Epilepsy Foundation Issues Challenge to Presidential Candidates; Endorses Tony Coelho's Five-Point Platform

11/4/2003

From: Peter VanHaverbeke, 301-918-3772, or Sylvia Blair, 301-918-3773, both of the Epilepsy Foundation

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 -- In a unanimous vote over the weekend, the Epilepsy Foundation's national board of directors called on all candidates in the 2004 Presidential race to reverse recent judicial trends and restore the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to its original purpose of protecting people with epilepsy and a broad spectrum of individuals with disabilities. The board endorsed the five-point Work Agenda Challenge to Presidential hopefuls recently issued by former Congressman Tony Coelho, the principal author of the ADA, who has epilepsy.

In an October 24th speech at the New York Law School, Coelho called on the President and the Presidential candidates running for nomination to pledge major support for the employment rights of people with disabilities, including a series of actions that the federal government can take to improve access to work for the millions of American's with disabilities.

The five-point platform endorsed by the Epilepsy Foundation urges candidates to make a specific commitment to the following:

-- Appointing judges who will respect the Americans with Disabilities Act as law of the land.

-- Restoring the ADA to its original goals and purposes, in order to reverse the damage caused by decisions that do not support the ADA.

-- Using the federal government's massive purchasing power to increase the employment of people with disabilities in the private sector.

-- Dramatically increasing the number of people with disabilities employed by the federal government.

-- Changing federal policies that keep people with disabilities from full employment and inclusion in the workforce by paying them to stay home instead of granting the assistance they need to afford to go to work.

The Epilepsy Foundation action is part the growing demand by people with disabilities and their advocates to end erosion of the right to work by judicial decisions contrary to the intent of the ADA authors. In recent court decisions, people with epilepsy whose seizures are controlled with medication have been judged no longer to have a disability as defined by the law. In some cases, even those who continue to have seizures have been found ineligible for the law's protections against prejudice and discrimination.

"The Epilepsy Foundation has watched with great concern as court interpretations have allowed employers to fire qualified people from jobs simply and solely because they have a diagnosis of epilepsy. That is absolutely contrary to the intent of the ADA, and a true erosion of civil rights for people with disabilities," said Foundation President and CEO Eric R. Hargis. "We urge the whole disability community to join us and make this and the related Work Agenda issues top of the list of questions they have for everyone running for political office next year."

The mission of the Epilepsy Foundation is to ensure that people with seizure disorders are able to participate in all life experiences; and to prevent, control and cure epilepsy through research, education, advocacy and services.