I ran into an new piece on a man who is disabled to a wheelchair who goes around to businesses and and documents violations of the American’s With Disabilities Act (ADA) and then sues them – making over $100,000 USD a year!
According to CNN.com Tom Mundy has been doing this as his primary means of a living – earning money in the low six figures which in America is more than most people would make in a year ever. Mundy has sued businesses how don’t have low enough mirrors, items too high for him to reach and various other items under a California Law that allows disabled individuals to sue the business for damages but offering a settlement of $1,000 for each infraction.
Lawyers for one of the defendants – a gas station calls Mundy’s actions “extortion” and questions whether he is doing this for advocacy or taking advantage of a law for personal gain.
When Does Advocacy Go To Far?
Its no secret that many self-advocates receive money for the blogs, websites, books or appearances they make. Some more substantial then others. Alex Plank – czar of wrongplanet.net runs countless advertisements on his website, which he has claimed as a for profit website – but also solicits donations. I have also been criticized for increasing the amount of advertising placement on AspieWeb. The question is: When Does advocacy turn Into greed, abuse of the system, or profiting off your disability? And Is doing so a ethical or moral problem?
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“When Does advocacy turn Into greed, abuse of the system, or profiting off your disability? And Is doing so a ethical or moral problem?”
Being a moral problem, it’s also an ethical one.
For me, this guy’s really making a mockery of what disability advocacy and support is about.
I think this guy should cut back on the lawsuits. I’m being reminded of the South Park epidode with Sexual Harassment Panda where a whole bunch of students plus the school get sued for sexual harrassment, forcing the school to cut back on various things. It’s one thing if you are being inconvenienced, but suing people to make a living is just going too far. If it were me, I would see the store owner myself and tell him/her about the thing I want changed privately. If the owner refuses to comply, then I would sue.