vastateparksstaff
Americorps Participant
Until recently, not everyone was equally welcomed to join the organization, which promises participants “your moment to take the path less traveled, to break the status quo, to stop talking about the problem and be the solution.”
Signing up for AmeriCorps sure looks like a fun and fulfilling thing to do. All the people pictured on the AmeriCorps website have big smiles as they work, even while doing stuff like painting walls.
AmeriCorps is the civil service program signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1992. Its website states, “AmeriCorps is your moment to take the path less traveled, to break the status quo, to stop talking about the problem and be the solution. Join AmeriCorps and you can mentor and tutor kids, rebuild a community after disaster, help veterans, or work with local communities to alleviate poverty.”
But, until recently, not everyone was equally welcomed to join them in being “the solution.”
Susie Balcom found this out the hard way in the spring of 2017. At the time, she was in her last semester of college, preparing to receive her degree in social work. Previously, she successfully completed two short stints with the AmeriCorps state program in Michigan.
With this experience under her belt, Balcom applied to be an AmeriCorps team leader. She accepted an offer for this position that April. But less than a month later, the offer was withdrawn after Balcom revealed on a health questionnaire that recently she had briefly received psychiatric counseling.
With the help of the ACLU, Balcom filed an administrative complaint with the Corporation for National and Community Service, or CNCS, the federal agency that operates AmeriCorps. The complaint said that, after she accepted her job offer, Balcom was contacted by an AmeriCorps counselor who asked why she went to three counseling sessions earlier in that year, as she had reported on her health questionnaire. She explained that she sought help because she felt traumatized after a sexual assault where a coworker groped her breasts.
The complaint also said Balcom was informed that May that she would not be allowed to join AmeriCorps for at least a year because she went to counseling. That determination was based on CNCS medical guidelines that recommended deferring applicants who had “begun therapeutic intervention for diagnosed/undiagnosed anxiety disorder within the past 6 months.”
Since 2013, according to the complaint, AmeriCorps medically deferred 121 applicants and disqualified 171 more.
That, the complaint charged, is a blatant violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating against disabled people. The complaint said, “CNCS apparently concluded that Complainant could not serve based on assumptions about people who experience anxiety following sexual assault and seek counseling–e.g., that they cannot function professionally and cannot lead others.” The complaint also said the mental health guidelines used to justify turning Balcom away “punish those with mental health conditions who sought or are continuing to seek counseling.”
Well, a settlement was announced in September. CNCS, among other things, agreed to pay Balcom an undisclosed amount of cash and to offer her and others who were similarly denied a chance to reapply. But most importantly, the wording of the health questionnaire was changed significantly. It now asks applicants to disclose health conditions and disabilities for the purpose of determining what accommodations might be needed to help them do their jobs.
Apparently, Balcom wasn’t the only one who felt the sting of rejection. Since 2013, according to the complaint, AmeriCorps medically deferred 121 applicants and disqualified 171 more.
So now, thanks to Balcom, maybe disabled folks who want to join AmeriCorps in the new decade won’t be arbitrarily denied their opportunity to take the path less traveled, break the status quo, and do adventurous stuff like that.