Remarks by Vice President Harris in Roundtable Discussion on the Americans with Disabilities Act

July 11, 2023 | Indian Treaty Room, Eisenhower Executive Office Building

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Secretary Buttigieg.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Appreciate it.  Thank you.

As we have blind and low-vision folks here today, I will describe what I am wearing.  I’m wearing a lavender-color suit and a flag pin, and seated here with all of the colleagues and friends at a U-shaped table. 

? ?

And thank you again for — for accepting the invitation to have this important discussion, and as I said before the press came in, for my benefit, mostly so I can hear from you and understand and get feedback from you about the status of where we are in terms of the movement and where we have yet to go.  So I want to thank you all for that. 

And then, of course, one of the most recent issues that has been a topic of discussion around our country among many people: the issue of AI.  So, let’s think about that in terms of algorithms that are being written and employed for a variety of decisions that are being made, including employment decisions, and how ingrained bias — because it still exists in our society — about folks with disabilities can and may be integrated into those algorithms, in terms of making decisions in a way that could discriminate against people with disabilities. 

Sorry — what was she talking about? I drifted off just after she did. I’m sitting at a chair-shaped unit wearing a grey t-shirt.

Teacher’s Eight-Word Retaliation After Being Sacked for Calling in Sick for 20 Years
https://www.express.co.uk | Thu, Jun 29, 2023 | Hanisha Sethi, Ryan Fahey

“Sorry, but right now I’m at the beach.”

Cinzio Paolina de Lio taught philosophy and literature at a secondary school near Venice.

A philosophy and literature teacher at a school in Italy who only turned up for four lessons in her 24 years on the job has explained her situation to journalists in a swift, eight-word rebuke – while she was out enjoying herself on a beach.

Cinzio Paolina de Lio is said to have avoided working by using holiday leave, conference allowance, and sick leave to get away with [not] teaching for a whopping two decades.

When journalists from the Italian newspaper, Repubblica, demanded answers, she brazenly replied: “Sorry, but right now I’m at the beach.”

Students claim their former teacher would often ask to borrow text book.

??

Ms. De Lio said she planned to “reconstruct the truth of the facts of this absolutely unique and surreal story.”

I have to admit, I’d watch the movie.

She said: “I don’t answer questions from journalists thrown around that wouldn’t do justice to the truth of my story.”

Students at her school say their former teacher would just sit around and text during exams and not even have the textbook she was teaching from, and often ask to borrow one.

Despite her claiming to have three degrees, it is reported she did not show up for lessons, and would often dish out grades rather than marking work properly.

She was dismissed from her job in 2017, which then turned into a legal battle that went all the way up to Italy’s supreme court.

De Lio tried to defend herself by behind a “freedom of teaching,” which the court rejected, arguing it was teachers who had a responsibility to make sure students’ right to study was protected.

The Italian Supreme Court blasted her as “permanently and absolutely unsuitable” for the job of a teacher.

She was also branded the “worst employee in Italy” by her secondary school near Venice.

Barack Obama has reportedly asked her to mentor him.