PLEASE DON'T PULL AROUND: THE CASE OF THE DEAF LADY AND THE UNHAPPY MEAL
A deaf lady in Lincoln NE has sued a McDonald's for not allowing her to bypass the two way speaker and make her order at the hand-out window. Her disability makes her unable (even with hearing aids) to communicate on the first position squawk box but she can hear (read) a human being. To make things more interesting, she has autistic children and can't come into the property with her kids to order. She says McDonalds should have a drive-thru accommodation for deaf folks.
I'm pretty much pro-disabled and I think in Illinois this probably violates Illinois State Law but I'm not sure how I feel about this one. What's more unreasonable: asking this lady to make arrangements to have someone watch her kids for a brief moment in the car while she walks in or asking a private enterprise to install some kind of button or something to signify she needs to order at the pickup window?
Kind of close one in my view.
posted by UMRBlog @ 16:32
8 comments
8 Comments:
Your argument seems to suggest that she is the only deaf person the planet or that ADA accomodations are some kind of opt-in, nice to follow if you're feeling generous as a business owner thing, rather than federal regulation. Surely you know that about 2 to 4 of every 1,000 people in the United States are "functionally deaf,". As an attorney who sometimes dabbles in labor law for the City, you are surely also aware that if people with a severe hearing impairment are included with those who are deaf, then the number is 4 to 10 times higher. That is, anywhere from 9 to 22 out of every 1,000 people have a severe hearing impairment or are deaf.
Finally, if everyone who has any kind of "trouble" with their hearing is included then anywhere from 37 to 140 out of every 1,000 people in the United States have some kind of hearing loss. (National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) & the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).)
And since McDonald claims to serve 47 million people daily (world-wide) and according to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the U.S. have at some time been employed by McDonald's,that's a lot of consumers...and just maybe, more than one of those customers, or even employees, is hearing impaired.
Perhaps this will help you make up your mind about disability accomodations --the next deaf person you meet could be, uhm, you!
I have no problem with your stats or with the profound nature of hearing loss as disability.
The "dabble"comment is not helpful to your argument, nor is it accurate. The bulk of my Human Rights practice (representing plaintiffs by the way) is in my private practice.
The militancy of your first sentence suggests that reasonable people cannot disagree about what consstitutes a "reasonable Accommodation", like your truth is the ONLY truth. I notice you left the word "reasonable" out of your formulation. That's not the law. ALL accommodations are not mandated. It has nothing to do with "feeling generous" or not or "opt-in" or not.
Most deaf and profoundly impaired folks don't have any problem walking into the restaurant and getting their food.
Actually what you presented, sarcasm and all, does not help me at all in deciding this close case but I do appreciate your interest in the topic.
TYFCB
If I found myself in that situation, I would just drive past the squalk box and order at the window. I find it hard to believe that in little old Lincoln, Nebraska a clerk would be hardnosed when face to face.
I also think she has an idiot for an attorney.
I don't think it's an unreasonable request. The lady has to come to the drivethru window anyway, after all.
I don't think it even requires a special button to push. From your description it sounds like she can speak and possibly hear enough to realize she's being addressed on the speaker. So she says "I am deaf and must order at the window" and then drives up. The order taker does NOT take an order from the next vehicle until they've gotten the order at the window.
Seems pretty simple to me, and I worked for two years at Burger King out of college--and that was our policy with people who wanted to use the convenience of the drivethru but couldn't use the speaker system.
I can't believe McDonald's is unwilling to do this. Heck, when the audio system is down, how do people order? By driving up to the first window and ordering...
Just where does it stop? If I am too fat to get in my car, will Ronald bring it to me since I can't get there to use speaker or counter? How do blind people use McDonalds now? What if my tongue was cut out(accident at work) how could I use speaker? etc, etc. I know a group of people who make a living at making up scenarios so please feel free to add some.
Spuddy,
That's a good one: A blind guy's ADA right to use the drive thru.
TYFCB
All,
I really appreciate the interest in the topic. It's a discussion we should have more often.
TYFCB
That's quite odd. I've ridden with Deaf people through McDonald's drive ups and other fast food restaurants for that matter where they simply go to the first window. Once there, they either hand the cashier a their order written on a piece of paper or they will be given a laminated menu and they will place their order by pointing to the items on the menu. Pretty simple and certainly not unreasonable. Maybe the Nebraska McDonald's in question is one that outsources their recorded orders: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/technology/11fast.html?ex=1302408000&en=fba08e17788e24c9&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
And the request to place an order differently threw the locals into a tail spin. So much for the goal of customer service, as stated in the article.
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