Practice what you preach: Disability Empowerment through Employment

As we bid farewell to October, we commemorate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). In this blog, we provide a brief history of NDEAM, and discuss how San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired (LightHouse) is undermining our nation’s efforts to increase the employment of people with disabilities.

A Brief History of NDEAM

NDEAM’s beginning can be traced to the 1940s when Congress enacted a law declaring the first week of October as “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.”  This law aimed to increase the employment of disabled workers. This law also asked the President to issue an annual proclamation for the first week of October.

President Harry Truman in 1947 created the “President’s Committee on National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.” This White House committee’s task was to coordinate public events to raise awareness about disabled workers. Over the decades, the committee was renamed by different presidents, before it finally got its current name "President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities" (PCEPD).

The official name for the commemoration of October as disability employment awareness month similarly was renamed multiple times. At one point it was called “National Employ the Handicapped Week.” In 1988, Congress finally settled with NDEAM.

Beyond NDEAM

Congress went beyond trying to increase employment opportunities through efforts to raise awareness. It enacted multiple laws prohibiting disability-based job discrimination and providing resources to promote disabled Americans’ employment. These include the following:

• The Rehabilitation Act of 1973: This law prohibited discrimination against the disabled in federal employment, and the discriminatory practices of federal contractors; created the Vocational Rehabilitation system to  assist with finding and keeping a job; and created various programs such as the Centers for Independent Living to promote independence and skills building that help disabled people find work.

• Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: This first title of the ADA prohibits disability-based discrimination in employment and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations.

• The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014: This legislation helps both disabled and non-disabled people find work by connecting them with potential employers and providing resources to support job search and training.

It should be noted that California enacted the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) in 1959. This law, enforced by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), goes further than the ADA in protecting disabled job applicants and workers in California. 

How LightHouse undermines America’s efforts to increase employment opportunities for disabled people

Let us first point out LightHouse’s mission: “To promote independence, community, and equity created by and with blind and low vision people.” As we will show you below, the workplace policies and practices under LightHouse’s current leadership contradict the mission and hinder America’s efforts to promote the employment of people with disabilities. These policies and practices also greatly diminish the significance of NDEAM.

There are many examples of how LightHouse’s leaders’ decisions lead to unequal employment opportunities for blind, low vision, Deaf, and DeafBlind people. Below we provide some examples.

Maintaining a toxic work culture

• A CEO who encourages bad behavior creates the conditions for a highly toxic workplace. She hugs or touches workers without their consent. She also tolerates harassment against workers, especially females. This forces workers to make a choice of leaving LightHouse for a safer workplace or calling the CEO out at the risk of losing their job.

• A house full of bullies. In addition to the CEO’s actions, LightHouse’s workers constantly have to put up with those who abuse their power to intimidate them. This includes members of the Executive Leadership Team below the CEO, department managers, and contractors. They fostered an atmosphere of fear, causing many workers to endure frequent panic attacks and other physical and psychological symptoms.

• Normalizing sexism. Everyone deserves a workplace free from any form of discrimination, but LightHouse has promoted gender bias. It is a place where women have to contend with male coworkers and superiors who disrespect them. Women also routinely face more disciplinary actions than men, even when they typically do more of the work than many of the male workers.

A culture of retaliation

• A woman or a person of color is usually the target of retaliation. But any blind, low vision, Deaf or DeafBlind worker will face retaliation if management’s decisions are questioned.

• Different deceptive tactics are used to force workers out in retaliation. For example, a blind woman called out the Chief Operating Officer for sexist behavior, and her position was eliminated weeks later; and, when a Deaf woman told management to stop discriminating against DeafBlind people, her position was also eliminated.

• Seizing on perceived or actual small mistakes as opportunities for retaliatory firing. Blind, low vision, Deaf, and DeafBlind workers all face barriers in the job market because of disability discrimination and the inaccessibility of employment products and services. So, when a worker makes a mistake or is believed by management to have made one, they are either written up or fired instead of receiving on-the-job coaching or the allegation thoroughly investigated. For example, a blind worker made a mistake with a payroll software that is not fully accessible, and he was fired; and a female worker with vision difficulties was alleged to have made minor mistakes with data entry, and she was fired.

A pattern of discrimination

• LightHouse workers and job applicants are frequently denied reasonable accommodations. This includes but is not limited to using inaccessible workplace products, and qualified sign language interpreters. Management tries to justify this by imposing strenuous requirements, such as interpreters being certified, despite the ADA not requiring certification.

• Our information indicates that LightHouse does not pay workers equally. There is major pay disparities based on gender, race, and disability.

• We also found that promotions are not given equally. All the current executives below the CEO (who has low vision) are sighted. Male workers get the most promotions.

Unfair disciplinary

• There is usually no actual investigation when a worker is accused of violating policies.

• Workers are often targeted for disciplinary action based on factors such as race, gender, and disability. But whether they have challenged management’s actions or lack thereof is also determines whether the worker is fired or not. 

• Often, allegations are made up or information is obtained from a worker’s private conversations using non-work device or service and without that worker’s consent.

All of the above examples of job-killing bad workplace policies and practices are known to LightHouse’s Board of Directors. However, the Board chose to ignore them. But we hope real change will happen at LightHouse. Happy National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2024!