. I could never find a vacant handycap spot. Ever. Some of these people were walking a lot better than I was. I would never use it if I didnt need it but Im sure there are plenty that do. I think they are using granmas . I also want to work till I drop, what a way to go. White Lotus. A about 85.

    Report Post »  
    • WHITE LOTUS2x
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:04pm

      Im not 85, but hope I can last that long standing up and working. I too know several that get everything they can and dont qualify only shorting the ones that do qualify. I do believe there is a place for these dead beats, pay now or pay later. Nothing is free, or atleast nothing worth lieing and cheating to get. White Lotus.

      Report Post »  
  • TumbleBumble
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:49pm

    I know two people personally who are on disability who do not need it. One guy is in his early 20′s. A friend of his tried to report him as faking his illness. What is it? Agoraphobia – fear of leaving his house. Yet he does! All the time.

    When his buddy tried to report him online, one of the things you need to put in a complaint is the offender’s social security number. Okay, how many people’s SS#s do you know? So it never went through.

    The other person is in her 40′s and has a pacemaker, yet goes dancing, does heavy yard work and home improvement projects for side cash. Plus, she lends out her parking pass to family and friends. It’s absolutely disgusting. Makes one real bitter.

    Report Post » TumbleBumble  
    • goatkid
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:09pm

      I have someone in my family who is living off of his wife’s disability benefits, after he just got off of 2 years of unemployment. He doesn’t seem to be putting forth much effort to find a job, and boasts about how fancy his cell phone is. I try to keep my mouth shut, but there must be SOMETHING he can do for work.His wife deffinetly is disabled, but not incapacitated. She is quite capable of something. So I wonder who they think is going to take care of them when they can no longer take care of themselves. They are not spring chickens.

      Report Post »  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:47pm

    I’m expressing my outrage while my government funded “helper monkey” types this response.

    Report Post »  
  • lketchum
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:46pm

    I drew unemployment once – $63.00 total dollars. When I got my first paycheck, I insisted I pay it back – finding a way to pay back unemployment insurance was really hard – they had no means to accept such a payment. It took weeks of trying, but they finally accepted it. I wanted to owe no man – not even myself.

    Report Post » lketchum  
    • BurntHills
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:59pm

      exactly, that’s how we were raised too. if we don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. God helps those who help themselves. if we can’t pay cash for it, we don’t need it.

      God, America and Family and in that order.

      Report Post » BurntHills  
    • goatkid
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:02pm

      @lketchum
      I am with you there. I wish more people thought like that and this world would be a much better place. I only wish that I realized this when I was young and stupid. I did not even think of the ramifications of owing money, and now my husband and I are working really hard to pay back every penny. It is unbelievable how I get offers from the medical field as to how to get free benefits that insurance won’t cover, or if a payment to the hospital is going to be late, they offer for me to apply for what they call charity, they act confused when I tell them that I WANT to pay for my debts.

      Report Post »  
    • J.C. McGlynn
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:46pm

      Not a communist/liberal/damocrat are you?

      Report Post » J.C. McGlynn  
    • dawg of gawd
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:49pm

      Burnt hills . . . God, America, Family in that order? Not even close. It’s family, god, country.

      Report Post » dawg of gawd  
    • teachermitch32
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 2:48pm

      Dog-y-Dog,

      that’s why you fail, every time.

      Report Post »  
    • neversaynever
      Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:43am

      “Three things that matter to you in this order: God, your family, and the Green Bay Packers”. -Vince Lombardi

      Report Post »  
  • pap pap
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:43pm

    I’ve had diabetes now for 46.5 years and now I have tremors also and I think this new law is ridiculous.

    Report Post »  
    • Infected
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:36pm

      I am Type 1 Insulin Dependent…. I must say that if it were not for FMLA I would have lost my job many times over the years…. But I also must say that I know a guy who gets the same protection for heartburn… Realllly?!?… Put down the chilli dog!!

      Report Post » Infected  
  • cessna152
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:33pm

    I have a neurological disorder and am against this BS. First off only fat lazy people abuse this and second lazy healthy people abuse it. Once again the honest citizen is pushed further and futher away as the left pushes “it’s for their well being and happiness… it’s your duty”.

    Third… the PC bs must stop!

    Report Post » cessna152  
    • Showtime
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:56pm

      Are your congressmen’s phone numbers stored in your telephone?

      Report Post » Showtime  
    • J.C. McGlynn
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:44pm

      At 5′ 9″& at 300 pounds I am quite short for my weight. Not lazy by any means, since I worked on cars, light/medium/heavy (tractor/trailer) trucks. Could change 8 drive tires on a truck in 2 hours myself. Blew my knee out climbing into the seat of a fork lift and tried to keep working. After 8 months I got kicked out on a disability. People who want the easy way out abuse the system.

      Report Post » J.C. McGlynn  
  • BurntHills
    Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:28pm

    remember the real America, back when it was a Shame to be on welfare …OR considered “disabled” and NOT be an ill child, edlerly grandma or a wounded excombat veteran ?

    Report Post » BurntHills  
    • CatB
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:31pm

      This is so ridiculous .. and makes it HARDER on those who are REALLY disabled …

      Report Post »  
    • BuckOfama
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:41pm

      I work in the medical field and deal with workmans comp and State employees who want to go out on disability, the majority of these people are just working the system. When these thieves are caught there is seldom a consequence to their crime.

      Report Post »  
    • Rogue
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:53pm

      I‘m surprised the libs didn’t add to the list of disbilities: obesity, ADD, Laziness, Students in Liberal Arts, and darkened skin tone.

      Report Post » Rogue  
    • ltb
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:53pm

      What was different back then? What made those people less selfish, less self-centered and less self absorbed? Why were people more considerate of their fellow Americans back in the days when our parents were growing up? Oh, I know, they weren’t teaching kids that they were descendents of pond scum, that life is meaningless and that the person with the biggest U-Haul behind his hearse wins.

      Report Post » ltb  
    • joe conservative
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:58pm

      I remember it Burnhills, those days seem to be gone. With the great divider in the White House, the new slogan is don’t work to hard. I remember my parents telling me to work hard and make something of myself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=619wI12Ky20

      Report Post » joe conservative  
    • ISeeDanger.com
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:30pm

      If I see ONE MORE lazy person, get out of a car in a handicapped spot, I think I will go “postal” on them. Nothing makes me more furious than people using stolen or fake hang tags to park in one. It happened to me 4 times last week alone. Perfectly able, but lazy people parking in the spots with an OLD FADED hang tag. I started to finally call the police.
      http://www.ISeeDanger.com

      Report Post » ISeeDanger.com  
    • Cobra Blue
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:46pm

      If everyone qualifies for disability parking, someone is still going to have to walk. There isn’t enough room for all the slots to be up front. What then? Does the management company have to hire a shuttle service to drive them to the front door? In my opinion the classification of being disabled is way too liberal. Some of those lard asses in grocery stores riding on electric scooters need to push away from the table and start walking to the grocery store. Oh Cobra…you are so insensitive. My response…Cry me a river.

      Report Post »  
    • APatriotFirst
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:49pm

      I find the worst of these are the ones with a legit handicapped hanger for someone with a disability, BUT use it when that disabled person is NOT with them.

      Report Post »  
    • YouGottaProblemWithThat
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 1:53pm

      I think my disability is that I am allergic to working with bleeding heart liberals who do not know or care about personal responsibility. I wonder if I can get my own special bathroom and office like George Costanza did in Seinfeld?

      Report Post » YouGottaProblemWithThat  
    • Anti_Spock
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 6:40pm

      We have 40-50 million citizens disabled? 15% of our population? I bet 98% of them are liberals.

      Report Post » Anti_Spock  
    • pavnvet
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 7:18pm

      I am a totally disable veteran. I have disability plates that have the international signal on them. However, I am able to walk (with a limp and some medication) and would often not park in a disabled spot thinking that someone more deserving may need it. Well, that was until the day that I parked in a regular spot about 10 up from the disabled ones and a guy yells at me and says, why did I have to take up regular parking spots, when there are disabled ones available? As far as thinking people are not “qualified, or deserving” well, if you don’t qualify why not just be thankful? I would give anything not to qualify for a disabled parking spot.

      Report Post » pavnvet  
    • keepinon
      Posted on March 30, 2011 at 9:33pm

      Yes – I was embarrassed to have Polio as a child – totally paralyzed and in an iron lung – back then it wasnt something you talked about and it was kind of a “shameful” thing – those of us that survived have spent years trying to pass as “normal”. I do hate using the handicapped parking places – but my husband has to park there to get me and my powerchair unloaded – it still feels like I’m doing something wrong and that people will notice my disability – it has been over 50 years now.Now I have Post Polio Syndrome., When I could still drive and use a regular space to get my chair out I was hit twice by the same woman who couldn;t see me behind her., I don;t know why anyone would want to fake a condtion just to save a few steps – be glad they can do it. I have a relative that has been on disability for years for cocaine abuse. Please…..

      Report Post »  
    • cozmo
      Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:51am

      i work in a independent ups store type place. we ship packages through fedex ups mail and dhl. there is a guy that comes in that is in a wheelchair and had limited use of his arms.(I don’t know what cause that his disability is from) but i have worked there for over 3 years and my boss has drilled into us that if we see him coming run out and open the door and if we don’t see him at least open it on the way out. It wasn‘t needed for my boss to tell me to help him though because if anyone whether they are disabled or not ie a little old lady I tell show up and i will bring your box in the store even if you don’t spend a penny in my store i will bring your box in and take it out to your car no matter what. that is just how my parents raised this 25 year old. this guy is true capitalism

      Report Post »  
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