It is not always easy to determine that you are being discriminated against. In fact, you will not really notice or recognize someone's actions as discrimination until long after the fact. When that discrimination denies you something that you wanted and/or needed as a basic human comfort or right, you should consult a disability discrimination attorney. Before you meet with the attorney, however, here is how you can figure out if there are any signs pointing to discrimination in your case.
You Were Hired in an Online Interview, but When You Showed up to Work in a Wheelchair or Crutches, They Fired You
More and more interviews are being done over the phone or online. It is easier to schedule the interviews, and less judgement on the part of the interviewer occurs. You can take advantage of this by not sitting in a wheelchair or needing crutches to come into the interview room, too. If you are hired online or over the phone, but then you are told that you are no longer needed when you come into the office on your first day, that may be discrimination. You will know for certain if someone else without a physical disability is immediately hired to replace you in the position you were hired to do.
You Take an Apartment Shown to You by a Real Estate Agent, but the Proprietor Refuses Your Money
Real estate agents acting on the interests of landlords and landladies will show apartments to any interested parties. They will also fill out the rental or lease agreements, and secure your money for security deposit and first and last months' rent. However, if you took an apartment this way, and the proprietor suddenly returns your money and refuses you the apartment, it may seem a little off. The only way to know if you have been discriminated against under these circumstances is if the proprietor said they no longer needed a renter, but then rented the apartment a week or two later to someone else. Barring that the apartment was rented to family, it may be discrimination.
Restaurants Refuse to Seat You, Citing That You Would Block Their Aisles Between Tables
This kind of discrimination is a little more obvious. Sure, aisles between tables need to remain clear so that waitstaff can get through with their trays, but if parents place infant high chairs in the aisles, your wheelchair should be fine. If you offered to collapse your chair and sit in a booth, or set your crutches out of the way, you should have been seated. If not, you have a discrimination lawsuit on your hands.
