1/14/03 Living A Disability -

"We're a growing political force to be reckoned with," exclaimed Don Pasintino! He has a spinal cord injury. And was Vice-Chairman of the United States Student Senate: a national college student government, headquartered in Washington, D.C. "We're out there making people sit up and take notice of us," he added!

"We're not concerned with people's disabilities," exclaimed his wife Mary. She has Arthritis, co-founded the City U. of N.Y. Coalition for Students- With- Disabilities. And graduated Queens College with a Masters Degree! "Were- concerned with their abilities!

“The Coalition sponsors events such as trips to Great Adventure (amusement park) and Met (baseball) games," she added.

I relate to this subject very well: I have a ruptured disc. And cannot imagine what I would have done with my life if Sylvia, the case worker in my attorney's office had not told me about Vocational and Educational Services for Individual with Disabilities: a vocational rehabilitation program operated by NY State's Dept. of Ed. (I now call her aunt Sylvia. She is so pleased that a passing comment led to three college degrees).

VESID helped after I was fired from my job in a print shop. I ruptured a disk at work and was unable to perform my duties. This led to a very heated argument and I was fired. Since I couldn’t work I went on workers' compensation. Unfortunately, it took over four months to get a hearing, back pay and an attorney to sue my former employer for terminating me because in NY State, Workers' Compensation considers it discrimination, So they made it a sub-specialty and very hard to prove. The board tried my case and ruled my termination illegal. (Unfortunately, my attorney was incompetent and lost, despite considerable aggravation. I like to think it’s the Devil).

While this was going on, I, like many others, sat home wondering, and worrying what I would do with the rest of my life. All I had was a high school diploma. A strong back was my main skill and trade, and that was now gone forever.

Luckily, V.E.S.I.D. gave me career counseling and helped me enroll at NYC Technical College as a- Graphic Arts major, in the-Spring of 1991.

I never dreamed that when I took Freshman English with Professor Paul Broer, that- Fall I’d change majors. And God would help me harness the passion for talk radio that I developed while home on workers' compensation, into one for writing. Most of my essays had some political affiliation and I soon learned how much we disagreed. Nevertheless, he always accepted me allowed me the latitude to express myself. By the end of the semester we became friends. (Little did we dream that a three page, doubled spaced, I wrote for him then on political science, in November, 1991 would "blossom" into an 98 page, single spaced, outline for a book).

When my counselor, Thea suggested I take a literature class to help broaden my horizon I enrolled in his class the next semester. (I asked him with a huge smile and wave guess who's coming to dinner, you lucky guy? He instantly knew what I meant and just sat there for a few moments until a small tear built up in the corner of his eye and slowly rolled down his cheek. He jokes my book is the essay that wouldn't die. And I’m the student who wouldn't leave because I took a second Literature course with him. So I joke I have the only Bachelors Degree in "Broer”).

This all helped inspire me to go on and earn a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from The City University of NY, in January, 1996, become a teacher and earn a Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from the College of New Rochelle in 2003.

Since then I decided to become a teacher for a few reasons: 1) My-friends, Mike and Ed kept saying I should teach because I’m a natural. They were right. I enjoy sharing- knowledge and wisdom. So when I didn’t get into law school I became a teacher; 2) I’m much luckier than most people in my shoes: Howard, a class mate in Journalism class said, a freak accident saved me from a life of mediocrity; 3) I also want to perpetuate the support, wisdom, insight and encouragement I received from my English tutor, Dion Pincus and counselor, Thea Custis, especially since she died and I miss her. I like to think that she lives on in some small way in my students when I pass all she gave me onto them.

I realized she was wise when I confided to her that I felt old starting-college at 29. She instantly said, "You are not! That's absurd! You're thinking stereotypically!" As the semester passed I soon realized that she was right. It made me appreciate her and we soon became friends.

So when I first considered graduate school I sought her advice. She instantly said, "Go for it! You can be anything you want to be, if you work hard!"
Dion also gave me a piece of advice that I will never forget and pass along: "Wherever you go in life and whatever you do, don't be afraid to change!"

While the Pasintinos and I are blessed, millions of Americans with disabilities are not so lucky. So to help us become productive parts of society, President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. It is a wide- ranging civil rights statute focusing on the needs of this special group.

Among other things the law requires anyone doing more than $2,500-a-year in business with the Federal Government to make reasonable accommodations. It also sets very specific guidelines: buildings must be made accessible to people with disabilities by removing barriers (structural and nonstructural) that prevent qualified individuals from applying for a job. The structural barriers can be removed by installing ramps, wider doors and bathroom stalls, lowered curbs, water fountains, bathroom counters and plumbing, extending wall-mounted hand rails beyond the run of stairs, etc.

Merely accessing all these things, much less doing them can sound overwhelming to employers. But it is not! There are various organizations that can help. Among them is the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association: a major advocate and authority on accessibility for people with disabilities. They will prepare a free survey of the buildings' and grounds' violations. If things do not comply, the owner must submit a deadline on when the company will make the necessary changes.

To help ensure that buildings are accessible, businesses should hire Americans with Disabilities Act Officers, architects and form committees that submit self- evaluation reports on the progress and projections of compliance. To be fair the law also has an undue hardship clause, which allows latitude in establishing reasonable accommodations. Employers do not have to make changes such as buying an expensive reading machine for a legally blind person so she will be able to do the same job as a person with 20/20 vision. The Foundation for the Blind will. However, employers must use affirmative action in recruiting and hiring people with disabilities by listing positions with vocational rehabilitation offices and programs for the blind.

Furthermore, employers cannot fire a person for having a disability. The definition of disability is growing wider: a recent court ruling makes a genetic predisposition to diseases such as Huntington's a disability. Even recovering drug addicts and alcoholics are considered disabled as long as they are in a rehabilitation program. They do not have to complete a program or be recovering; they just have to be in one.

People's feelings- about the- idea is usually acceptance. Many people make a living as a result of this. Among them is Douglas Brigandi, my Social Security Attorney. He said, "The ADA is great! And it's long overdue! The Federal government does not pay people Disability under Titles 2 and 16, of the Social Security Act of 1936 because they feel that if a person like you (me) can go to school, they can work.

“Unfortunately, this mentality penalizes people such as you who are trying to become a productive part of society by going to college or trade school. It is like welfare: the system is designed to discourage independence and encourage dependence upon the government. If people get a job, they lose welfare and health care; but if they sit home leeching off the taxpayers, they can collect government handouts like food stamps and work off the books, or sit home watching television as millions do."

To help people with disabilities gain employment NY State Governor George Pataki passed Act 55A and B to see that people who work for the state or any municipality are not denied the accommodations. And to waive the civil service exam for people V.E.S.I.D. qualifies as disabled.

One of the many- people- who- succeed, despite a disability, is Anthony Phieffer. He has Cerebral Palsy and said, "I can't tell you how many good jobs I turned down because I would have lost my Social Security. Then one day I said the hell with it. Let them take whatever they're going to.

"If you'd have told me two years ago I was going to be enrolled in a master's degree program, I'd have said you're nuts! I'm quite satisfied with a Bachelor's Degree!" Phieffer is Director of Services for the differently Abled at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY.

Fortunately, President Reagan and the U.S. Congress had the vision to know that creating the Americans with Disabilities Act would make America accessible to people with physical disabilities and make them more independent. And help everyone in several ways: add taxpayers to the system V. having them take Social Security, Welfare, Medicaid, Medicare and food stamps.

That's great. But public perception must be changed in order to further help people realize that we can achieve greatness despite our disabilities. At the very least we can have a higher quality of life like Helen Keller, Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Kennedy.

Reasonable accommodations help people with disabilities be more self-sufficient. Sometimes it takes a nudge. And at other times it takes a lawsuit such as the one Disabled in America, an advocacy group filed against New York City in order to make them install wheel-chair lifts on all city buses.

Luckily, the subject’s been getting increased media attention lately. There was a series of articles about places that are not accessible to people with disabilities in the NY Daily News, in 1994. F.A.O. Schwarz Toy Stores, many parks and public buildings and Yankee Stadium were listed. I'm very happy that since then the Yankees have built 25 new seats for wheel chairs behind home plate.

Fortunately, various public and private schools receive Federal grants for career counseling and placement for students with disabilities. They work with various personnel agencies such as Just One Break, a non-profit organization in Manhattan. They provide free career placement services for skilled and educated people with disabilities.

NYC College of Technology College hired Frank Genese to help them comply with A.D.A guidelines because he is a Registered Architect. He is also a wheelchair basketball and tennis coach at the North American Wheelchair Athletic Association and said, "People with disabilities are much better off five years after the passage of the ADA. The thing of it is that it can happen to anybody at anytime! You don't realize it until you're injured. If you fall and injure your leg and can't climb stairs, suddenly you have to look for an elevator. That's when you realize it!"

Fortunately for millions of people with disabilities such as me, education has not just improved the quality of life. It’s a road to success, which gives us a strong mind. Once we have that, we posses unlimited potential and can reach for the sky to become anything we want to be. Most of all we can be our own real-life heroes!