thank you for sharing this. it sounds like the dutch law was modeled after
the u.s. americans with disabilities act in regard to the "reasonable"
requirement.
i don't think we have any law that makes it illegal to incite violence or
hatred toward people with disabilities though. in my experience in the
states, there is still widespread denial of disability hate crimes. the
most common response i get when i try to discuss this topic is something
along the lines of "oh come on now, who would want to hurt a disabled
person?"
best, sharon
#
On Fri, January 6, 2006 7:29 am, Margje Smolders said:
> As of January 1st 2006 Dutch law prohibits discrimination against people
> with disabilities. It has also become illegal to incite others to hate or
> violence against disabled people. The law applies to physical,
> intellectual
> and psychological disabilities. The new law also states that public
> buildings, businesses and services need to accessible.
>
> It remains to be seen what the effect of this law will be because there
> are
> some loopholes. According to the law claims have to be 'reasonable'. For
> example: making a shop wheelchair accessible should not result in a
> 'disproportionate burden' for the owner. What is and is not reasonable or
> disproportionate has not been defined, it will have to be determined by a
> judge. Unfortunately, in a society in which a week ago it was,
> hypothetically speaking, not illegal to go on national television and say
> things like 'all disabled people ought to be killed because they form a
> burden for our economy', there is no telling how big or small a burden
> will
> be judged to be disproportionate.
>
> Seeing is believing.
>
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