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And just like any affirmative action laws, people assume you are hired just because you are a member of a protected group.

When you identify yourself as a spoiled brat, are you saying that you are one of the people who protested a deaf woman who only learned sign language later in life? That's what I was talking about.

My first ex wife is blind, I hung out at the disabled students' association at the university where we met, and I saw all kinds of people 'tin cupping' the system. I'm immune to disability sympathy tricks.

"And just like any affirmative action laws, people assume you are hired just because you are a member of a protected group."

Quite frankly I don't care what people assume. If the laws help people who would be discriminated against based on the color or their skin or their disability then I think it is a good thing. I know ADA has been abused at times and that's unfortunate, but the sad truth is, if it wasn't for ADA laws many disabled wouldn't even get in the door simply because of their disability. If the world wasn't full of narrow minded bigots who didn't have their biases and prejudices we wouldn't need laws like ADA. So yeah, ADA has been abused by some, but many disabled have been looked down on and not even given a chance to prove they could do the job just because of the way they looked, or the fact that they could not hear or see or whatever.

By the way, no, I was not one of those people who was there to protest at Gallaudet, but I did support her removal. You seem to think it was only because she learned sign language later in life. That's because of what the media keeps focusing on, but there were a host of other issues that played into this. She was the wrong choice for a lot of reasons and if you search google news you would find that there is much more to the story than just the fact that she learned sign language late in life. In fact, that was not the issue at all, but that is all that got emphasized because that is the way the media works.

One more thing, for 27 years of my life I could hear. I never experienced one day of being discriminated against. When I became deaf I was shocked at how differently people treated me, looked down at me, acted like I was inferior to them, etc. I experienced all kinds of prejudices and discrimination after I became deaf, still do. But I'm no victim and I know how to stand up for myself. There are a lot of valid reasons why ADA law is not good, but there are a ton of reasons why it is, and as a deaf person I am glad to have the benefits of this law.