“Reading is fun!”
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH – 07/12/2007:
A former Normandy School District grounds crew supervisor claims in a lawsuit that the district violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when it fired him for being illiterate.
The former supervisor, Tommie Robinson, 55, of north St. Louis County, filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
The suit claims that Robinson’s job did not hinge on his ability to read, and that he “can perform the essential functions of his position as Lead Groundsman with a reasonable accommodation such as verbal, instead of written instructions. …”
Robinson began working for the district as a groundskeeper in 1982. He was fired April 12 after failing to provide proof that he had attended an adult literacy program that he had enrolled in as required by the district.
I think I will take the opportunity to be a total jerkface and say:
Daaamn, I’d like to teach her how to read! *points at picture*
Does he have some physical/medical reason he can’t read? If not hell no he shouldn’t be allowed to use ADA.
They gave him a chance all he had to do was take the class. He didn’t do it. That is a choice that he made and it wasn’t a very good one.
Dumb= Cant learn and dont know any better.
Stupid=means he knows better and still did it.
Learning disability is one thing, but can be worked around.
NOT being taught, is a simple solution, as he can be trained.
@Dauragon88
that is Tiffany Teen, just oogle her… I mean google her.
I have a friend that was a caretaker for a city park (he’s retired now) that had a severe case of dyslexia, to the point that he referred to himself as illiterate. But most of the time when I popped in to see him though he was reading a book. He said it all depended on how his dyslexia was acting. If it was acting up he couldn’t read a thing, he said letters would float around, and not be in the same place twice.
That, is ADA material. If you’re just too lazy to learn how to read that’s your problem.
#2 seems right on to me.
If he is handicapped by illiteracy he probably chose not to attend the class, so has chosen to be ‘disabled’ and sure does not deserve any type of special treatment.
If he has been performing his job satisfactorily since 1982 he should not be fired for this. Intellectual arrogance is what I see here. I work with men who are “illiterate” they often are smarter at their jobs then the college boys we hire. The ability to read and write does not necessarily instill intelligence.
#7
True, it means that you’re gay and macho men don’t need to read the intruction booklets.
7,
You are right…
8,
You are a Slub…
there are many reasons NOT to learn to read…There are FEW NOT to learn, unless you have a Mental or physical reason.
AND it is NOT a sign of intelligence NOT to be able to read, do math, do anything…SOME people JUST cant do those things, or werent Taught correctly.
I know alot of persons that dont have BOOK learning, but know MORE about what they are doing then anyone else around.
And reading instructions out of a book, ISNT always the answer..
#5, caa,
Well put.
#7, stew,
I would think if he was doing the same job for 25 years, at least, then he has shown he is quite capable. Of course, if his job evaluations are full of negatives then there might be a problem. Then, if the department has changed to a new communication system that now uses e-mail, then literacy might be more important then it used to be.
“Should illiteracy be a disability under the ADA?”
My initial reaction was no, he should not be classified as disabled. That said, I understand the legal maneuver by his lawyer and it brings up some interesting questions around age as it relates to cognitive or developmental issues. For example. Most of us take reading as a given just as our kids take text messing as a given. Want to have some fun? Try having your kids teach your parents or grandparents (65 and above) to read text messages (OMG! NBD). Better yet try having your kids teach them to send a text message. If you do, please post it on Youtube. 🙂
I don’t think this issue is a cut and dry as it appears. Time and science will tell.
#11, Scott,
Bad example. Text messaging is a subset of communication using its own language. Even among kids today, slang, shortened words, and acronyms mean different things to different people.
How about the parents or grandparents teach the kids to bake a cake from scratch. In a wood stove. How about they teach the kids to iron a pair of wool pants. Or, especially in America, drive a manual transmission with the stick on the tree. Another thing would be to build your own house, cutting the lumber to fit and using a real hammer. Or the hardest one of all, type on a typewriter without spelling errors.
this is complete shit.
I wonder if the Romans declared illiteracy to be a disability right before their society collapsed, and no one bothered to write it down.
On a side note, that chick is hella hot. Good choice on the pic SN 🙂
>>that is Tiffany Teen, just oogle her
If that skank is a “teen”, I’m a newborn baby. Echh!
>>Or, especially in America, drive a manual transmission
>>with the stick on the tree.
Jeez. Young people can’t drive a “three on the tree”? The End Times are truly near….
The Lady is HOT!
But the old guy is approaching retirement, and apparently the Local Yokel Bean Counters think they’ve found a way to save some beans.
#11 Scott
My parents are pushing 80 and worked on the telegraph system round about WWII. They understand txt messaging no problem – used to use it when they were teenagers.
The cell phone is a bit of a problem mainly because their fingers aren’t as nimble as they were.
#7 His firing isn’t the issue. His ADA claim is the issue.
For the record I tend to agree with you that he probably shouldn’t be fired. Though something could easily changed where they now need someone that can read in the position that he held. And they did give him the opportunity to take the class and he agreed to and then didn’t go.
The willfully ignorant should never be encouraged.
#9
I know alright, I was being cynical.
what about the personal reason or the fact that all these yrs he has preformed his job and the same job now all of a sudden his reading is the key issue come on here lets look a little deeper and maybe he was to ashame in front of coworkers pride is a hellof a thing embrassment is to give him a break here