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An East Islip man with cerebral palsy is suing the Long Island Railroad because a conductor repeatedly announced over a public address system that he was in a wheelchair. The incident occurred last August when 22-year-old Anthony Faggiani (be mature; he's handicapped) was on his way home from a Yankees game with his father.
In the suit, Faggiani says he notified a conductor as he boarded that he would need a ramp to get off. But the conductor apparently forgot, and when Faggiani arrived at his station, his father had to summon help. That's when they heard the announcement that the train would be delayed because of a "wheelchair patient." Faggiani tells Newsday, "He just kept emphasizing 'wheelchair,' 'wheelchair,' 'wheelchair.' You could just imagine all those eyes staring at me."
Michael Harris, executive director of the Disabled Riders Coalition advocacy group, says it happens all the time: "It's a humiliating ordeal that no one should have to go through. It's blaming the wrong person and it's singling me out as an obstacle. People with disabilities are not obstacles." Got that? The LIRR does; they announced yesterday that employees will no longer refer to the disability of a customer as the reason for a delay. Which probably won't help them fend off this lawsuit, which Faggiani says caused "serious psychological injuries and distress."
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"People with disabilities are not obstacles."
Yes, they are. I'm not saying I respect them any less, or hold anything against them for being disabled, nor do I feel they should have any fewer rights than anybody else. The fact is, though, that they require a special set of services that ordinary customers do not, and that makes them an obstacle.
"People with disabilities are not obstacles."
Uhm, they can be if they get in people's way.
Unless this guy considers being in a wheelchair as inherently embarassing, why would he object to somebody acknowledging the it?
No, it makes them an exception. dick.
"serious psychological injuries and distress."
Yeah right. Here's a coupon for free round trip. Now go away.
people with disablities ARE obstacles! I have to wait an extra 30 fucking minutes each time this cripple homeless lady gets on a bus near me for just 2 stops. Now, I'm sick of it and never take the bus I'd rather walk on my strong healthy legs. If I ever see a cripple on my route I run the fuck off. I have nothing against cripples but time is money. Everyone is pissed off when a cripple gets on a bus. The LIRR is totally within it's right to say this. He doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Again with the bus jeremiad?
Conductor: "We are experiencing a CRIPPLING delay this evening. So please don't DISS our ABILITY to handle the situation. We WHEELY apologize."
Wow you people should really be ashamed of yourselves.
I think I love you babyhitler.
well, i'm an awful person because i laughed at babyhitler's "doesn't have a leg to stand on" - but if the customer did make it a point to say to the conductor "hey, i'm going to need a ramp at X station", then the conductor did actually do something wrong (not that it necessitates a lawsuit)
Conductor negligently screwing up ramp such that person in question falls onto tracks and is injured=lawsuit worthy.
Said person getting feelings hurt=not lawsuit worthy.
The first thing to go in a downturn should be BS lawsuits.
"The first thing to go in a downturn should be BS lawsuits."
I think it's the other way around, unfortunately.
Disabled (NOT handicapped or crippled) people have jsut as much right to ger around as anyone else.
" he notified a conductor as he boarded that he would need a ramp to get off. But the conductor apparently forgot, and when Faggiani arrived at his station, his father had to summon help"
He did his part so as not to slow up the train, it was not necessary for the conductor to anounce that it was Faggiani's fault. It was the conductor's. It's not like his job is so demanding that he couldn't notify the station ahead of time to have a ramp ready.
That being said, this country is way too litigious! An apology and maybe a free year on LIRR should suffice.
You people are fucking douchebags. Congratulations team, you are a complete embarassment.
I can't wait to see what happens if and when you become disabled.
The problem is that, unlike other civil rights laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act is ONLY enforceable through lawsuit and REQUIRES a damages component, not just an amelioration. So that he is suing the LIRR over the ramp is NOT his fault, it is the fault of the poorly written law that says the only way he can exercise his claim of being discriminated against is through a lawsuit and claiming damages. Don't want "frivilous" lawsuits from disabled folks excercising their rights? Change the law to match the Civil Rights Act and have in place legal conventions besides lawsuits to enforce it! If he was prevented from leaving the train due to race or gender, he could contact the Department of Justice for an investigation; disabled folks are afforded no such privilege and must make themselves into "victims" to get the rights they are legally afforded.
Can people sue him for time loss on the train due to his disability? Or even better, collective time lost from every individual? He's taking 15 minutes from everyone. Time is money or even better time is life. The taoists say that Life is but a breath. this dude just took 140 breaths of life from everyone. wasted. gone. stolen. Like tears in rain.
Can I sue you for wasting these 15 seconds of my life?
Not that I'm agreeing with babyhitler, but he didn't force you to read the comment. The person in the story forced everyone on the train to have to wait.
The train conductor forced everyone to wait by not being ready to fulfill his job. The guy in the wheelchair wanted to get off the train like everyone else!
Thanks for that clarifying information.
"It's not like his job is so demanding that he couldn't notify the station ahead of time to have a ramp ready."
Just to clarify, there are ramps in each car of the train. The crew on board deploys them at the stop. There's no need to notify the station (which is the only way it could be done, since most LIRR stations aren't staffed).
How was he discriminated against buy the LIRR?
The train stopped and they made the effort to help the guy get off. They made the announcement to let the remaining passengers know the reason for the delay.
I once heard an announcement my train was delayed because of a medical emergency. Now, if I were the one with the medical emergency - and, knowing it was me who they were referring to in the announcement - AND I was embarrassed by this - would I have a right to sue?
If the LIRR had a policy whereby when men, all men, got on or off the train, they first held the doors then repeatedly announced that the doors were being held because men were trying to get on or off the train, then of course that is discriminatory against men. This is not all that different.
If the trains were built to be accessible from the start, there would be no issue; the environment of the train in and of itself is discriminatory because it requires special attention for disabled people. Because of the way in which the ADA is written, this accomodation is 'reasonable'. In practice, though, the proper use of these ramps on LIRR or Metro North add no more than 30 seconds to a station stop, so it shouldn't have been cause for a delay to the train. The train conductor violated this 'reasonable' (yet ultimately still discriminatory) accomodation by drawing attention to the passenger (not patient, passenger!). This is what is called legally 'animus' or irrational unfair treatment on the basis of condition. He was first discriminated against by the failure of the LIRR to have fully accessible public transit despite the Rehab Act of 1975 and the ADA of 1990; he was secondly discriminated against by being treated with animus on the basis of being a wheelchair user.
And that is how he was discriminated against by the LIRR.
"he was secondly discriminated against by being treated with animus"
Except that while animus can be a motivation for discrimination, it is not legally recognized as discrimination in itself.
You can dislike, hate, or despise a person because of their disability, and that person has no legal recourse unless and until your animus moves you a discriminatory action. To base a suit on that would require a proof that the conductor's animus was the reason he didn't promptly deploy the ramp, or was the reason he made the particular announcement he made.
An accusation that the announcement was made out of animus would have a pretty easy defense, because making that announcement was the railroad's policy.
Would you like to be introduced to people as "Huffy6241, the wheelchair patient"? I am guessing not.
The point is: the fact that you are in the wheelchair is supposed to be completely ignored, so that you can be recognized as an equal. The fact that you need special assistance is also not supposed be mentioned. The services are expected to accommodate you without advertising that they are doing anything special, even if this may inconvenience the others. That's the law, and it makes total sense.
Let me get this straight: being in a wheelchair is not an embarassment but somebody pointing it out is?
More politically-correct inspired incoherency.
"Unless this guy considers being in a wheelchair as inherently embarassing"...
Maybe he does. You are assuming, through some ill-conceived reverse-PC kung fu, that disabled people are supposed to be proud and well-adjusted to their condition at all times. The fact is, if I couldn't walk and needed assistance to enter and exit almost every damn building and vehicle, I'd find it profoundly depressing, demeaning, and yes, embarrassing. And, if the people I needed to rely on, whose JOB it was to help me, were assholes about it, I'd be pissed.
The fact is, the conductor should have done his job right in the first place, and certainly should not have called undue attention to him. That's undebatable. And if the LIRR needs to get sued to realize that (maybe they did, maybe they didn't, really) it would reflect poorly on them.
Well said.
This is one of the more outrageous lawsuits I've heard of in a long time. He's not to blame for needing a ramp to exit the train, but he deserves all the scorn and humiliation the public can muster for filing this ridiculous lawsuit.
Yeah, no need for the lawsuit but he has every right to shame that conductor and the L.I.R.R. publicly for his ordeal. I'm sure it was embarrassing and humiliating. Problem is, we all have moments like this and do we sue? No, we soldier on and look dead ahead. This guy should do likewise.
The LIRR has a point that they also have a responsibility to other customers to explain delays. So their solution now is a new policy that they won't reference a disability, so in this situation the announce that "a customer needs assistance."
So... "He just kept emphasizing 'wheelchair,' 'wheelchair,' 'wheelchair.' You could just imagine all those eyes staring at me."
If that first sentence was the problem, it's solved. No more "wheelchair." But if the problem was in the second sentence, now all those eyes will be looking around to see what kind of assistance was necessary and who needed it.
Maybe even more "eyes," in fact, because some who wouldn't have bothered to look to see someone in a wheelchair (the announcement completely answered their question "why are we delayed?") now will be curious to find out exactly what the whole story is.
Ugh. Thank you AspieSociologist for the only enlightening comment.
There has to be a better way to hold people accountable for things than lawsuits for causing "serious psychological injuries and distress."
I just got off the phone with the LIRR. They will know announce: "Spill in Aisle 3".
Actually, people in wheelchairs comprise only a tiny fraction of people covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, comprising less than 5% of that protected population. (Ask Gov Patterson.) Yet they seem to demand and get all the attention.
There is nothing wrong or embarrassing about being in a wheelchair. I care for a family member at home in a wheelchair. No big deal. We don't want special favors and we don't sue restaurants for not having handicap ramps and we don't sue someone for mentioning there is a wheelchair-bound person present.
This guy is not a guy in a wheelchair.
This guy is a greedy litigious jerk in a wheelchair!
>>>The LIRR does; they announced yesterday that employees will no longer refer to the disability of a customer as the reason for a delay.
They'll do what they usually do and not say a thing.
www.forgotten-ny.com
"They'll do what they usually do and not say a thing."
Actually, I ride the LIRR a couple of days a week and have always found them to be pretty good about keeping passengers informed... not at all like on the subway.
For example, on the LIRR you're not "being held by the train's controller," you're "waiting for a westbound to cross in front of us." I've also heard "we've struck a metal object on the tracks, so the conductor is leaving the train to investigate," and unfortunately once "a pedestrian has been struck, the train will advance to platform after investigation."
Never heard anywhere near that kind of information on the subway.
Is he going to sue Newsday for pointing out that he's a "wheelchair user" in the first words of their headline about his retarded lawsuit?
let me totally clarify everything..the conductor asked if he needed help to get off..(looking at his motorize wheelchair!!!) we of course said yes, he asked when we were getting off we told him, he past us numerous times through out ride from 11pm to 12 mid...we got to great river station where he never came to assist us, i step outside after the doors have been open awhile to find the conductor standing on the platform 2 cars down..i motioned to him, he motioned back, he finally came over and asked if we needed assistance, we responded yes thats what we told him we we got in, he then left us without setting up the ramp, next we heard his lovely announcements on the trains p/a which triggers vulgar language to my son, the conductor then returned to get the ramp which was 6 inches from my son the entire time locked up,he claimed its company policy to tell why HIS customers are being delayed, we asked if he was there from the beginning there wouldn't be a delay...he had the nerve to say there was NO DELAY..duh this is the say guy who made the page, same guy who was hanging outside on the platform!!!!!!!!! for all by the way even with the ramp there is no delay on the train ever if they do there job correctly....just to set the record right..............oh yeah yes I am the father......thank you for the nice comments to those that wrote them..enjoy..life is way too short..
I hate disabled people. Their hummer-sized wheelchairs get in the way of everything.
ALL I SAYING IS THAT THERE IS NO DAMN REASON WHY A PERSON SHOULD BE SUING FOR SOME BS LIKE THAT!!!! IM NOT DISABLED BUT MORE THAN ONE PERSON HAS MADE ME FEEL LIKE @#$% IN THIS LIFETIME. EVERYONE WANTS TO SUE...
THEN: Wheelchair
NOW: Mobile Sitting Apparatus