Deaf Football Lawsuit For Discrimination

Monday, March 23, 2015

Deaf Football Lawsuit For Discrimination

VIDEO: Family of Deaf child sues football association for discrimination in Minnesota.



MINNEAPOLIS, MN - A Fridley family filed suit this week against the Spring Lake Park Panther Youth Football Association over their Deaf son’s participation in the league. They believe the nonprofit should’ve paid for interpreters and allowed the family to use a special drum to signal the start of play.



Nine-year-old Dov Nathanson says he loves to play football. “I just think it’s cool. I love to tackle people it’s exciting,” he said.



Dov and and his brother Galvin are both Deaf, and they’ve played football with hearing children for years. But last year, the football association said he and his brother Galvin could no longer use a special drum that helps them know when the play is starting.

“Without it, I couldn’t feel it i couldn’t feel the vibration,” Dov said. “I was never ready for the play.”



Parents David and Gloria Nathanson are also upset that the association said they wouldn’t pay for an interpreter for their son’s last year. They say it’s the association’s responsibility.



“We were very frustrated nobody would listen,” David Nathanson said. “It was like we didn’t have a voice.”



Phil Richard, President of the Spring Lake Park Panther Youth Football Association, says the drum made it interfered with the game for other players, and that the family should be responsible for providing their own interpreter.



“It really just comes down to funding. It’s expensive,” Richard said. “We finished out year with $4,000. The cost of an interpreter is double that, and the law, we feel, protects us from that.”



Both Dov and Galvin plan to register for football again this year. The family says they want the policy changed–to allow Deaf players fair play.



“We’re just hoping that in the future that we will feel included,” Gloria Nathanson said.



Also mentioned in the lawsuit is a claim that David Nathanson was denied the opportunity to coach either of his sons teams last year, which he believes is because he’s also Deaf. He had coached three previous years. SOURCE

Deaf Man Jailed With No Access To Interpreter

Deaf Man Jailed With No Access To Interpreter

VIDEO: Deaf immigrant jailed for stealing iPad that wasn't stolen and no access to interpreter service in Virginia.



ARLINGTON, VA - He knew he was in jail, but he didn't know why. Eventually, Abreham Zemedagegehu learned that he'd been accused of stealing an iPad, an iPad whose owner later found it. He spent the next six weeks in jail, unable to communicate with his jailers because he is Deaf. He described a frightening, isolated experience in which medical procedures were performed without his consent and he feared for his safety.



Zemedagegehu sued the Arlington County sheriff last month in federal court, saying his treatment failed to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.



"I felt like I was losing my mind," Zemedagegehu said through an interpreter in an interview at his lawyer's office. "I thought Virginia would give me an interpreter and they said no. That's why I felt lost."

Zemedagegehu, who is homeless, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia. He grew up using Ethiopian Sign Language. He has learned American Sign Language, but he has never learned more than rudimentary written English.



Maj. Susie Doyel, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, which runs the jail, declined to comment on the specific allegations. She generally defended the jail's ability to handle Deaf inmates and others with disabilities, and said several deputies in the jail are proficient in sign language.



But she also acknowledged that communication with a Deaf inmate is more problematic in cases where the inmate can't communicate in written English.



In court papers filed Monday, lawyers for the sheriff ask a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that even if Zemedagegehu's allegations are true, they fail to show intentional discrimination because they attempted various different ways to communicate with him, including handwritten notes.



And even if the discrimination were intentional, the lawyers write that it would not violate federal law because there is a rational basis for the discrimination: "it takes extra resources and creates additional security considerations to bring in an ASL interpreter," they write... Read more: abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/deaf-immigrant-jailed-weeks-access-interpreter

Deaf Advocates Sues U of M Over Stadium Design

Monday, October 21, 2013

Deaf Advocates Sues U of M Over Stadium Design

VIDEO: National Association of the Deaf sues University of Maryland for failing to provide closed captioning at sports games.



WASHINGTON - Aberdeen Patch: A lawsuit filed in September by the National Association of the Deaf against the University of Maryland for its lack of amenities for Deaf fans at sporting events is just one of many such efforts to ensure hearing-impaired sports enthusiasts can enjoy themselves at stadiums.



Association CEO Howard A. Rosenblum said his organization has successfully sued other athletic organizations over the same issue, including the Washington Redskins, Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky.



The association successfully sued the Washington Redskins in 2011. According to lawsuit documents, the Redskins were required to “provide Deaf and Hard of Hearing fans equal access to the aural information broadcast over the stadium bowl public address system at FedEx Field.”

The University of Maryland lawsuit details complaints brought to the association by Sean Markel and Joseph Innes, two Deaf sports patrons who regularly attend Terrapin sporting events at Comcast Center and Byrd Stadium. Markel and Innes filed another complaint against the university on Oct. 16.



“This is an action to enforce the rights of individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and to ensure full and equal access to the defendant University of Maryland, College Park’s football and basketball games and other programs, services and activities taking place at defendants’ venues and on the University of Maryland athletic department website,” reads the official complaint filed by the association on behalf of Markel and Innes.



Maryland Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications Brian Ullman released a statement in response to the first complaint saying the university is committed to making sure Terrapin fans with disabilities can enjoy the school’s sporting events. He said the team already offers closed captioning through a special website that can be displayed on smart phones and tablets. ... Read more: http://aberdeen.patch.com/groups/sports/p/deaf-advocates-suing-university-of-maryland-have-had-success-with-other-institutions_56a6b094

Deaf Customers Sue Starbucks Over Mocking

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Deaf Customers Sue Starbucks Over Mocking

Deaf customers sue Starbucks, claim discrimination. Starbucks employees allegedly laughed at speech of hearing impaired customers in New York City.



NEW YORK CITY - Twelve Deaf Starbucks customers in New York City have filed a lawsuit against the Seattle-based coffee company, claiming discrimination. Starbucks employees allegedly mocked the customers multiple times over the course of several years, and once called the police on a monthly meeting of Deaf people.



"Cruel Employees" at two different Manhattan Starbucks mocked Deaf customers and refused to serve them, a stunning new lawsuit says.



"They were ridiculed, laughed at and told they had to leave Starbucks," said lawyer Eric Baum, who's suing on behalf of a dozen Deaf customers.



Jamie Riley, a spokeswoman for the mega-popular coffee chain, said they were aware of the allegations and were investigating them. "Discrimination of any kind is unacceptable at Starbucks," she said.



The suit says one incident took place at a Starbucks at 424 Park Ave. South in August 2012, when customer Alan Roth said a barista laughed when he placed his order, telling him he "sounded funny."



She "asked him to continually repeat himself as she laughed harder each time," and she was soon laughing "hysterically," the suit says.



When Roth demanded to speak to a manager, the employee started screaming obscenities at him and had to be restrained by other Starbucks staff, the suit says. Another employee told Roth to leave and never come back, the suit says.



Roth said he had "never before been so blatantly and maliciously been discriminated against."



The suit says Deaf customers also were forced to leave and had the cops called on them another time at the 13-25 Astor Place location, which had been chosen as the monthly gathering spot for an informal "Deaf Chat Coffee" social group. Read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/starbucks-employees-accused-refusing-serve-deaf-customers-article-1.1397714

Deaf Girl's Family Sues Cochlear Ear Implants For $7.25M

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Deaf Girl's Family Sues Cochlear Ear Implants For $7.25M

VIDEO: Louisville jury punishes company with $7.25 million verdict for selling Meade County girl defective ear implants that shocked her. An electrical short caused an 8-year-old girl to be thrown to the ground, vomiting and convulsing. The shocks happened two more times until the device was disconnected.



Courier-journal.com: LOUISVILLE, KY - Born Deaf, Breanna Sadler of Vine Grove, Ky., had a cochlear ear device implanted in her head in 2006, when she was 4 years old. Four years later, an electrical short from the device shocked her so violently that she was thrown to the ground, vomiting and convulsing.



After she was shocked two more times, the device had to be removed from her skull and replaced with a competitor’s model in an open-head surgery that took more than seven hours.



Breanna’s parents sued the manufacturer, Advance Bionics of Valencia, Calif., accusing the company of continuing to sell the device after executives knew it was leaking and defective. On Tuesday a U.S. District Court jury in Louisville agreed, awarding Breanna, now 11, and her parents $7.25 million in damages.



In the first of about 40 lawsuits filed nationally to go to trial, the jury said the company should pay $6.25 million in punitive damages alone for recklessly disregarding patient safety.



The Sadlers’ lawyers presented evidence that Advance Bionics executives delayed disclosing the defect so they could sell more devices and get more money when the company was sold. They “chose to ignore risks and focus on profits, ” the attorneys said in a brief.



About 4,000 of the devices have been implanted worldwide, and about 1,000 have failed, according to lead plaintiff’s counsel Tim Edwards, who estimated that dozens of patients in the Louisville area are “walking around with the devices in their head that have failed or will fail.” ...READ MORE: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130418/NEWS10/304180041/Louisville-jury-awards-girl-7-2-million-hearing-aid-gave-her-shocks

Advanced Bionics HiResolution Bionic Ear System.

USATODAY LOUISVILLE, KY - A federal jury has awarded $7.25 million in damages to an 11-year-old girl who suffered severe electric shocks from a defective cochlear-ear implant that has been inserted in 4,000 people most of Deaf children.



Born Deaf, Breanna Sadler of Vine Grove, Ky., had a cochlear ear device implanted in her head in 2006, when she was 4 years old. Four years later, an electrical short shocked her so violently that she was thrown to the ground, vomiting and convulsing.



After she was shocked two more times, the device had to be removed from her skull and replaced with a competitor’s model in an open-head surgery that took more than seven hours.



Her parents sued the manufacturer, Advance Bionics of Valencia, Calif., and on Tuesday a U.S. District Court jury here awarded Breanna, now 11, and her parents the money.



In the first of about 40 lawsuits filed nationally to go to trial, the jury said the company should pay $6.25 million in punitive damages alone for recklessly disregarding patient safety by continuing to sell the device after company officials knew it was leaking and defective.



The Sadlers’ lawyers presented evidence that Advance Bionics executives delayed disclosing the defect so they could sell more devices and get more money when the company was sold. They ” chose to ignore risks and focus on profits,” the lawyers said in a brief.



About 4,000 of the devices have been implanted worldwide, and about 1,000 have failed, according to lead plaintiff’s counsel Tim Edwards of Memphis. ...READ MORE: http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2094397

New Hampshire Hospital Settles With Deaf Woman

Friday, April 5, 2013

New Hampshire Hospital Settles With Deaf Woman

VIDEO: New Hampshire hospital settles with Deaf woman. Monadnock Community Hospital of Peterborough has agreed to a settlement over allegations that it failed to provide appropriate aid and services under the American Disabilities Act.



PETERBOROUGH - The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Monadnock Community Hospital has agreed to a $5,000 settlement with a Deaf woman who received medical care at the hospital in 2010, according to a statement from justice department officials.



The woman, Amy Dauphinais, communicates primarily through sign language, and alleges hospital officials failed to provide her with auxiliary aids during her stay there, which resulted in her being unable to communicate with hospital personnel, and instead relied on her minor daughter to interpret for her, according to the statement.

Monadnock Community Hospital.

Although the hospital agreed to pay Dauphinais $5,000, it did so without admitting liability in the incident, justice department officials said.



In a statement, hospital officials said there was "a strong difference of opinion on the facts of the patient visit that was the basis of the claim," and that "there was never any question of any adverse effect on the quality of care provided to any patient and MCH cooperated throughout the case. ...READ MORE: http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/local-hospital-settles-with-deaf-woman/article_96c3aaa8-af8f-5ddc-91eb-15a86a64508c.html

Deaf Woman Suing Former Employer For No Terps

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Deaf Woman Suing Former Employer For No Terps

Deaf woman suing former employer for not providing sign language interpreter. Discrimination suit filed.



ROSEVILLE - A local nonprofit dedicated to helping people with special needs is being sued for allegedly discriminating against a former employee with disabilities.



The lawsuit says Placer ARC violated federal law when it failed to provide reasonable accommodations to a Deaf employee.



Homeyra Kazerounian is Deaf and uses sign language to communicate. And according to a lawsuit, her supervisors failed to provide an interpreter for her during daily staff meetings and forced her to speak only in English.



“Literally she doesn’t speak anything. She uses American Sign Language,” said David Offen-Brown, Kazerounian’s attorney.



Kazarounian started working at Placer ARC’s Auburn office in 2005 was always given an interpreter during mandatory staff meetings, according to the federal lawsuit. But when she transferred to Roseville three years later, her attorneys says that all changed.



“They required her to communicate by writing notes,” said Offen-Brown.



According to a lawsuit filed by an attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Kazerounian’s consistent requests for an interpreter went unfulfilled.



“This didn’t allow her to participate in the meetings, to ask questions, to make statements, to participate in discussions,” said Offen-Brown.



Placer ARC Executive Director Barbara Guenther wouldn’t go on camera, but released this statement: ...Read more: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/03/26/deaf-woman-suing-former-employer-for-not-providing-sign-language-interpreter/

$5.75 Million Settlement Awarded To Deaf & Blind Students

Monday, February 25, 2013

$5.75 Million Settlement Awarded To Deaf & Blind Students

VIDEO: $5.75 Million Settlement Awarded to Deaf and Blind Students Sexually Assaulted by Gang at Hawaii Public School.



HONOLULU - A young girl is forced to perform oral sex on an older boy while he films her with his cell phone camera and students at their school look on, another young girl becomes pregnant after she is raped by a male student at her school, a young boy is sodomized in the bathroom by an older student, but school administrators don’t penalized the perpetrator, another child is sexually assaulted by five boys on campus, and nothing is done to stop them or punish them after the fact.



These are not scenarios from an NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode, they are actual events that parents say took place at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind, the state’s only public school for children with these disabilities.

For more than a decade, some of the school’s administrators and students covered up a terrible secret young children between 12 and 16 years old were being terrorized - robbed, raped, sodomized and even gang raped on campus and on the school buses – not by employees, but by other children. There are just 80 children enrolled in the school, which is located on the edge of Waikiki, Hawaii’s main tourism hub, and just across the street from the Honolulu Zoo.



One student heading a gang calling themselves the “Ringleaders” orchestrated the attacks, and students were ordered to participate as attackers or retaliated against.



Michael Green is one of five attorneys who successfully secured a $5,750,000 settlement last week from the state and a school counselor. ... Read more: http://www.hawaiireporter.com/5-75-million-settlement-awarded-to-deaf-and-blind-students-sexually-assaulted-by-gang-at-hawaii-public-school/123



Related Post:

Settlement Reached In Lawsuit Involving Deaf & Blind Students

Arrests Made In Alleged Sex Assaults At Hawaii's School For The Deaf and Blind

Deaf Community Sues Welfare For Lack Of Interpreters

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Deaf Community Sues Welfare For Lack Of Interpreters

Deaf Pennsylvanians lawsuit welfare for lack of interpreters: U.S. judge eyeing deal to aid state's Deaf, intellectually disabled human service system clients.



HARRISBURG - A federal judge is being asked to approve a settlement of a class-action lawsuit that would ramp up the state's responsibility to individuals who are Deaf and intellectually disabled.



A key provision of the proposed deal U.S. Middle District Chief Judge Yvette Kane is weighing would require the state Department of Public Welfare to hire sign language interpreters and other specialists to improve communications with Deaf and intellectually disabled clients in the human services system.



About 250 such clients have been identified so far in the state's system of group homes and other service providers, according to filings in the case. Also, DPW would have to pay $450,000 to the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, which filed the lawsuit against DPW in 2010 on behalf of a disabled client identified in court papers only as Harry M.



In seeking approval of the settlement, the rights network stated that DPW officials also have signed off on the proposed deal. The rights network claimed in its lawsuit that the state is not properly helping intellectually disabled Pennsylvanians who are Deaf, because service providers often cannot effectively communicate with them.



Clients who would be affected by the settlement receive services from their home counties through the state-funded Home and Community-Based Waiver, also known as the Consolidated Waiver program. ... Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/02/us_judge_eyeing_deal_to_aid_st.html

Deaf Gay Man Sues D.C. Jail For Mistreatment

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Deaf Gay Man Sues D.C. Jail For Mistreatment

VIDEO: Deaf gay man alleges mistreatment at D.C. jail.



WASHINGTON, DC - A former inmate in the District of Columbia correctional system is suing the city for alleged mistreatment. The D.C. man is Deaf, and the lawsuit claims he was unable to effectively communicate during his period of confinement. It also alleges his treatment got worse when he complained.



44-year-old William Pierce is profoundly Deaf. He wound up with a 60-day sentence in the city's correction system after an altercation with his partner resulted in a conviction for simple assault.



At the order of the judge, Pierce actually wound up in the Correctional Treatment Facility to get help. The CTF adjoins the city jail.

Arthur Spitzer, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital, said in an interview: "There was no interpreter there for [Pierce] at intake, or at any of his medical appointments, he had some medical problems or at any of his classes. He was taking an anger management class, and he didn't know what was going on. He didn't know what people were saying. He couldn't participate in the group discussion(s)."



The lawsuit says, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, accommodations for the Deaf must be made so inmates can communicate. Things got worse for William Pierce when he complained, according to his attorney. ... Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/20943928/deaf-man-alleges-mistreatment-at-dc-jail#axzz2KD4UbjPN



Washington Blade - Gay Deaf man sues city for mistreatment.



WASHINGTON, DC - In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Feb. 1, a former D.C. jail inmate who’s Deaf and gay, accuses the city’s Department of Corrections of engaging in disability-related discrimination by refusing to provide him basic services required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.



William Pierce, 44, who was sentenced to two months in a city jail for an assault conviction, charges in the lawsuit that jail officials repeatedly refused to provide a sign language interpreters as required by law and retaliated against him for complaining about his conditions by placing him in solitary confinement.



Pierce, who has HIV, was given only three of the four HIV medications he had been taking at home and was unable to understand why prison doctors changed his medication regimen because of the lack of a sign language interpreter, the lawsuit says.



It says the emotional distress Pierce suffered due to the alleged discriminatory treatment was heightened when jail guards handcuffed him shortly before his mother arrived for a visit, preventing him from communicating with her in sign language.



“The District of Columbia needs to be held accountable for its outright discrimination and reminded that people with disabilities cannot just be locked away and ignored,” said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, which filed the lawsuit on Pierce’s behalf in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.



Spitzer said most of the alleged discriminatory actions against Pierce took place at the D.C. Jail’s Correctional Treatment Facility. The CTF is operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company under contract with the city.



“D.C., in turn, needs to hold the Corrections Corporation of America accountable for its continued disregard for the wellbeing of the individuals the city has placed in its care,” Spitzer said in a statement. ... Read more: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/02/06/gay-deaf-man-sues-city-for-mistreatment/

Sex Assaults Lawsuit Involving Deaf & Blind Students

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Sex Assaults Lawsuit Involving Deaf & Blind Students

VIDEO: Settlement reached in lawsuit involving Deaf and Blind students in the capital of Hawaii.



HONOLULU - A multi-million dollar settlement has been reached in a sex assault lawsuit involving Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind. It's been a year and a half since the State was sued by a group of students at the school. The students alleged they had been sexually abused by other students.



Friday, the attorney representing the group announced that a multi-million dollar settlement has been reached. A spotlight was cast on the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind in the Kapahulu area in 2011, after police started investigating allegations of widespread sex abuse between classmates.



In August 2011, Honolulu attorney Michael Green filed a lawsuit against the state, on behalf of 50 to 60 students.

"What we found out was, and I never thought about this, that we had children who were the aggressors, we're talking about sodomizing boys, boys on boys, boys on girls, girls on girls, in the bathroom, on school buses, in the bushes, that because no one seemed to care it seemed like it was okay. So people who were victims became aggressors. And you know that part that maybe affected me the most aside from the fact it's happening to young people, and people that have disabilities is that if you cry out who can hear you? If you have blind students who can see it?" said Green.



The State has now agreed to pay $5M to settle the lawsuit - money that'll go to the victims, and to pay for counseling and treatment... Read more: http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Settlement-reached-in-lawsuit-involving-deaf-and/qEdZ6YT6_EuWYDo6tVhRPg.cspx