Dennis S.
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I'm going to start my own thread on this topic.
Back when I was working for Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles, CA, I held two positions: Games Host and Ride Operator.
I had a blast during the summer I was a Games Host. I sold people to play games like Skee-ball, Mini-Golf Putt, Ring Toss and Basketball. You pay a $1.00 or whatever, you get a chance to win a prize. I was the hardest working guy there -- making the hard sell, getting people excited and worked up, making sure I balanced my change, etc. I was awarded the Superstar honor at the end of the summer for my area, being recognized as one of the best employees.
The next summer, I selected to work in the rides section of the park. The first day on the job, I was told by my supervisor that I was a "safety hazard." I "wouldn't be able to hear people shout for help" or "hear the telephone ring for orders." I never got trained beyond the very minimum they could do and put me on the baby rides. Whenever I complained, the supe would always say "whatever." The way it works is that you get trained, evaluated, then sent up to the more prestegious rides where you would get eventually get promoted.
Since I was stuck at the bottom level with the rest of the "undesireables", the best I could do was stick it out, day in and day out. I didn't know any better, I didn't know there was a law against it, because I constantly did a great job but since my supe didn't care, I couldn't do anything about it.
How did I get out? I found a WAY better job, in the field I wanted, away from the dumb people who were ignorant and stuck up and uneducated. I'm thankful I did and that led me to learn about ADA and my RIGHTS as a deaf person.
What should I have done, if I knew about ADA and knew that there ARE solutions for deaf people in the jobs out there? If I knew that people didn't HAVE to put up with it, I would have fought much harder to get equal access and made a stink about it to the big wigs. I consistently proved that I was a better employee than those people who were socially promoted, and yet I was stuck at the bottom rung simply because of a disability that can't take advantage of technologies that are EASILY remedied in ways that BENEFIT HEARING EMPLOYEES too.
Back when I was working for Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles, CA, I held two positions: Games Host and Ride Operator.
I had a blast during the summer I was a Games Host. I sold people to play games like Skee-ball, Mini-Golf Putt, Ring Toss and Basketball. You pay a $1.00 or whatever, you get a chance to win a prize. I was the hardest working guy there -- making the hard sell, getting people excited and worked up, making sure I balanced my change, etc. I was awarded the Superstar honor at the end of the summer for my area, being recognized as one of the best employees.
The next summer, I selected to work in the rides section of the park. The first day on the job, I was told by my supervisor that I was a "safety hazard." I "wouldn't be able to hear people shout for help" or "hear the telephone ring for orders." I never got trained beyond the very minimum they could do and put me on the baby rides. Whenever I complained, the supe would always say "whatever." The way it works is that you get trained, evaluated, then sent up to the more prestegious rides where you would get eventually get promoted.
Since I was stuck at the bottom level with the rest of the "undesireables", the best I could do was stick it out, day in and day out. I didn't know any better, I didn't know there was a law against it, because I constantly did a great job but since my supe didn't care, I couldn't do anything about it.
How did I get out? I found a WAY better job, in the field I wanted, away from the dumb people who were ignorant and stuck up and uneducated. I'm thankful I did and that led me to learn about ADA and my RIGHTS as a deaf person.
What should I have done, if I knew about ADA and knew that there ARE solutions for deaf people in the jobs out there? If I knew that people didn't HAVE to put up with it, I would have fought much harder to get equal access and made a stink about it to the big wigs. I consistently proved that I was a better employee than those people who were socially promoted, and yet I was stuck at the bottom rung simply because of a disability that can't take advantage of technologies that are EASILY remedied in ways that BENEFIT HEARING EMPLOYEES too.
