Congresswoman and disabled rights advocate sued for 'humiliating' visually impaired aide



A congresswoman who has championed the rights of disabled people is being sued by a visually impaired former aide who claims she made 'humiliating' comments about her eyesight.

At one point, the lawsuit claims, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee told Mona Floyd: 'I don't care anything about your disability.'

The lawsuit, filed last month in District of Columbia federal court, is seeking unspecified pay and compensatory and punitive damages.

'Unlawful discrimination': Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, in green, is being sued by a former aide who is visually impaired

Mona Floyd, a lawyer who served as the congresswoman’s legislative director, claims Mrs Jackson Lee's treatment of her amounted to 'unlawful discrimination' and contributed to her resignation last fall.

Miss Floyd, the suit says, suffers from 'monocular vision,' causing eye fatigue and reducing reading speed - symptoms that worsen without adequate rest during the day.



She claims that after she came to work for Jackson Lee as legislative director and chief counsel in February 2010, the congresswoman did not follow through on a pledge from her office to 'accommodate her disability.'

She said the Texas Democrat piled reading assignments on her, often forcing her to work from 7am to 11pm without breaks to get all the work done.

In April 2010, the suit claims, Jackson Lee told her, 'It should not take 10 years to get them done,' in reference to a reading assignment.

The suit went on to question Jackson Lee's legislative efforts on behalf of disabled Americans.

Famous links: Rep. Jackson Lee once spoke of plans to introduce legislation named after singer Stevie Wonder to help disabled schoolchildren

At a House hearing last year, Rep. Jackson Lee said the federal government needed to do more to help disabled Americans and even talked of plans to introduce legislation named after singer Stevie Wonder to help disabled schoolchildren.

But Miss Floyd alleges that when she brought up her disability on one occasion, another staffer told her that the congresswoman had said: 'I don’t give a damn about her disability.'

'Representative Jackson Lee’s dismissive response to her staff member’s own disability proved that the representative was not a true advocate for persons with disabilities, but instead only paid lip service to that constituency,' Miss Floyd said in her lawsuit.

Jackson Lee's office would not respond directly to the allegations in the suit.

Her chief of Staff Glenn Rushing said in a statement: 'The office of U.S. Representative Jackson Lee considers internal personnel matters confidential and will not comment publicly on the allegations at this time, except to say that the office fully embraces and fully practices equal employment opportunities for all.'

Floyd first came to work under Jackson Lee in 2006, when she was a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation fellow assigned to her office, Fox News reports.

She later became an aide to Jackson Lee until late 2007, when she left to work for a non-profit organisation.

She came back to work for the congresswoman in February 2010.