Sorry for the acronyms. Is the Immigration and Naturalization service allowed to ignore the Americans with Disabilities Act?
Without going into it in great detail - I was almost denied entrance to an INS office because I had my insulin and syringes, with a signed doctor’s “to whom it may concern” note saying I needed them.
The security staff were NOT going to let me into the building unless I “surrendered” my insulin and syringes, unless I was “planning on taking a shot RIGHT THEN.” I convinced them into letting me in only by talking very nicely and trying to explain that I might in fact need my insulin, as I might be waiting several hours in their office. They reluctantly handed my medicine back to me, and deigned to allow me to actually go inside and conduct business.
Now, I haven’t made any sort of official complaint about this. The reason being, of course, fear of retirbution on the case I am involved in. Great Fear of retribution.
But I want to know if they are allowed to do this. From what I recall of my last legal search, no government agency is allowed to force me to surrender my insulin and syringes prior to entering a government building (unless I am a prisoner or something). Anyone know this? Eva Luna?
I don’t believe it has anything to do with official INS policy. Generally here in America, office security people are essentially trained monkeys. And not clever monkeys like those gorillas that know sign language.
Forgive my ignorance, but why would diabetes be considered a disability? Or are all diseases now considered disabilities? Not that this excuses the actions of the security guards.
Not just diabetes per se. My reading of ADA is that any person with an ailment or chronic illness that requires medication has to have reasonable accomodation for them to have their medicine available and to take their medicine should they need it. But I could be wrong. My company’s HR site lists diabetes as one of the “examples” of illnesses where reasonable accomodation is made.
I know they are BCIS, btw. I’ve been dealing with them for some time, and “INS” has stuck in my head.
I have an auto-syringe with me at all times for allergies. I also keep a note from my doctor with the Epi-pen explaining “No Breathe - injection - Breathe” vs. “No Breathe - no injection - Dead”.
I’ve had a few hassles moving in and out of several government buildings. But for the most part, once I explain what the pen is for, they understand. If they hassle me after that, I ask for their complete names and the name and phone number of their supervisor, “so my husband will know who to sue” in the case of my death. They OK the Epi-pen very quickly after that.
Don’t let them take your insulin away, especially since it sounds like you’re under a lot of stress. You have enough to worry about.
I know that the NC General Assembly had to pass a law last year in order to allow children with diabetes to be able to have ready access to their testing equipment and insulin last year. There’s some info on it here.
Because of their rabid fear of drugs, the schools have become absolutely ridiculous regarding medications. Typical rules are that all medications must be kept in the originally prescribed container in the principal’s office, and administered either by the school nurse (who, due to budget cuts, only shows up for a few hours twice a week) or another designated person. Of course, this could potentially kill a kid who had an idiot teacher who would say “No, Una, you can’t go to the principal’s office right now. Wait until after we’ve finished this video.”
Fortunately someone wised up, and we now have a law that provides parents with a law to back them up when drones on power trips at the school could put their children in danger.
Front desk reception “guards” at many places are not well-compensated by some standards.
The front desk guard at my office makes $7/hr…
Combining authority with poor wages and nearly non-existent statutory requirements for training will upon occasion produce quantitatively negative results.
This being said, the artist formerly known as INS may have an aggressive, progressive wages and benefits package for security staffers, or… not.
The ADA doesn’t allow everyone to go everywhere. For example, at our aquarium you can’t bring your guide canine into certain areas as it spooks the animals.
I suppose your equipment looked dangerous to them. I would have asked for a supervisor.
Well, that’s not who I was saying you were making a bigoted comment about, msmith537. Your comment was, and remains, an ignorant and bigoted assessment of security personnel.
I don’t know for sure what the regs are, but I’m not at all surprised you had problems. Whether the ADA should allow you to bring syringes into the BCIS building is something that could quite conceivably take a Federal lawsuit to decide. I haven’t needed to go into government buildings for work much since 1994, when there were no metal detectors whatsoever at INS or the Federal courts in Chicago. If it ever happens again, I would very politely ask to speak to a supervisor. And I really doubt Joe Schmo Security Guard would have any input whatever into the adjudication of your case, so I wouldn’t worry so much about that.
If it makes you feel any better, when I worked for the DOJ, one of my fun occasional duties was making trips to various state and Federal prisons to interpret in deportation hearings. I’m mildly asthmatic and carry an inhaler; they wouldn’t let me bring that in, either, even with a prescription label on it. I figured the risk of an asthma attack was low, so I just left it outside in my car.
On other occasions I’ve seen them refuse to allow a pregnant INS trial attorney bring in bottled water (she was having a very high-risk pregnancy and was under doctor’s orders to maintain a certain level of fluid intake, and the water at the prison was completely putrid, smelly, and disgusting). When she complained, they threatened to strip-search her, until she mentioned that her husband was an Assistant State’s Attorney and that if she was forced to leave the facility, no hearings would take place that day, thus wasting the time of the judge, myself, and all the corrections officers and inmates who had been transported at government expense from other facilities.
The funniest, though, was when an INS trial attorney was forbidden to bring in a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince to read at lunch, on the grounds that it was unnecessary non-work-related reading material. Meanwhile, inmates are allowed to receive Playboy, and there is a thriving contraband trade in drugs, booze, and weaponds. Go figure.
Yeah I guess it came out a bit harsh. It just irks me when security people act so mindless. What did they think Anthracite was going to do? Hold the building hostage with a hypo? And they gave it back to him/her anyway so what was the point of flexing their muscle?
“Sir you can’t come in the building with the bomb-vest”
“But I really need to”
“No”
“But I really…really need to”
“No”
“But I really…really need to”
“No”
“But I really…really…REALLY need to”
“Well…ok then.”
It’s like the fucking Circuit City guard. Yeah…you’re going to stop shoplifting by agrivating all the customers who actually paid for their products. While he’s checking Grandma Mose’s receipt some punk jast ran past him with carrying a DVD player and a PS2 in his pants.
Damn right it came out a bit harsh. It came out harsh, bigoted, ignorant, and mean.
One possible thing is that the security professional may have thought that Anthracite was going to inject someone else with whatever the substance, unknown to him at the time, that happened to be in the syringe.
Another thing to think about is that hypodermic syringes and needles very well may be on the list of items the security professional’s been told to look out for.
I echo the comment above: Ask for a supervisor. That’s not so hard is it?
Your last paragraph is yet more ignorance taking over. Even grannies have been known to shoplift. And not all shoplifters run past the checker. Evidently Circuit City’s not aggravating too many customers–people still shop there. Could it be that some people appreciate the effort to control shoplifting and understand that less shoplifting means less passing of the cost of shoplifting passed onto the customer? But if you don’t like it, “vote with your feet,” and just don’t shop there.
I have met my fair share of security assholes. The last one made me put my eyeglasses through the x-ray machine.
Security guards are poorly paid and so, the only candidates are people who cannot aspire to better jobs. They usually have little education and few, if any, marketable skills. Add to that the feeling of authority they get with the job and you have a bad recipe. Put a nobody in a uniform and he feels like he’s field-marshall Rommel. Little education and common sense coupled with big ego is not a good mix.
You know what? Why don’t you relax? I don’t care if you think I’m a “security guard bigot” whatever that is. If a security guard is going to act like a rude, mindless meathead who throws around his weight at the slightest opportunity, I am going to label him as an “ape” or “goon” or any number of other slurs to the security guard race.
Hypos may well be on a list of watch items but I’m sure Anthracite was not the first person to go to the INS with certain medical needs.
A couple of things- I’ve never had a problem with the security gaurds that check reciepts. I just say ‘no thank you’ and keep on walking. This almost always gets a ‘have a nice day’ and only occasionally a blank stare.
As far as ‘vote with my feet’ the store can ask me whatever they want when they leave, but they should (and apparently do) expect that not everyone will be happy parting with the property that they now own (bag, reciept, merchandize, etc).
I’m relaxed, smith. Why don’t you quit tossing out bigoted comments as though they’re Truth From On High[sup]tm[/sup] and then get bent out of shape when you get called on them?
And this part:
Just shows you admit to being a bigot–one who portrays an entire group negatively based on the bad actions of one individual in that group.
