Disabilities Act

WASHINGTON -- An estimated 2 million disabled Americans sidelined from their jobs could opt to rejoin the work force without fear of losing federal health benefits under a bill hailed by President Clinton yesterday.In his weekly radio address, Clinton called the legislation the most significant milestone for the disabled since the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.The Work Incentives Improvement Act was overshadowed by the conclusion of debate on federal spending and the rush of Congress to adjourn for the year.

In a decision that could spur more prisoner lawsuits against the state, a federal appeals court has ruled that Maryland inmates have the right to sue for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.In a 2-1 ruling Thursday, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld the constitutionality of the ADA as it applies to inmates housed in state-run prisons.The ruling stems from a 1991 lawsuit filed by the Washington-based American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project on behalf of 13 physically disabled inmates at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Randy Hariton's "reasonable accommodation" dangles from a cord around his neck.Hariton, legally considered blind, sometimes peers through a small, round magnifying glass -- which he brought from home -- to read printed material.Danny Haley, Hariton's manager at PC Plus in Lenexa, also provides a 17-inch monitor (bigger than the typical 14-inch screen) for Hariton's use. With a nose-to-the-computer-screen posture, Hariton can read what's there.That's what it took to integrate one worker with a disability into one workplace.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court, in the midst of a wide-ranging study of the rights of the disabled, got down yesterday to a basic question: Whom did Congress have in mind when it barred discrimination based upon a handicap?In the first of three hearings -- the two others will be held today -- the justices struggled to define more precisely what Congress meant by disabled.Rarely does the court hear three cases on the same subject, in the same term and so closely together. But the justices, faced with growing disputes among lower courts on disability issues, have given priority this term to such cases.

Thomas E. Creutzer of Perry Hall was attending a wedding reception at a Westminster banquet hall about a year ago when he found that he was unable to maneuver his wheelchair through the restroom doorway. Upon alerting the staff of the problem, he said, they offered to carry him to the bathroom, a remedy he dismissed as unsafe and humiliating.The final solution: He was directed to the coat check area where, behind a curtain, he urinated into a bottle.Creutzer has filed suit against the hall -- Martin's Westminster -- accusing it of failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. His suit is one of four announced yesterday in a coordinated effort to spotlight alleged violations of the 1990 act."

WHEN Tony Coelho first introduced the Americans with Disabilities Act in late 1986, the California Democrat expected a long and lonely fight, despite the influence he wielded as House majority whip.But he and his co-sponsor, Sen. Lowell P. Weicker, a Connecticut Republican, were soon joined by dozens of co-sponsors. The bill was signed into law in 1990, a fast pace indeed for a major piece of civil rights legislation.Popular supportMr. Coelho learned something heartening from that legislative initiative: The notion of guaranteeing rights for the disabled struck a chord with far more Americans than the 49 million people officially considered to be coping with a disability.

Greater Baltimore Medical Center was accused in a federal lawsuit yesterday of discriminating against the blind and vision-impaired.The lawsuit, filed by the Maryland Disability Law Center on behalf of a blind patient and a blind advocate, contends that the Baltimore County hospital does not provide Braille and raised print or raised numbers on signs that designate permanent rooms, exits and stairways, and in other cases the aids aren't at federally required...

Three Maryland women who suffer from asthma have sued two national restaurant chains under the Americans With Disabilities Act to force them to ban smoking.Sharon Breedlove of Howard County, Ellender Edwards of Annapolis and Charleen Evans-Thomas of Garrett County are suing the owners of the Red Lobster and Ruby Tuesday chains in federal court in Greenbelt.The three women allege that they tried to eat at the chains' restaurants in Montgomery County last year but had to leave because smoke from the smoking sections polluted the buildings and impaired their breathing.

After a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, truck driver Michael Holt thought he'd never work again. His chances looked slim -- more than half of Maryland's disabled residents are unemployed, their skills often underestimated.Hoping to change employers' attitudes -- bigger barriers, many times, than handicaps -- Gov. Parris N. Glendening and key legislators want to give tax breaks to businesses that hire the disabled.Today, during a ceremony at the Maryland Rehabilitation Center in Northeast Baltimore, Glendening is expected to highlight a proposal to offer credits of up to $1,200 a year for two years, or 20 percent of the first $6,000 in wages.

Frock's Sunnybrook Farm, a longtime catering business and Westminster landmark, is closing in April, citing declining business and costly government-mandated improvements.Besides facing stiff competition from larger caterers such as Wilhelm's and Martin's Westminster, Gene Frock, the 67-year-old owner, has been embroiled in a controversy involving his Bond Street building's accessibility to the disabled."I am just tired of the hassles," said Frock, who added that he is ready to retire and sell the 20-acre property.

An Anne Arundel County elementary school teacher was wrongfully terminated from his job because he is HIV-positive, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in its suit that Chesapeake Academy, a private school in Arnold, discriminated against the teacher because of his disability by not renewing his contract, a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The complaint was filed Monday in Baltimore. Chauncey Stevenson, a second-grade and after-school music teacher, had been employed since 2003 and received good evaluations from his supervisors, parents and students during his tenure, according to EEOC lawyers.

Disabled drivers applaud crackdown I have one response to the crackdown described in the article "Sweep hits handicap-tag abuse" (Sept. 20) - what took so long? As a result of higher fines, most people seem to have gotten the message about illegally parking in disabled parking spaces without a handicap plate or hangtag. So the most rampant abuse of the system today is people using hangtags that belong to other people. The crackdown the article described resulted in the confiscation of 14 placards.

The ability of wheelchair athletes to earn points for their teams at track and field tournaments took center stage in federal court in Baltimore yesterday as lawyers debated whether the nation's disability rights laws require the state of Maryland tochange its rules. Howard County athlete Tatyana McFadden filed suit in March, asking a federal judge for an immediate order to force the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to allow the Atholton High School junior to score points for her team at either the regional or the state outdoor track and field meet this month.

A federal jury ruled yesterday that Baltimore County officials discriminated against the patients of a Pikesville methadone clinic when they enacted a law prohibiting state-licensed medical facilities from locating within 750 feet of homes. After hearing testimony over three weeks, the U.S. District Court jury deliberated for less than five hours yesterday before finding in favor of A Helping Hand methadone clinic. The clinic, which also prevailed in a judge's ruling that the county law violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, will remain open.

An editorial in a recent issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine complained that kayakers in Maine found "residential development" near national parks and urged its readers to use their "influence" to prevent such things. "You are the stakeholders in our national parks," it said. Really? What stake do kayakers and others of like mind have that is not also a stake held by people who build the vacation homes whose presence offends the kayak set? Homeowners are just as much citizens and taxpayers as kayakers are, and they are even entitled to equal treatment under the 14th Amendment.

WASHINGTON - Foreign cruise ships operating from U.S. ports may not discriminate against disabled passengers, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The 5-4 decision held that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to foreign-flagged cruise ships and bars them from charging higher fares to disabled passengers. More than 7 million passengers annually board these ships and depart from U.S. ports, the court pointed out. And although Americans make up the majority of people who travel aboard cruise ships, most of the vessels fly foreign flags.

Baltimore County has been allocated $16.4 million in the state highway budget for concept design and streetscape projects, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele announced yesterday at a news conference in Overlea. The improvements announced yesterday include three miles of Route 7 (Philadelphia Road) between U.S. 40 and the Beltway, and a section of U.S. 1 from the Baltimore City line to the Beltway for concept planning. The segment between U.S. 40 and the Baltimore City line was allotted $2.1 million for engineering and $14.1 million for construction.

Nominees sought for Disabilities Act awards program County Executive James N. Robey and the Howard County Commission on Disability Issues are seeking nominations for the 10th awards program recognizing outstanding work in promoting the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Award categories include Employer of the Year; Accessibility, for efforts to make facilities, programs and services fully available to people with disabilities; Individual Achievement;...

Robert Reuter just wanted to cast his vote on primary day. But unlike most of his fellow citizens, Reuter, who uses a wheelchair, had to drag himself by the arms up five long steps to vote at a Masonic hall Sept. 10 - then drag himself back down. The 54-year-old Northeast Baltimore resident filed suit in federal court yesterday, hoping to win the right to a more accessible place to vote in the Nov. 5 general election - and to draw attention to problems other disabled voters might have at the polls.

A Supreme Court decision that says employers cannot be forced to hire disabled people for jobs that could put their health at risk is unlikely to significantly weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act, legal experts said yesterday. In a unanimous decision yesterday, the court ruled that employers could refuse to hire people whose disabilities would endanger them on the job. The case, which involved a former Chevron refinery worker, is the latest in a series of rulings against employees who have sued under the act, which bars job discrimination against the disabled.