32 years ago today, the signing of the ADA...
July 26, 1990
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216972341
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
I was seeing things in different colors out of each eye and the pain behind my eyes was horrific. I had a horrible migraine type of headache and was falling down and exhausted. I hid my symptoms best I could and secretly used a wheelchair is places where people could not see me.
I ended up going blind not long after this and was bedridden.
I also was told that "I would no longer have a job" two weeks after the diagnosis.
I was too sick to fight them and lawyers to defend me were few if any.
I ended up being "disability retired" from job. I got a pension of $50 a month and medical benefits.
And here I today, I have medical insurance and live in poverty.
Thanks for nothing ADA!
Anything with a BUSH in it had hidden consequences.
I remember saying, "I'm not worried about losing my job! There is the American With Disabilities Act to protect me!".
It is a mandate, not a "law".
A mandate is a set of instructions that are guidelines that they hope will be followed. It doesn't require any one to do anything (like reasonable accommodation). I remember asking for different lighting in the office I worked in. They played with those fluorescent tubes in the room I was in but it didn't help.
As for doing something to actually help me adjust to this shock, there was nothing done. Co-workers were glad I often thought as I have a Master's degree. None of the others had more than an Associate's degree. I was a big threat to them.
There were other things going on too (like sexual harassment!). No one would step up to the plate and acknowledge the reality of the situation.
In the end, I found myself packing my belongings up and putting them in my car and driving away. I never went back again.
The whole situation made me so sick, it became impossible for me to return even IF they had TRIED to accommodate me.
Like I wrote, anything with BUSH in it is ... 
I learned my lesson the hard way.
I'm probably getting close to the end of this journey called life. Living on $1,000 a month is very difficult. I had eight infections last year alone. I struggle every day to make ends meet. I often wonder how the hell I do it. Now that my husband is gone, I am isolated and grief stricken. There is no help for me.
All they did for me is mail me multiple copies of this HUGE document called the Americans with Disability Act. It is thousands of pages long and not legible nor comprehensible for the majority of the American public. What a damned farce!
Just remember, everyone in the world is one step away from this reality. The reality of an elderly disabled woman trying to hang-on. 
one step, or miss step, or car or bus accident, or cancer diagnosis, or bullet, or armed services wound away from becoming, suddenly part of that community. The one the media labels as if it's an exclusive club..."the Disabled"
People who are disabled, or have become disabled sometimes mention the rest of us as..."TABs, Temporarily Able Bodied"
Temporarily.
And, as with you, suddenly life takes a cruel turn.
You are clearly a strong person, since with all that has happened to you, you ARE "trying to hang on".
I wish you luck. Please do keep hanging on...
and posting. 
-FTC
I am glad I am still welcome here!
I appreciate everyone that posts here.
It takes a lot of nerve to post the reality of certain things, like the ADA and my experience with it.
Like I said, I learned the hard way.
DO NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!
Never have never will. 