Valley Interview : Job-Seeker Cites Loophole in Americans With Disabilities Act

The federal Americans With Disabilities Act took effect in July, 1992. It prohibits job discrimination against qualified people with mental, physical or learning disabilities. Employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled people in hiring, compensation, firing and all other aspects of the workplace.

Linda S. Sirlin, 52, questions whether it has changed the way employers think and act. Sirlin has worked as a secretary to a vice president of a brokerage firm and for a UCLA professor. Experiencing problems with speech and balance from an unknown ailment, she had to stop driving. In May, 1990, a week after getting a new job near her home in North Hollywood, she learned she had multiple sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disease. She lost her job and has been unable to find new work since.

Sirlin was interviewed by staff writer Doug Smith.

Question: How did you lose your job?

Answer: I told my supervisor, I have MS. I wasn’t using a cane. I was just walking slowly. It was very difficult for me to stand three and four hours, which I had to do a lot of, and carry large things from one part of the plant to another. So I told him what was wrong and three days later he said, ‘I have to talk to you about something,’ and I said, ‘Why don’t you just give me my paycheck.’

He said, ‘We’d like to keep you on if you’d work for $7.50 an hour.’ I said, ‘No,’ and I left. And that was it. They let me go. They decided that $30,000 a year was just too high. I’d never worked for $7.50 an hour.

Q: Did you complain to anyone?

A: At that time, the Americans With Disabilities Act was not even thought of. I never did anything about it because there was nothing I could do.

Q. Did you start to look for work immediately after that?

A: Yes.

Q: How many jobs have you applied for?

A: I couldn’t even tell you. For a year, I went to at least three interviews a week. I sent out resumes. I got calls for all the resumes I sent out, and I made calls from want ads in the paper. When an appointment was set up, and I gave them my qualifications, then I would say, ‘By the way, I have multiple sclerosis,’ and all of a sudden the job wasn’t available.

Q: Do you always put it on the table that you have MS?

A: Yes. All the time. I have to. If you could see the reaction of people when I walk in with a walker. They stutter and stammer. They don’t know what to do. They don’t even know if they should shake my hand. They don’t even know that I can let go of the walker to shake their hand.

Q: What do employers tell you?

A: Two weeks ago I called about a job. It was a secretarial position. He asked me my qualifications. I told him. This is on a Monday. I made an appointment for Wednesday. I said, ‘By the way, I have to let you know that I have multiple sclerosis. I use a walker most of the time. But I do use a wheelchair just to get from point A to point B quicker.’

I said, ‘I’d like to know before I come in if that’s going to cause anyone to be upset or nervous,’ and he said, ‘No. That’s no problem.’ I called Tuesday to verify the time. He said, ‘I was just about to call you. The position’s been filled.’

I called a friend of mine. She called. The job was still open. I called the job coordinator of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She called the company and asked about the position. It was still available. I called the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing because of the state law against discrimination against people with disabilities. This company is exempt because they said they had less than five employees.

There’s a loophole with the Americans With Disabilities Act. If a company has less than 25 employees, they’re exempt from that law. They can discriminate. Under the state law it’s five employees.

Q: What other bad experiences have you had?

A: I had one of the national car rental places ask me if I was contagious. She said, ‘Is this contagious?’ I said, ‘No, but your stupidity is.’ And I tore up the application and left. I just couldn’t take it. It’s very depressing for someone to form an opinion after 20 minutes of talking to me of what my abilities are.

I even had one woman come running out to my car. I had called. She had said, ‘Can you get here immediately?’ I was there in five minutes. Couldn’t find the office. Got out of the car, looked for the office. Got back into my car. She must have seen me walking. I was using a cane. I turned the engine on. She came out to the car and said, ‘Are you Linda?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘Oh, the job’s been filled.’ I came home. My friend called. She made an appointment with her.

So right now I’m kind of in between. I’m not even interested in looking. I don’t even care anymore. Nobody is going to hire me.

Q: Don’t you qualify for disability benefits?

A: Yes, but that’s not the point. The point is I want to be out of the house. I want to be around people. I want to feel useful. I don’t feel useful. I’m sitting in a house all the time. It’s very aggravating to me.

Q: What is multiple sclerosis?

A: There is a coating over the nerves. The coating cracks, which causes the nerves to send incorrect messages to parts of your body. It also affects the muscles and it causes you to have no balance. If I were to stand up and walk, I would fall.

When I got diagnosed, I was just using the wall to get by. Then I started using the cane. Then I started using a walker. Now I’m in a wheelchair, so I have progressive MS.

Q: Are you sure you could do the job?

A: I type 110 words a minute. I’m very computer-literate. There’s nothing that would frighten me in an office. I don’t think there’s anything I couldn’t do. If I could learn the stock market, I could learn anything. That’s a very tough, stressful, burnout business, and I loved every second of it. I wish I could go back. I just couldn’t do it. I just can’t drive that far.

Q: In the average secretarial job, wouldn’t there be duties that you could not perform?

A: Such as?

Q: If you had to write in longhand, such as taking notes?

A: I print. I can type while somebody is talking. I do write. I don’t write well anymore. I used to have beautiful penmanship. I don’t anymore. I print everything.

I certainly can walk to a copy machine. I can walk to a file cabinet. I can answer the telephone. I write a hell of a letter. There’s very little I don’t think I could do in a company. I just want to be useful.

I couldn’t stand at a filing cabinet for two hours. I would prefer a job that was 80% sedentary. That would be good for me.

Q: Since the Americans With Disabilities Act passed, have you found any difference in the way employers respond to you?

A: No, same thing. As a matter of fact, I’m getting fewer interviews, because now I tell them I’m using a wheelchair. Up until six months ago I wasn’t.

And they take a look at me and say, ‘Oh my God. That’s scary. What if I fall in their office? What if I hurt myself? Could I hurt somebody else?’ They’re just scared of it. They see a wheelchair and they’re frightened.

Now I don’t know. I’m sure major corporations are not like that. I’m sure they don’t discriminate. Smaller companies I know do. I’ve interviewed with too many of them. They sit there and I feel that they’re looking at me and there’s a neon sign flashing on my forehead that says, ‘Handicapped. Disabled.’

Q: In all the interviews you’ve done, you haven’t had one good experience?

A: Sunkist is one of the few companies that doesn’t discriminate, from what I understand. They had all kind of accessibilities for wheelchairs. In fact, the woman that I spoke with said, ‘We’re not going to discuss your disabilities. We’re going to discuss your abilities,’ which was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard anybody say to me.

Nobody’s ever come across to me like that. From what I understand, somebody on their board of directors is in a wheelchair.

Q: Why didn’t you get that job?

A: I had an interview with them, and then I was offered something else, and I was positive I was going to be getting this other job, so I lost out on Sunkist, and I’m very sorry I did. The pay wasn’t terrific, but I’m certainly not going to be able to get what I got at other places I’ve worked.