I live and work in NYC.  I'm a moderately severe stutterer.  I'm in my
mid-50s and have stuttered all my life.  For economic reasons, I'm
concerned about my job.  (I work for a big company doing financial
software design and support.)  I'd like to find out whether the
anti-discrimination laws have any applicability to my situation.  Does
stuttering count as a disability, and does it provide me any special
protections?  What actual cases have there been where a court or
arbitrator has ruled on this issue?  What government agencies or other
organizations have jurisdictions to investigate allegations of this
type of discrimination?  I believe that there are laws out there which
require that companies make "reasonable accommodations" for people who
are covered as "disabled".  What I don't know is whether a stutterer
is considered disabled under the appropriate definitions.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Hello brad23ny-ga,

At the outset, I should emphasize the disclaimer at the bottom of this
page, which notes that answers and comments on Google Answers are
general information, and not substitutes for professional legal
advice.  If you need complete and expert information on
anti-discrimination laws, you should consult an attorney in New York.

William D. Parry, Chair of the National Stuttering Project Advocacy
Committee, has written articles on this subject.  His opinion is that
stuttering can be legally protected as a disability.  Since you live
and work in New York, you might be particularly interested in Mr.
Parry's description of an opinion from a federal court in New York,
Detko v. Blimpies Restaurant.

"Stuttering as a Disability under the Americans with Disabilities
Act", by William D. Parry
Bill Parry's Stuttering Links
http://members.aol.com/wdparry/ada.htm

"Stuttering and Employment Discrimination", by William D. Parry
(October 6, 1999)
Minnesota State University, Mankato
http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/comdis/isad2/papers/parry.html

You might also wish to look at another article by Mr. Parry:

"Being Your Own Best Advocate", by William D. Parry (September, 1998)
The National Stuttering Project
http://www.nsastutter.org/letgo/parry98a.html

Mr. Parry's articles indicate that the Equal Employment Opporunity
Commission ( http://www.eeoc.gov/ ) is the federal agency that
investigates allegations of employment discrimination based on
disability.

It appears that the New York State and New York City agencies that
investigate such allegations are:

New York State Division of Human Rights
http://www.nysdhr.com/

New York City Commission on Human Rights
http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/main.html

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

"americans with disabilities act" stuttering
eeoc
"new york" disability
"new york" disability employment

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 01 May 2003 22:38 PDT

I forgot to correct a small misspelling: it's actually the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (not "Opporunity").