Music Within, Tilting at Windmills and the "Socially Disabled"

It isn't about how people feel about us, 
it is about how we make them feel about themselves.




Most people would argue that trans people are not disabled. 
True, most of us have no physical (or mental) impairment but consider this. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that limits a major life activity. If trans people are unable to secure employment (I'd say that is a major life activity) because of the way we look, are we not disabled in that sense?


Have you ever heard of The Ugly Law?
Well, there were such laws in the US until the 1970's. The law prevented people from being in public places if their unsightly or disfiguring disabilities made other people uncomfortable.
What? 
There were laws that kept people "safe" from "ugly people" just so that they wouldn't feel uncomfortable?


There are no such laws these days but discrimination based on the way someone looks is still practised. There are no protections for "ugly" people *explicitly provided by law. Certainly, in some cases, discrimination based on appearance is justified, as in aesthetically based business like the film industry, modeling, publications like Playboy or even Hooter's restaurant. Companies cannot be faulted for choosing "pretty" people as salespeople or representatives.


The fact is, appearances matter in occupations that deal with the general public.But what about the millions of jobs that don't involve employees being in the public eye? It is still perfectly legal for an employer to reject a person's job application because they don't like the way the person looks. 


Click here to read the opinions of several human resources managers about this.


The movie Music Within is based on the true story of Richard Pimentel, an advocate for disability rights and jobs for veterans.
Pimentel, the key figure in developing our Americans with Disability Act, was inspired by Ben Padrow who said "not to focus on getting people to change their minds about people with disabilities, but to change their minds about themselves."


In the following ideas, one could easily substitute "transgender people" for "people with disabilities."


Pimentel:
"We asked “Why are employers reluctant to hire people with disabilities?” Overwhelmingly, we received the answer: “Employers lack confidence in the ability of people with disability to do the job” "Employers are not reluctant to hire people with disabilities because they have a lack of confidence in the ability of people with disabilities. In fact, it is because they have a lack of confidence in their own ability to work effectively with people with disabilities.


Once I realized that, we diverted Windmills away from teaching employers everything they ever wanted to know about being blind, deaf, etc. and we made it an exploration of how people make decisions, why people react in certain ways, why the good skills you already have in working with people are the same skills that will allow you to work effectively with people with disabilities – and why you are afraid to do it. As soon as we shifted away from “We want you to feel better about these people” to “We want you to feel better about yourself” we began building the confidence of employers in themselves. That resulted in interviews, that resulted in hires, and that resulted in retention."

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The ADA does not consider trans people disabled.
If we were considered disabled, we would have these protections: job application procedures, hiring, firing, training, pay, promotion, benefits, and leave. You also have a right to be free from harassment because of your disability, and an employer may not fire or discipline you for asserting your rights under the ADA. Most importantly, you have a right to request a reasonable accommodation for the hiring process and on the job. 


Consider this recent survey of trans people:
(source article by Gwendolyn Ann Smith of The Bay Area Reporter)


Out of 6,450 people surveyed, half experienced direct harassment at work due to their gender identity or orientation. Half had their confidentiality violated by their employer. A quarter were fired. A fifth were removed from direct client contact. Nearly half were asked inappropriate questions about their gender identity or orientation, and nearly half had to deal with inappropriate pronoun use.


As a result, transgender and gender nonconforming people are twice as likely to live in poverty compared to the rest of the U.S. population, and those who did lose a job over their transition found it hard to find another. Many also faced a reduction in wages


For those living in poverty who needed to use a homeless shelter, nearly a third were denied access, and a quarter were assaulted and harassed by shelter staff.


Things were no better in schools, either. Two-thirds of all transgender or gender nonconforming elementary school students endure harassment, with nearly a quarter of them facing that harassment not only from other students, but from school staff. In middle school and high school, harassment and assaults crept up to two-thirds, but dropped to one-third for college students.


One in five of those surveyed have some form of health care, and half of all surveyed had to educate their primary care provider about transgender issues.


One other grim statistic: four out of 10 transgender people have attempted suicide.

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I would rather not be considered disabled. At the same time, I can't help seeing the common ground trans people share with disabled people.




*Santa Cruz, California is the only jurisdiction in the US that I am aware of that does have an ordinance against discrimination based on physical characteristics.




Random:

"If the opponents of gay rights seek to restrict the rights to hold a job, to secure housing, to obtain medical care, and to marry the person of their choice to heterosexuals alone, then it is they who are seeking "special rights."
Jim Flechtner