Society for Nurses with Disabilities

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has charged Angel Medical Center, Inc. with disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Franklin, NC-based hospital refused to accommodate a hospital employee who had cancer and fired her. According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Susan Williams worked for Angel Medical Center starting on Dec. 7, 2009 as a full-time registered nurse.  In December 2011, Williams returned to work following extensive treatment for cancer.  At the time she returned to work, she still had five chemotherapy treatments to undergo.  According to the suit, Williams sought an accommodation that would allow her to complete the needed chemotherapy treatments while remaining a full-time employee.  The EEOC alleges that the hospital refused to accommodate Williams and instead terminated her employment. This alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects employees from discrimin...

Nearly 50 million people in the United States live with a disability. People with disabilities are increasingly represented in professional nursing. It is important to understand attitudes and concerns of nurse leaders who hire and work with nurses with disabilities. Using an exploratory descriptive design, this study surveyed nurse managers from 600 hospitals, with responses from 219 participants. Using a modified version of two subscales of the Employer Attitude Questionnaire, nurse managers expressed attitudes toward work performance, reported concerns or perceived abilities of staff nurses with disabilities to work in administrative positions, rated job performance, and described accommodations extended to staff nurses with a broad range of disabilities. Results indicated that most nurse managers rated work performance as exceptional or above average. Concerns included abilities to perform necessary job tasks, patient safety, and acceptance by the public and by coworkers of the nur...