Ken,

The 11th Circuit Covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida, which is why I though
it might be of particular interest to you.  What's the legal justification
for your case being barred from the courts?  With where you live, taking it
to court anyway to challenge the 1940 law looks like it would be an exercise
in futility.

Established by Congress in 1981, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh
Judicial Circuit has jurisdiction over federal cases originating in the
states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The circuit includes nine district
court's with each state divided into Northern, Middle and Southern
Districts.

The entire disability community needs to speak out on this IMHO, because it
reminds me of the poem by Niemoller:

  Original                           Translation Als die Nazis die
Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte. When the Nazis came for the
communists <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist>,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social
democrats<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democrat>
,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union>
,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

I know I've said I don't generally trust Wikipedia, but it had the poem in
the original German, and the translation appears to be accurate (if the
German version wasn't manipulated to match the English version).

The poems history is interesting as well, because it talks about the Nazi
T-4 program ( that led to the deaths of 145,000 people with disabilities)
being mentioned in an ommitted stanza.

There is a tremendous amount of web traffic around the poem


On 5/24/07, ken barber <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> absolutely unbelieveable. how can a court rull mental
> retardation not a disability? the 11th, where is that
> at.
>
> i wish i could get my case to a court but by law can
> not. the government once again has stacked the deck in
> its own favor. since the 1940s no less.
>
> --- "Kendall D. Corbett" <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Ken, and everyone,
> >
> > ,
> >
> > The 11th Circuit just held that mental retardation
> > is _not_ a
> > disability under the ADA.  Think we could get an
> > Appeals Court to say
> > we don't have a disability, like your doctors did in
> > your
> > disability/worker's comp. case ?!?  Littleton's
> > argument may have
> > failed becuse he used the word "thinking" instead of
> > "learning," and
> > "communicating" instead of "speaking."  Follow the
> > link to read the
> > full decision.  So if we were discriminated against
> > because we don't
> > walk well, and sued saying we had "impaired
> > ambulation,"  rather than
> > "walking" would our case be rejected because we/our
> > attorneys used
> > slightly different terminology?  IMHO, Littleton's
> > terminology
> > probably was more descriptive of his disability than
> > the narrower
> > terms "learning" and "speaking," but easily included
> > them.
> >
> > I just signed on to do local work for the "Road to
> > Freedom" ADA tour
> > and the post from JFA about this landed in my
> > mailbox about 20 minutes
> > later.  If people with all types of disabilities
> > don't make our voices
> > heard on this, I'm afraid the slow dismantling of
> > the ADA will
> > continue, and accelerate.
> >
> > Court Decision: "Mental retardation" is not a
> > disability under ADA
> >
> > In the case of Littleton v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
> > the Court of
> > Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in an unpublished
> > opinion from May
> > 11, held that an individual with mental retardation
> > did not have a
> > disability under the Americans with Disabilities
> > Act.
> >
> > With guidance from the Alabama Independent Living
> > Center, Mr.
> > Littleton interviewed for a job as a cart-push
> > associate at Wal-Mart.
> > However he was not allowed to have his job coach
> > accompany him into
> > the interview, and he was ultimately not hired.
> >
> > While acknowledging his intellectual disability, in
> > the Court's
> > analysis, Littleton, who receives Social Security
> > benefits because of
> > his disability, was found not to be substantially
> > limited in major
> > life activities.
> >
> > The following are excerpts from the court decision:
> >
> > "We do not doubt that Littleton has certain
> > limitations because of his
> > mental retardation. In order to qualify as
> > 'disabled' under the ADA,
> > however, Littleton has the burden of proving that he
> > actually is, is
> > perceived to be, or has a record of being
> > substantially limited as to 'major life activities'
> > under the ADA.
> >
> > "It is unclear whether thinking, communicating, and
> > social interaction
> > are 'major life activities' under the ADA."
> >
> > The entire court opinion is available as a pdf at:
> > http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/unpub/ops/200512770.pdf
> >
> > The following was taken from page 5 of the 9 page
> > decision of the court:
> >
> >
> > The regulations provide that mental retardation
> > qualifies as a "mental
> > impairment." See 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(h)(2). Major
> > life activities
> > include "functions such as caring for oneself,
> > performing manual
> > tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking,
> > breathing, learning, and
> > working." See 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(i). This court has
> > not determined
> > whether thinking, communicating and social
> > interaction constitute
> > "major life activities" under the ADA.
> >
> > In his appellate brief Littleton asserts that the
> > district court did
> > not consider evidence pertaining to limitations on
> > his ability to
> > think and communicate.
> >
> > Kendall
> >
> > An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's
> > redundant!)
> >
> > The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the
> > unreasonable one
> > persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
> > Therefore, all
> > progress depends on the unreasonable man.
> >
> > -George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
> >
> > -----------------------
> >
> > To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY
> > list, go here:
> >
> >
> http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
> >
>
>
>
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
> 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time
> with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut.
> http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news
>
> -----------------------
>
> To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:
>
> http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
>


-- 


Kendall

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

-----------------------

To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:

http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy