== Site Navigation ==

Main Page Past Shows About Us Show Hosts Comment

== Project Sites ==

Disability Law Lowdown Podcast Disability Law Lowdown Podcast
en Espanol
Disability Law Lowdown Podcast
in ASL Southwest ADA Podcast

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

[ Listen | Download | Transcript | Printer Friendly Version (New window) ]

You're listening to the Disability Law Lowdown, show number 15.

Welcome to the Disability Law Lowdown. This is your host, Jacquie Brennan. Today I am going to do an update on disability law, just sort of going over some of the newer cases and Department of Justice settlement agreements that have come out this week, just to give you an idea of what's happening right now, and right now being in August of 2008.

The Department of Justice announced in the last week of July that a settlement agreement with the Educational Management Corporation, which is called EDMC, under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. EDMC is a for-profit business that provides education and training and it's one of the largest providers of private postsecondary education, which is pretty much career-focused education, in all of North America. The agreement covers 19 Brown Mackie campuses which are operated by EDMC and they're located in Ohio, Kentucky, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Arizona and Oklahoma. Under the agreement, EDMC will make these campuses more accessible to individuals with disabilities by removing architectural barriers. This is the Department's first ADA agreement with a postsecondary for-profit school and the Department's first agreement with an education provider that leases all of their campus facilities from another entity. EDMC leases, but doesn't actually own, each of it's Brown Mackie campus buildings. Under the settlement agreement, EDMC will, at each Brown Mackie campus, create a plan of access to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where such removal is readily achievable, ensure that assistive listening devices will be available in it's assembly areas, establish and implement an emergency evacuation plan for individuals with disabilities, designate an ADA compliance officer which will have the authority and responsibility for ensuring accessibility on the Brown Mackie campuses and reasonable modify policies, practices and procedures when necessary to afford access to services and facilities to individuals with disabilities.

“We applaud EDMC for its effort to improve access at it's Brown Mackie campuses,” said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “We hope that other schools will follow suit.”

The Justice Department this week announced an agreement with Humboldt County to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities. This agreement was reached under Project Civic Access, which was initiated to ensure that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in civic life. According to the agreement, many more persons with disabilities will be able to participate fully in fundamental aspects of life in their own community, including attending Town Hall meetings, viewing the government web sites, accessing emergency services and voting at their local polling places. Depending on the circumstances in each community, Project Civic Access agreements address specific areas where access can be improved. To date, the Department has entered into 158 settlement agreements under Project Civic Access to improve access in communities throughout the country.

The Justice Department announced the end of July, a consent decree that resolved a retaliation complaint filed against the city of Colorado Springs under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA prohibits employers from retaliating against an individual who engages in protected activity, like filing a discrimination charge with the EEOC or assisting in discrimination claims brought by other people. The Justice Department's complaint, which was originally filed in December 2007, alleges that Colorado Springs' police department denied a promotion to one of it's officers in retaliation for his vocal and visible support of his wife's ADA action against the Colorado Spring PD. As a 17-year veteran of the department and a nationally renowned instructor of SWAT techniques, the officer was routinely designated as “Acting Sargent” in the technical enforcement unit where he had served for the past 12 years. Despite his credentials, the support of his chain of command and the qualification on standardized components of promotional process, this officer was passed over for each of the 16 Sargent positions he was eligible to have over a 2-year period. Under the terms of the consent decree, the officer will be promoted to Sargent with retroactive pension contributions, seniority and all other non-monetary benefits he would have been entitled to if he had not been retaliated against. The City will also pay him back pay and in addition, the City will provide training on the ADA and it's retaliation prohibition to all Colorado Springs police department supervisory personnel. The DOJ vigorously enforces laws that protect employees from retaliation.

Army Major Daniel Gade doesn't think a wheelchair is the right piece of equipment for him. “I should be able to choose a reasonable piece of equipment,” said Gade, who lost his right leg at the hip after he was wounded in Iraq in 2005. For him, that's a Segway. That's those 2-wheeled, gyroscopically-stabilized, battery-powered personal transportation devices. “Disabled veterans with mobility issues should be accommodated in all circumstances, whether they use a Segway or a wheelchair,” Gade said. With his prosthetic leg, day to day, he walks like anyone else. “But a three-block walk is a long walk for me,” he said. The Segway allows him to stand while gliding to his destination, easily controlling the speed. It's also healthier to stand at least part of the time instead of sitting all the time to improve balance, increase circulation and aid in digestion. As part of a draft of proposed changes to meet the guidelines for the 2004 update of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Justice Department is considering addressing the use of Segways in public places. The proposed changes were published in the June 17th Federal Register. “If people believe this is important, they need to comment,” Gade said. Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov. And the deadline for comment is August 18th.

In a very unusual case in US District Court in the middle of July, the jury found in favor of Alamosa educator, Candy Wilson, who claimed her employer, the Alamosa School District, in California, has downgraded her from associate Alamosa High School principal to classroom teacher based on a perceived disability. Wilson contended that Alamosa superintendent Henry Herrera demoted her because he believed she had a disabling condition related to sever anxiety attacks. John Culver, the attorney who represents Wilson, said on Friday that although his client does not have a disability, she was discriminated against as if she did. He said he's never handled a case quite like this before. Culvert said that the ADA prevents discrimination against people with disabilities. Candy Wilson did not have a disability, but was suffering severe anxiety attacks. He said that the school superintendent jumped to the conclusion that Wilson had a severe anxiety disorder and downgraded her from associate principal. She was discriminated against because the District believed she had a disability, even though she did not actually have a disability. The jury that heard the case agreed with Wilson that if a person is discriminated against because of a perceived disability, even if that person doesn't have an actual disability. It is as illegal as if the person actually had a disability. The seven-person jury awarded Wilson 0,000 in emotional distress damages. Culver said that Wilson is also seeking back pay, the amount she would have been paid had she remained at the administrative level, and front pay, the amount she faces to lose in the future because of her demotion. Culver said that the expert witness for Wilson's case calculated front and back pay as being between 0,000 and 0,000, depending on when Wilson retires. Wilson is in her early 50's and has been employed by the Alamosa School District for 25 years. She worked at the Alamosa High School from 1998 until 2004. Culvert said Wilson is seeking either reinstatement to her administrative position or front pay for the amount she could have made had she remained in that post. He said that whether Wilson is reinstated or granted front pay will be up to the judge.

The Department of Justice announced in July that Raynor County Day School in Long Island, New York, entered into a settlement agreement with the United States to resolve two complaints filed by parents of children with diabetes who were turned down for enrollment in the school's day camp last summer. Pursuant to the agreement, Raynor School with evaluate each application to it's school or camp on a case-by-case basis and will make reasonable accommodations to permit children with diabetes to attend to the school or the summer camp. Accommodations may include, but are not limed to, supervising campers while they monitor blood glucose levels, using insulin pumps or other diabetes-related medical equipment and monitoring a child's consumption of food. The agreement will remain in effect for three years. The Raynor School allegedly denied requests to permit children with diabetes to attend the camp and denied requests for the school to supervise the children in daily monitoring of their diabetes, including personal testing by the children of blood glucose levels, administering insulin to themselves using a personal insulin pump. Insulin pumps are commonly used by children and young adults to administer insulin without a syringe.

People who are interested in finding out more about the ADA or about any of the settlement agreements with the Justice Department can call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA information hotline at 1-800-514-0301 or access the ADA web site at www.ADA.gov.

Lastly, I want to wind up with a few statistics. They US Census Bureau every year on the anniversary of the ADA, which was July 26th, issues facts for different features in observance of that day. So, I'm just going to go through a few of these with you.

They found that 41.3 million is the number of people who have some level of disability. And they represent 15% of the civilian, non-institutionalized population of age 5 and older. Now as far as specific disabilities go, 2.7 million people aged 15 and older use a wheelchair. Another 9.1 million use an ambulatory aid such a cane, crutches or a walker. Another 1.8 million people 15 or older report being unable to see. One million people 15 and older report being unable to hear. 2.6 million people 15 and older have some difficulty having their speech understood by other and of this number 610,000 were unable to have their speech understood at all. 14.3 million is the number of people with limitations in cognitive functioning or have a mental or emotional illness that interferes with daily activities, including those with Alzheimer's disease and mental retardation. This group comprises 6% of the population of 15 and older.

Employment- 11.8 million people between the ages of 16 and 64 report that a medical condition makes it difficult for them to find a job or remain employed. This comprises 6% of the population in this age group. 44% of people with a non-severe disability work full time year round. This compares with 53% of people without a disability and only 13% of people with severe disability. The median earnings for people with a non-severe disability is ,000. This compares with ,000 for those with no disability and ,800 for those with severe disability.

In terms of education, 33% is the percentage of people between the ages of 25 and 64 who had a non-severe disability and were college graduates. This compares to 43% with no disability and 22% with a severe disability.

In terms of being plugged into the Net, 36% of people between the ages of 15 and 64 use a computer at home and 29% of those have the Internet. This compares to those without a disability, 61% of whom use a computer at home and 51% of whom are connected to the Internet at home.

There are 2.7 million veterans who received compensation totaling 26.6 billion dollars for service-connected disabilities in 2006.

And some good news! 96.5% of all transit buses were ADA lift or ramp equipped as of 2005. This represents an increase from 61% in 1995.

I hope you enjoyed this little update and that you will join us again on the Disability Law Lowdown. Thanks for tuning in!

The Disability Law Lowdown is brought to you by the Disability Business Technical Assistance Centers, which are a network of ADA Centers that provide training, technical assistance and materials on the ADA and other disability related laws. Funding for the Centers is provided by a grant from NIDRR, the National Institute on disability and Rehabilitation Research. You can subscribe to the Disability Law Lowdown at our website at DisabilityLawLowdown.com or on iTunes.



The Southwest and Rocky Mountain ADA Centers are part of a program of Independent Living Research Utilization at TIRR - Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas, and is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. If you have questions about disability law or would like to request materials or training, please call 1-800-949-4232. This podcast is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works 2.5 License. For more information and transcripts, visit www.ada-podcast.com.