Lifeguard sues YMCA after being fired because she's deaf
Photo and article are from CNN copyrighted 1997 (c)
LOS ALTOS, California (CNN) -- In 1995, Stacy Adam took a lifeguard course that enabled her to be certified -- and employed -- by the YMCA.
Two years later, she is suing the YMCA in both California and federal courts for firing her because she is deaf.
"I was in the office," says Adam, "and my supervisor said, 'This is the reason we have to let you go. Because of this policy, I'm relieving you of your lifeguarding duties.'
"My first reaction was just 'How'd that happen? Where'd that come from?'"
It came from the YMCA's national headquarters -- YMCA of the USA -- which decided in 1994 that its lifeguards must be able to "hear noises and distress signals."
Swimming pools are noisy places, but the issue in Adam's case is, Is it necessary to be able to hear those sounds to be a lifeguard?
Adam says no. "I see the facial expressions," she says. "A lot of people don't realize it, but I'm picking up other things."
YMCA: 'Lifeguards need to be able to hear'
The Y's position is that the regulations require it. But why weren't the rules applied when Adam was hired at the Los Altos Y after the criteria was spelled out?
"I don't have information on the particulars of that case," says Dave Mercer of the YMCA of the USA. "I do know that it's always been our position that lifeguards need to be able to hear."
Marshall Caskey, Adam's attorney, says his client performed her job with no problems before she was fired, and that there is no justification for firing her.
"To decide categorically, without any real basis for it, that no deaf person can be a lifeguard anywhere, that is discrimination!" Caskey says.
Lending further weight to Adam's argument is the fact that the American Red Cross, the nation's largest certifier of lifeguards, regularly certifies deaf people as lifeguards.
Adam received her first lifeguard certificate from the Red Cross in 1994. A year later, she took a cross-over course that allowed her to be certified by the YMCA.
Hers is not the first such case. A deaf lifeguard in Massachusetts has also sued the YMCA. His case was dismissed, and he is appealing. And while Adam's lawyers take on the 'Y' in court, she has a new job as a swimming instructor.
Two years later, she is suing the YMCA in both California and federal courts for firing her because she is deaf.
"I was in the office," says Adam, "and my supervisor said, 'This is the reason we have to let you go. Because of this policy, I'm relieving you of your lifeguarding duties.'
"My first reaction was just 'How'd that happen? Where'd that come from?'"
It came from the YMCA's national headquarters -- YMCA of the USA -- which decided in 1994 that its lifeguards must be able to "hear noises and distress signals."
Swimming pools are noisy places, but the issue in Adam's case is, Is it necessary to be able to hear those sounds to be a lifeguard?
Adam says no. "I see the facial expressions," she says. "A lot of people don't realize it, but I'm picking up other things."
YMCA: 'Lifeguards need to be able to hear'
The Y's position is that the regulations require it. But why weren't the rules applied when Adam was hired at the Los Altos Y after the criteria was spelled out?
"I don't have information on the particulars of that case," says Dave Mercer of the YMCA of the USA. "I do know that it's always been our position that lifeguards need to be able to hear."
Marshall Caskey, Adam's attorney, says his client performed her job with no problems before she was fired, and that there is no justification for firing her.
"To decide categorically, without any real basis for it, that no deaf person can be a lifeguard anywhere, that is discrimination!" Caskey says.
Lending further weight to Adam's argument is the fact that the American Red Cross, the nation's largest certifier of lifeguards, regularly certifies deaf people as lifeguards.
Adam received her first lifeguard certificate from the Red Cross in 1994. A year later, she took a cross-over course that allowed her to be certified by the YMCA.
Hers is not the first such case. A deaf lifeguard in Massachusetts has also sued the YMCA. His case was dismissed, and he is appealing. And while Adam's lawyers take on the 'Y' in court, she has a new job as a swimming instructor.