Right, the person was asking about specifics pertaining to my child's disabling condition... but this wasn't a "screening" call, it was a call specifically TO ask about that condition.
So if an applicant made the statement that:
my mobility limitations have at times forced me to be creative in approaching...
It still wouldn't be appropriate for someone in the program office to call up the applicant about that line in the essay and ask "so tell me what this means. Are you in a wheelchair? Can you work in a building without an elevator?"
So it's clearly illegal. I'm not sure that they KNOW that what they did is illegal, though-- because while mobility impairments are clearly in the category of "disability" to most people, hidden things like diabetes, seizure disorders, etc. really don't register as "disability" in the same way. KWIM?
I know that they didn't do this with any kind of nefarious intent. But it's still discriminatory.
Two things at work here, and they are partly at cross-purposes:
a) this isn't about "how dare you do this to MY KID" or anything-- for me, it's about the larger advocacy bit... More like "look, this isn't an inclusive practice, and you should be more mindful about it"
b) ADA exists to provide a more "level" playing field. Not just for those who know to work the system in that context. So life lesson or not, (no offense, MoN) I think that my kid and anyone else with a disability gets plenty of practice with "the rules are different for people like you" and at some point, all that additional such life lessons provide is a crushing pressure to submit to becoming defeatist and bitter.
If I wait to say something, my message on both parts a and b will be diluted by "digruntled helicopter parent is mad that her special snowflake got passed over."
BUT... if I mention it NOW, then I'm "that woman" and I've also undermined my DD's confidence in her own competence to act as her own advocate. The latter matters far more to me than the former, incidentally.
