Inability to Type Not a Disability

gizmo_mathboy writes: "The 9th Circuit Court has ruled that not being able to type does not give one protection/privilege under the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA). This article on Yahoo! has information concerning the case."

This makes perfect sense

[BillyGoatThree]

Consider, there are three basic reasons for not being able to type.

1) Physical problem. Like you have no fingers or your wrists won't bend or whatever. In which you presumably *already* qualified as disabled.

2) Mental problem. Like dyslexia or not being intelligent enough to know your alphabet or whatever. Again, presumably you already qualify.

3) Education problem, i.e. you never learned how. You aren't disabled. Go learn to type then reapply for the job.

Re:Uhhh, no shit.

[Grishnakh]

You should try the right-handed (single hand) Dvorak keyboard layout. It's specifically designed for people who have limited or no use of their left hand. I personally use the regular Dvorak keyboard and I love it. I wish I could use it at work but just try convincing a corporate drone that keyboard layout might have something to do with ergonomics... It's not that much faster to type on, but it's much more comfortable and doesn't require nearly as much finger movement.

Re:Well duh!

[ethereal]

If you'd read the article, you'd have seen that reportedly 50% of jobs in the U.S. require daily interaction with a computer. And let me tell you, precious few of them are voice-activated :)

It's all well and good to say that you could just get a new job, but look at it the other way around: if you've trained your whole life (she worked there for 24 years) at a manual task, and become disabled at it, you can't just switch over to digging ditches. Would you be willing to throw away 24 years of your career and start fresh, competing against kids that just got out of college, because of a debilitating physical condition brought on by your employer?

I do have mixed feelings about this case, though, because I can't see that the employer could have done much differently. 24 years ago nobody knew about RSI or things like that; and apparently as soon as she let them know that she had a problem they provided some accomodations to help out. This is almost a case where nobody could really win, just because most of the damage was done before anyone could have known the harm that would result from her working circumstances.

I'm glad to see that the court didn't hold their initial attempts to help her out to be a recognition of a disability; like the article said, that would place employers in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation where they might be more likely to not do anything to help alleviate workplace health issues like this.

Common Sense

[Jon Peterson]

The dissenter said "the majority's ruling ignores the reality that computers and the ability to type and write are essential skills in the modern world."

But, the person in question _could_ type and write - just not fast and not for extended periods of time. A small minority of jobs require being able to type or write extensively.

Many fat middle aged Americans can't walk or run either fast or for an extended period of time, but they don't get away with disability allowance for that.

Re:well...

[su steve]

As devastating as it must be to find that you can no longer type 120 WPM, every occupation has its hazards, heck, normal day to day life has them too. RSI is a well-known condition, but until a 'new' keyboard is developed which doesn't require such finger-wrist-contortion that's just life.

When did this 'shit-happens' -> 'let's sue' conversion of society (especially in the US) take place?
I know she lost her job, but she couldn't do it anymore. Footballers who get old get layed off, models who lose their looks loose their jobs, typists who can't type loose their jobs... life sucks, get over it.

Is typing-imparement a disability? I guess so, it's certainly a problem. However, if said disability was self-inflicted? She was using office equipment, but I'm sure they wouldn't have objected to her using her own keyboard if she had one that didn't cause her problems.

At the end of the day, this problem wouldn't have 'just happened', it would have got worse and worse. A doctor may well have advised her to change her vocation. To leave the problem to get to a critical stage without doing anything (other than change furniture) is just plain stupid.

I've got to stop typing now, my fingers are hurting; RSI as a programmer sucks, maybe I'll sue.

Re:BS

[NNKK]

You don't get it, it's not emotional/mental stress, it's physical stress, the same thing that makes a stick break if you bend it enough. Typing for years on keyboards can cause Repetitive Stress Injury, this is where the repetitive nature of the task over long periods causes stress on the nerves, muscles, etc. in the hands wrists and arms.
RSI has also been seen in professions completely unrelated to computers, such as a person working in a factory doing the same thing for years, even a blacksmith making horseshoes for years could aquire RSI.

Re:well....

[Anonymous Coward]

"I may not like what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" Voltaire

That's a good summary of Voltaire's beliefs, but he didn't say it.
It was Evelyn Beatrice Hall writing under the pseudonym Stephen G. Tallentyre in The Friends of Voltaire (1906).

The court or the report may be wrong.

[www.sorehands.com]

First, being a reporters is different from being a software developer. A reporter deals in a human language -- words are not as mutable as variable names. Blower is a old newspaper term describing a person who takes news reports over the phone and types them up.

Second, with an RSI, it does not only prevent one from using a keyboard, but when severe, you have problems sleeping (from the pain), and eating (because you keep droping things), or shopping, because your hand strength goes to almost nothing.

You also have to keep in mind that the ADA analysis is a fact specific test that is done on a case by case basis. There are circuits that ruled in one case that CTS is a disability, and in another ruled that it was not. This does not say if they also considered the state disability laws - which have a different standard for disability.

Re:Naturally...

[NNKK]

you could try something like learning that "Stress" doesn't reffer to EMOTIONAL stress in repetitive stress injury
it refers to stress put on the PHYSICAL components of the hands/wrists/arms, STRESS is what makes a stick break if you bend it enough.