July 26th, the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, was a significant occasion for all Americans. When former President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law, he proclaimed that society’s shameful barriers to exclusion of people with disabilities must be torn down.
As a government economist, I witnessed the “shameful” exclusion of colleagues by their superiors forcing them to retire early because of their disability. These decisions were based more on the superiors’ prejudices against disabled people than on health concerns. I also experienced ableism, even though I was not disabled.
My daughter Alex was born with a heart defect. Soon after she was born, the nurses realized that Alex had circulatory problems. Alex was transferred to Georgetown University Hospital, where cardiac surgeons diagnosed her with transposition of arteries in her little heart.
Alex needed immediate heart surgery, and given the severity of the heart problem and how small Alex was, it seemed unlikely she would survive a lengthy and complicated operation.
Alex successfully underwent heart surgery that morning in 1989, the year before the ADA became law, and endured several more surgeries afterwards, all of which required lengthy recoveries.
I was a diplomat, and outdated laws required that only “able-bodied” diplomats with “able-bodied” family members serve in the diplomatic service. Senior diplomats told me that Alex would be an “insurance burden” on the government, meaning that he would be an administrative burden on them.
A senior diplomat transferred me from the diplomatic service to a lower position in the civil service. I was demoted because of my daughter’s disability. I filed a disability discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Several senators, including Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, made a motion to require the Department of State to comply with all provisions of the ADA. I argued that my demotion violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which expressly prohibits discrimination in government employment because of an association with a disability, a provision that was included in the ADA.
Congress intended for federal agencies to comply with the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA. The arrogant senior diplomats ignored both laws. The only reason they ignored them was because Alex was a liability to insurance, as stated in the documents. Imagine a senior US diplomat telling a fellow diplomat that his daughter was a liability to the government. The senior diplomat was a liability to the US.
I fought against being demoted from the diplomatic service because I felt that Alex would become an adult with a disability, and if I won the case for her, she might experience less discrimination.
From the time I was a child, my family taught me to respect people with disabilities. My mother was named Helen after Helen Keller, an Alabama native who was born deaf and blind. My parents and grandparents taught me that everyone has challenges they must overcome.
I also learned in my Sunday school classes to respect people with disabilities. In the Old Testament, when the Jews left Egypt for the Holy Land, they proudly brought along the elderly and disabled. Everyone had value in the Holy Land. As an adult, I decided that my daughter with a disability had value in America, no matter what a senior State Department diplomat might say.
My battle with the State Department lasted for three years, from 1992 to 1995. Senior diplomats changed the discriminatory decision to “final,” “non-appealable,” and “irrevocable” on Monday, January 23, 1995. Why did they reverse the “irrevocable” decision?
On Sunday, January 22, The New York Times published a 950-word article about the “irreversible” decision by an arrogant State Department diplomat who called my daughter an “insurance burden.” The next day, I went from being a workplace pariah to being a recognized disability rights activist.
After Alex’s case was resolved, the State Department could no longer reject qualified candidates with disabilities or their disabled dependents as diplomats, regardless of the severity of the disability. This is a gift my daughter gave to the State Department. Senior diplomats now know that disability has nothing to do with ability. This is a lesson I learned from Helen Keller and Sunday school.
Alex lived to be 17. She was a brave and beautiful young woman. She was never a burden to her parents or her country. It was the misguided senior US diplomats who were a burden to America.
Time and chance make people.
The ADA and Alex were born around the same time, and both made significant contributions to disability rights.
James Patterson is a Washington-based writer. He contributed to InsideSources.com.