Dealing with Discrimination

What you should do in the event you feel you have been
or about to be discriminated against.

--1) Make a journal or diary and note all the actions
of the people who are working against you. Note your
feelings to these actions and how they affect the way
you are living at home and how they affect your
social life. The journal will be valuable when you
want to claim psychological damages.

--2) Gather info on people who decided against you and
most importantly WITNESSES who will testify in your favor.
Get copies of your employee file, all papers you have
received from them and all information regarding the
position you wanted including ads on walls, newspaper.
You will have to do this secretly. And most importantly,
MAKE COPIES OF ALL THE PAPERS PERTAINING TO YOUR CASE
AND HIDE THEM IN A RELATIVE'S HOUSE.

--3) File a protest with your employer's human resources,
union, and Labor Department. Make sure you have all copies
of the protests in a secure place.

--4) Contact the Fair Employment and Housing Dept and
schedule an appt with them. Filing a complaint with
this agency will preserve your right to sue the
person(s) involved. Try to get the complaint in no later
than 6 months to ensure you are within the statute of
limitations.

--5) Contact your local deaf association for referrals
to an attorney. Be very patient with the attorney's
questions to you. Lawyer 'shopping' is HARD WORK that
PAY$ very well. This phase can get very frustrating.
Try to bear with their slow speed as they usually have
other cases to take care of before yours. Once you
have retained an attorney, HE/SHE is in charge of ALL
of the elements that goes into the case. The average
time a case is resolved is 4-8 years.

--6) BE READY TO LEAVE WORK. Update your resume and seek
employment elsewhere. Or have all information regarding
disability, SSI, Workman's Compensation ready for you
in the event you are discharged or become unable to work
for that company. Try to get on disability leave
immediately after their adversive actions against you.
Have a doctor/psychologist information ready as well.

--7) SILENCE UNTIL CASE IS SETTLED. Telling others of this
case could weaken your case as the people who you are
suing may find out from your friends and build up a
defense. The surprise element is very cruicial to your
case and has many advantages.