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Disability rights in Canada (warning: Long post ahead)

stebbinsd

Newbie
Feb 9, 2010
1
0
First, a little background info:

I'm an American citizen, natural born, for many generations (in fact, one time, my sister found a photo taken of my great great great grandparents during the American civil war; that's how "home-grown" I am). However, I've been considering migrating to Canada, because I have learned that you have almost all the good things that we have here in "the land of the free and the home of the brave," but hardly any of the bad.

Freedom of speech? You have that!
Right to jury trial? You have that!
And wealth? Well, let's just say, if the US was Bill Gates, you'd be Donald Trump.

What does the US have that you don't?

An internationally-tarnished reputation.
A corrupt government
A discriminatory law against gay people
expensive health care out the yin-yang
A hypocritical immigration system that limits the number of people that can come to the US each year, despite the fact that every single person in the US, even the so-called "Native" Americans, are either immigrants themselves, or are descendants of immigrants. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

I'm currently in college (I'm only 21) studying to be a math teacher, so if math teachers are anywhere close to as high demand in Canada as they are in the States, I should have no problem finding work (in fact, my state alone has about 35 unfilled positions this year, with only a population of three million people total; imagine how many unfilled math teacher positions are in a state like California). I can teach for a couple of years and migrate to Canada using the point system (I don't think there's a quota cap, is there?)

However, there's something I need to know:

I understand that, unlike the US, Canada's discrimination laws only apply to public companies, like government agencies. As a math teacher, this isn't that bad for me, since I'll be working for a public school. However, as I look at the civil rights laws in Canada, I find that it is only illegal to fire someone because of a protected class, such as mental or physical disability.

Well, I do have a mental disability; it's called Aspergers, and if you don't know what that means, Wikipedia has a good article on it (Wikipedia isn't supposed to be reliable, but take it from me, from first-hand experience, this article is). Here in the US, those who are bound by discrimination laws not only have to give me equal footing, but they also have to accommodate my disability. Just the same as how you can't force a Jew to work on Saturdays, due to a religious accommodation, if one of your employees has a type of Autism like I do, you have to put up with a good deal of tactlessness on his part. If he's tactless to a few customers, tough, because customer satisfaction, or lack thereof, is not a good reason to break discrimination laws. For example, if a person has Tourrett syndrome, they cannot be fired because they randomly shouted a profanity at a customer, because they have tourrett's! They can't help it!

That lack of exception was established around 1965, when the American Civil Rights Act was a year old, when a man was denied a job as a flight attendant because the plane companies said that their customers wanted a female stewardess. Therefore, if someone's protected class is offending the customers, the managers need to take time out to explain to the customers why he can't be fired. That's just the way it is.

I know that Canadian civil rights don't extend to the private sector like the United States' discrimination laws do, but I'll be working in a public school, so that's of no real concern to me. My question is: Would a public entity be just as legally required, not just to give me equal footing, but also to accommodate my Aspergers, the way they are in the US?
 

links18

Champion Member
Feb 1, 2006
2,009
128
Asperger's was just eliminated from the DSM and classified under autism; so you should be covered for your "disability." But it is still a controversial diagnosis on either side of the border. Good Luck!
 
Q

Qaxlor

Guest
I don't want to go too far afield here, but I would like to correct one thing lest people get an overly optomistic view of the U.S. Employers in the U.S. are required to make REASONABLE accomodation without undue hardship for a known disability. There's a world of meaning in those modifiers and there's a lot of wiggle room in there. Is it reasonable to have to install a ramp and lower some fixtures to accomodate someone in a wheelchair? Seems like it, but a small business with tight cash flow might argue they can't afford it.

To your example, I am not sure it would be reasonable to expect a business to continue to employ someone in a customer facing role if they were causing a substantial loss of cash because their disability was chasing away customers. I'm not saying they couldn't be sued for firing someone (you can sue for anything) what I am saying is that I don't think it's altogether cut and dry, it's all a matter of documenting what accomodations you have made, documenting the process you have used to try and remedy the problem, and how much accomodation is costing you and where you, as a business owner, decide to draw the line. Size is also an issue, the larger the organization as a whole, the smaller the bite any accomodation is (and the bigger a target they are for lawsuits), so larger organization typically have more robust policies and procedures in place to deal with it.

Again, this is straying from the topic at hand and I apologize, but to bring it back to Canada, my scant understanding of the disability laws in Canada is that they are similar, they require accomodation without undue hardship. So, take that for what it's worth.
 

mrdrm130

Newbie
Feb 11, 2010
4
0
Listen kid, I don't want to break your heart but...I have bi-polar disorder and I am a teacher (Special Education, ironically enough). I had a very public mental breakdown during my initial diagnosis. My employer, while sympathetic to my plight, hardly gave me license to rave on like a lunatic in the school or act like an idiot under the guise of having a disability. In fact, although they knew why a previously good teacher was suddenly behaving very strangely, they began attempting to fire me on the grounds that my job performance was suffering. They looked for every little reason until I finally took a medical leave, got myself back together, and returned healthier to the classroom. Don't depend too heavily on the fact that your school is going to look out for your best interests or is going to kill itself to make everything work. If you piss off enough parents by being socially clumsy, or if you weird out the administration by showing up to work poorly dressed with ketchup stains on your shirt or by some of the odd things you say, don't be surprised if they don't renew your contract or deny you tenure for another reason. That, my Aspergian friend, is the harsh reality of the situation. By the way, most of my favorite students have been kids with Aspergers. I've found almost all of them bright and engaging and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all of them. Good luck to you.