If you were suddenly to become
D/deaf
overnight, you would experience audism and would be treated differently in so many ways... especially in career fields (
e.g. On March 2,
2006, a federal jury found in favor of the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in its employment discrimination lawsuit against Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. EEOC had charged FedEx with failing to provide a reasonable accommodation to Ronald Lockhart, a deaf employee who worked as a
package handler at the company's Baltimore Ramp. The suit charged Federal Express with violating the ADA when it failed to provide reasonable accommodations to Lockhart in the form of American Sign Language interpreters, despite his repeated requests. The jury found FedEx liable for punitive damages in the amount of $100,000 for its knowing failure to accommodate Lockhart as well as compensatory damages of $8,000 for the loss of the accommodation itself. In
January 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the jury’s award.)
