Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006210428
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B8 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
Bryan Drummond, 30, of Baltimore filed the complaint with the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission.
The HMO refused to comment.
State law and Fairfax County ordinances prohibit an employer from discriminating against an otherwise qualified person solely because he or she has a disability.
Last November, Drummond said, he was invited to a job interview at the HMO after a personnel employee read his resume. But after a telephone conversation with the employee, Drummond said, he was told the job was filled.
Drummond later had his aunt call Capital Care and inquire about the job. She was told it was still open and that she should apply, he said. Drummond said he called Capital Care back and was told by the personnel employee's supervisor that he wouldn't be able to handle the job because of his stutter.
The job, which entailed discussing the HMO's benefits over the telephone, is something Drummond says he can do.
Drummond does fund-raising and sells theater subscriptions and tickets part time by phone for Arena Stage.
"He's one of the best salesmen we have," said Don Hawley, Arena's telemarketing manager. "His work habits are excellent."
David Amussen, manager of Adcom Inc., an art supply store in Baltimore, said Drummond "worked for us talking in the customer-service department over the phone. We never had a complaint. He was helpful. He knew his job."
"I know [that] because of my speech there are things I would not be able to do," Drummond said. "Would you see me as an operator on a 911 line or in a life-or-death situation? I would never put myself in that kind of job. Can you see me at an airport trying to get planes down on the ground safely and I stutter? I can't imagine it."
"I get angry when people say I can't do something or people say my speech is a problem when I know it's not," said Drummond, who can breeze through many sentences without a bobble, only to get stuck on a word or two.
Problems can arise in interpreting the laws to determine if a disability is severe enough to deem a person unqualified for a job, said Fred Allen, executive director of Fairfax County's Human Rights Commission.
"Sometimes it's very difficult, whether a person's stuttering prevents him from performing a job or being successful at the job," Allen said. "It goes back to whether the person is understandable."
Allen said he could not comment on Drummond's case, but he recalled another case the commission heard involving a person whose job was to respond to emergencies by phone. The person spoke with a dialect and his employer wanted to fire him.
"We didn't have a problem listening to him," Allen said, but he added that such cases are "a very difficult judgment call."
by CNB