Can you imagine having this said to you?
“One family I met took their child to the doctor and the doctor said: ‘If he was a dog you would put him down.’”
As quoted in the February 7 Campbelltown-McArthur Advertiser (Australia).
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - 12:46 pm ET
Not a Nice Thing to Say
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - 12:46 pm ET
[...] Not a Nice Thing to Say A doctor says “‘If he was a dog you would put him down’”—what the???? [...]
I am 55 years of a age, and was, in recent months, diagnosed as having Aspergers. Before that, and in 1998, I was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy. At the time, I was working for a large aircraft manufacturer, as I am an FAA-certificed aviation maintenance technician.
It was at that time, I was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy. I was in another hangar, when my co-workers, one of which acted as a witness for my journal of discrminatory treatment: The supervisor bragged that he was a “neo-nazi” admirer of Adolph Hitler, and told my co-workers that “people like me,” and he even said my name, should be “exterminated,” before we foul this planet with our inferior genes.” Then he suddenly realized that what he said was discriminatory, illegal, and might be reported. So he went on to say, “If anyone goes to management and tells them what I just said to you, I will write you up for insubordination.” A comment just as discriminatory as the previous one because he threatened to retaliate against anyone who would take my side in the issue and report his statement. He had nothing to worry about. The Human Resources director, a bigoted jerk, passed around the rumor that I was “retarded,” and a slow learner. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of it was mixed with sex discrimination because I proved that I was good at setting up new aircraft engines for mixture and idle, and that the chief pilot told my co-workers, almost all males, that he did not have to redo my work, but he DID have to redo their work, therefore the “punishment” for outperforming the men in a traditional male career, was defamation.
I did end up suing the company for disability discrimination. I could not find an attorney who would help me with my case since most ADA cases end up getting thrown out of court just because the plaintiff has a disability, and bigotry is RAMPANT in the so-called justice system. I went as a pro se litigant after having studied paralegal, and ironically finishing a two-year paralegal course in 8 months with an A-average. So much for being a slow learner. The aircraft manufacturer’s attorney threatened me several times, telling me that I have no rights as a pro se litigant, and that I cannot even choose the sight for my deposition, which I knew was BS, and I told her. She told me that I was to go to the deposition at the site of the aircraft manufacturer, and bring NO one, not even so much as an off-duty law-enforcement officer to protect me. The way she was talking, I was afraid foul play was being planned, and I informed the court. By the way, according to the judge, I proved the merit of my case, but allowed the aircraft manufacturer to settle out of court to save my own life. If I didn’t, they would have been able to force me into a deposition at the aircraft manufacturer’s site, and I would probably have been never seen nor heard from again, another Karen Silkwood. I had blatant evidence, and kept good records, including a journal I kept at home. At work, I just memorized places, times, statements, and witnesses, and wrote myself notes in code so I could copy them into my journal at home. One time, a supervisor went through my toolbox, looking for my journal. When a part of my toolbox was returned to me, I went right out and told him that I knew he was ordered to look for my journal, I let them know I was keeping so it would tempt the aircraft company to do something they would regret short of murdering me on the job. I told him I keep the journal at home, so if they want it that badly, they have to break and enter. I was so fed up with the bigoted sobs at that factory, I was trying to tempt them to do something they would sorely regret. I still feel that I was within my rights. That is not even the worst I have ever been treated by an employer because of my disability. If a person with a disability has a strong ability in something, it seems particularly threatening to nondisabled people, because it violates their ideal of disability and actual capability, and their idea of their own self-conceited sense of superiority.
Myself, as a high-functioning person with Asperger’s I find this statement totally revolting and despicable. I also have mild C.P., severe myopia, asthma, joint problems and was born with a hole in my heart and Hepatitis C from the heart surgery transfusion. I sure wouldn’t want to be put down. I recently had a doctor who said I didn’t have Asperger’s that I’m schizophrenic. How about that as an insult! Based on lack of eye contact and not much facial expresion!
In the same line of thinking—Michelle Dawson quotes a man who says that “‘Autism is worse than cancer.’”