Penn, Teller, and the ADA

Can't watch videos at work, but I'd be curious to hear what they have to say about the ADA. I've reviewed toothpastes on my blog before and I'm curious if that "ADA RECOMMENDED" seal really means much

FYI, I don't think that's the official Penn & Teller Bullshit YouTube channel so you're probably breaking the board rules about encouraging piracy.

Ok, wrong organization right abbreviation. How is that my fault though? I can't watch videos and you didn't explain which ADA you were talking about

Pretty worthless episode, imo. Computer guys says that people would have more money, more success, etc. with out the ADA . . . and then never backs that up with anything. Handicapped spaces aren't needed because they aren't occupied 24/7/365? Really? Round doorknobs are not illegal in the US. That is, pardon the pun, a bullshit way to phrase it designed intentionally to deceive. Drive up ATM's have to have braille hahahaha because blind people can't walk, amirite? Because the employment percentage for handicapped people hasn't increased that invalidates all other aspects of people's lives it may have improved? The dude in the iron lung is supposed to make the point that we can't cover every type of handicap, but I fail to see how that invalidates the other 99.9% that it does cover.

The closest they come to making valid points revolve around how the system can be abused by lawyers, and whether or not the cost is worth the return. Both of those, of course, are arguments that can be made about pretty much every thing in the history of ever.

Pretty retarded.

Bet Rand Paul dug it, though.

Drive-up ATMs probably have Braille because it's probably cheaper to make all ATMs with Braille than to make some with and some without.

I do wonder why the mother of the blind girl is so worked up about handicapped parking spaces, though. Nothing about her daughter's disability prevents her from physcially walking. The worst that would happen if they had to park in a regular spot is that her mother would have to lead her a few extra feet. Meanwhile, they're talking the space away from someone who may have real difficulty walking that distance.

9 out of 10 of Bullshit!'s arguments boil down to "the free market will take care of it" - and that's always amidst a shit landslide of unfunny jokes and reductio ad absurdum. Hahaha, look at that, they tried to get an iron lung on a bus!

A lot of handicapped spaces are used because they're bigger, like for lifts and such.

I do like that all the pro-ADA people they bring out to be "fair" are loud and obnoxious while the anti-ADA people, while still very wrong, are well-spoken and educated.

Disabled people aren't that large a group and a lot of us don't speak up even though we should. If the ADA didn't exist, a lot of businesses wouldn't bother to modify their stores. Their argument is like saying everything would have worked itself out anyway for black people because its the right thing to do to treat them well if the Civil Rights Act hadn't passed.

Their argument is also that the ADA will turn us all into Harrison Bergeron. Thanks for nothing, Bradbury.

Vonnegut, not Bradbury.

Whoops.

This show was ok in the first season, maybe two. But once the prime subjects ran out, holy jeebus, did this thing turn to shit.

And frankly, although I might agree with some of their stances on certain issues, they present it in the worst way a lot of the times. Also, Pen Jillete: You're not funny. At all. Also, the yelling. It gets old.

Their shameless attempts to pay attractive women to appear naked on their show so that they can live out their fantasies of being ladies men get REALLY old after a while.

My dad owns a corridor of shops here in San Diego. He inherited it from his father, it will one day go to me. First thing my dad did was get it up to code(Seriously, I could sue half of La Jolla because of the ADA laws most there don't follow) and have me test everything. Then about a year later, this guy comes and sues my dad because he doesn't think the bathrooms are good enough. I told my dad we could probably win just on the basis that I'm his heir for it, but he settled because it was cheaper than hiring a lawyer and fighting it. Its a pity though, I kinda wanted to expose this guy, he's semi-able-bodied and has somewhat of a reputation as a lawyer that uses the ADA to make money on lawsuits.

Point is, the people that want the money more than a fix of the problem are what make people not understand or like ADA.

Most discrimination against the disabled is indirect. 30-40 years ago I could have very easily been instutionalized instead of mainstreamed into society. People have no idea how bad we had it. Penn is right that a lot of places are afraid to hire us...but that's not our fault. That's prejudice on the part of the employer. Ah, for the golden days when we had no rights at a job and almost none in society!

We don't deserve the same rights or fair treatment, but hey we can do dumb animal tricks!