DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY PROJECT -- DEAF WORKERS WEEKLY BULLETIN -- June 20, 1998 Greetings, Major disappointment this week. A study by the American Bar Association shows that disability lawsuits are not effective against employers. We're making real progress in other areas such as hospitals, gas stations, and justice system. Some possible reasons for the low victory rate in the employment area is: 1) Americans with Disabilities Act is written poorly 2) Employers hire vicious lawyers that do nothing but intimidations 3) Disability plaintiffs dont have any money to hire better attorneys 4) Little support from Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 5) Fear of retaliation and public humiliation ....and there could be a multitude of other reasons why the disabled is not doing very well at employment enforcement. One of the possible solutions is to press our legislators for amendments to ADA that will plug the loopholes that are responsible for the 92% failure rate. Richard Roehm ---- ABA STUDY SHOWS EMPLOYERS WIN MOST DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION SUITS WASHINGTON, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- People with a mental or physical disability who claim discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act have a difficult time in court. That's the result of an American Bar Association study of the more than 1,200 cases filed since 1992 under Title I of the ADA; employers won in 92 percent of the cases that have been decided, while employees won 8 percent of the time. The study, conducted by the ABA's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law and published in the May/June issue of Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter, belies the myth that the statutory language and regulations in Title I of the ADA create undue burdens for employers. It concludes that plaintiffs are often thwarted by administrative and procedural technicalities that result in dismissal, or in the case being tried on grounds other than discrimination. The ADA's definition of disability is much more restrictive than is commonly thought, and claims are often stopped at this first hurdle, without a hearing on the discrimination charge. In addition to examining court cases, the Reporter study looked at administrative resolutions at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, regarding Title I ADA cases. In those cases, employers prevailed 86 percent of the time. The ABA study is being released during a national conference on disability law at the Renaissance Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C., June 17-19. In Pursuit ... A Blueprint for Disability Law and Policy will feature discussions of the ADA, including an assessment of its progress, and goals for the future of policy in this area. Also on the agenda are discussions of compliance and enforcement, corporate and governmental responsibility, and assistive technology. Participants will examine the physical and attitudinal barriers facing Americans with disabilities. ---- HOSPITAL SETTLES INTERPRETER SUIT By AMY WESTFELDT NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A hospital agreed Monday to pay $700,000 to four deaf people who were denied sign language interpreters in a decade of visits. No other hospital has paid more to end a similar lawsuit, according to the National Association of the Deaf Law Center. The patients went to Jersey City Medical Center at least 300 times and never once had interpreters, even though one had a Caesarean section and another was HIV-positive and didn't receive counseling, lawyer Clara R. Smit said. Federal law has required sign language interpreters in hospitals since 1973, but many of the nation's hospitals don't provide them, she said. ``Most hospitals haven't been doing this,'' she said. ``We're hoping this will tell other hospitals that they better start doing it. Otherwise, you're going to have to pay.'' Jersey City Medical Center president Jonathan Metsch said his hospital has interpreters available who speak 28 foreign languages, and said sign language would be the 29th. ``When you're an institution like ours, it's a pretty heavy responsibility to have this available for everyone,'' he said, ``but we are really making a major effort to make sure this doesn't happen again.'' Under the agreement, the hospital must make every effort to get an interpreter 24 hours a day. Metsch said an interpreter would be available during the day, and would have different options for after-hours. The hospital also agreed to post signs in its admissions office and emergency room, alerting hearing-impaired patients about the availability of interpreters. Patients will also receive amplified telephones if they need them. ---- SPRINT HAS A NEW TOLL FREE RELAY NUMBER Sprint California Relay Service (CRS) just announced a NEW and EASY TTY relay number. 1-(877)-735-2929. It is one of Sprint's marketing moves. The 800 735 2929 number is owned by the DDTP, not MCI. However during the contract period, MCI can use it. Sprint has been suffering low relay traffic (15% to 20%) so they came up with this number so all CRS users can easily memorize the new number. The idea of whether it will last or not depends on whether or not Sprint wins the new contract. ---- COUNTDOWN TO THE OPENING OF ORANGE COUNTY DEAF ADVOCACY CENTER Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center plans to offer the following services. -Information and Referral -Interpreter Referral Special Task Interpreters For The Deaf -Advocacy Employment Accessibility JTPA Housing Accessibility -Community Counseling -Independent Living Skills -Communication Assistance -Community Education -Informational Workshops -Deaf Senior Citizens Group -Deaf Social Activities We're open to suggestions for additions ---- NEED INFORMATION ON EMAIL ACCOUNT YourVISA@aol.com email address that is being used within the Deaf community. If anyone has had any business (good or bad) relations with this particular email account as well as information regarding the identity of this account, please let me know asap! Richard Roehm Deaf@activist.com ---- FCC NEEDS YOUR INPUT BY JUNE 30, 1998 Justice For All jfa@mailbot.com Don't settle for POTS. Demand Access To PANS! Urgent: Write FCC On Telcom Access Rules Enforcement before June 30! Key Messages To FCC. See Details Below. 1. Support the full adoption of the Access Board Guidelines! 2. Oppose the "cost recovery" concept. 3. Don't settle for POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) when everyone else will have access to PANS (Pretty Awesome New Stuff). 4. Support a complaint process with no filing fees and no time limits; and allow complaints in alternative format; and require accessible company contact points. Action needed by 6/30/98 Your comments will make an awesome difference!! ALERT RE: FCC's rules proposing to enforce Section 255 of Telcom Act We need your help on a very important matter. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently issued rules proposing to enforce Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. Section 255 requires all telecommunications manufacturers and service providers to make their products and services accessible to people with disabilities. Many of the proposals issued by the FCC, if adopted in final form, would have a negative impact on access. For this reason, we are asking you to send in comments to the FCC on a number of issues raised in the FCC proposal. The FCC is making decisions that will have a tremendous impact on the accessibility of telephone equipment and services for many years to come. Have you or someone you know encountered barriers to using the telephone because: You are blind and don't have access to key information provided on a telephone's visual display? You are deaf and important information is provided only in auditory format? You have a mobility impairment and small buttons are difficult to manipulate? You have a cognitive disability and rapid-fire automated voice menu systems are difficult to follow? You have a speech disability and are frequently disconnected when phone systems "time out"? You have a disability that makes using the telephone a challenge? If you answered yes to any of these questions, THE FCC NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU. Tell the FCC how important telecommunications access is to you. Make sure that the final rules released by the FCC are strong enough to truly make a difference in the way you can use telecommunications. We have set out below the key issues that your comments should address. Comments are due by June 30, 1998. Reply comments (this means you will have the opportunity to also reply to responses to the comments made by others) are due by August 14. Send an original (and preferably 5 copies) of your comments to: Federal Communications Commission Office of the Secretary, 1919 M Street, NW, Room 222 Washington, D.C. 20554. OR You may also file your comments electronically through the electronic interface on the FCC's World Wide Web site at http://dettifoss.fcc.gov:8080/cgi-bin/ws.exe/beta/ecfs/upload.hts Additional information on submitting comments electronically is available at that location and at http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ Here are the issues we recommend you discuss in your comments: 1. Access Board Guidelines Background: In the Telecommunications Act, Congress gave the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) the primary authority to write accessibility guidelines for telecommunications equipment manufacturers. Congress also gave the FCC the authority to enforce those guidelines, and to enforce the requirements of Section 255 for telecommunications service providers. Last year, the Access Board did issue guidelines, which are both fair and would go a long way toward achieving access to telecommunications products. Among other things, the guidelines suggest ways for the manufacturers to achieve access in the design of their products and require product information and instructions to be accessible to people with disabilities. Unfortunately, it is not clear in the FCC's proposed rules whether the FCC intends to adopt the Access Board guidelines. Your Comments: It is VERY IMPORTANT for you to urge the FCC to adopt the Access Board Section 255 guidelines for both manufacturers and service providers. In your letter to the FCC, you should say that these guidelines are needed to provide clear guidance on the obligations of companies to make their products and services accessible. You may also want to explain why telecommunications access is important to you - e.g., in your job, to access family members and friends, etc. It would help if you can describe how the denial of such access has affected you. 2. Readily Achievable Background: The Americans with Disabilities (ADA) requires certain buildings to be accessible if achieving such access is "readily achievable." The term "readily achievable" has a long history to it, and for the most part involves a balancing of the costs of providing access with the overall financial resources of the company must provide such access. Congress adopted the "readily achievable" concept in Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. Specifically, Section 255 requires telecommunications providers and manufacturers to provide access where it is readily achievable to do so. In its proposed rules, the FCC has proposed to define readily achievable in a manner that is very different from the way that it was defined in the ADA. Among other things, the FCC wants to allow companies to be able to consider whether they will be able to recover the costs of providing access, and the extent to which they will be able to market an accessible product. These factors may allow a company to get out of its access obligations merely because the market for certain accessible products may be smaller. This goes against the whole purpose of Section 255. Section 255 was intended to require access to people with disabilities because market forces alone were not enough to ensure that access. Allowing a company to consider whether it will recover the costs of achieving such access has never been permitted under other disability laws. Your Comments: Tell the FCC that you oppose allowing companies to consider the extent to which the costs of providing access will be recovered. Tell the FCC that allowing this as a "readily achievable" factor would defeat the purposes of Section 255. The only reason we needed an accessibility law such as Section 255 is because the market did not respond to the needs of people with disabilities. You may use examples ? e.g., the fact that you still do not have access to many telecommunications services, including voice mail, interactive telephone systems, call forwarding, etc. Ask the FCC to follow the definition of "readily achievable" as it had been defined in the ADA. 3. Enhanced Services Background: The FCC?s proposed rules do not cover "enhanced services" under Section 255 because these are considered "information," not "telecommunications" services. Enhanced services generally include more advanced telecommunications services, such as voice mail, electronic mail, interactive voice response systems (which use telephone prompts), and audiotext information. Many of these services have become commonplace; yet they remain inaccessible to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. We believe that Congress could not have intended to eliminate these very important and widely used services from the scope of Section 255. The whole purpose of Section 255 was to expand telecommunications access. If these services are excluded, then people with a variety of disabilities will remain second class citizens with respect to new telecommunications technological advances. Your Comments: Here, it would be very helpful for you to write about the problems that you have had trying to access voice mail, interactive telephone systems, and other types of more advanced telecommunications services. Some possible examples: - Is there a piece of telephone equipment that you, as a blind person, can't use because key information is available only on a visual display? - Is there an item that you, as someone who is deaf, cannot use because crucial status or content information is conveyed only by auditory means? - Is there a product with intricate buttons that you, as an individual with motor or dexterity limitations, cannot operate? - Is there a telecommunications service that you, as a person with a cognitive disability, cannot access because the voice menu goes by so fast there is no time to write down or remember the options? Is there a device that defaults or "times out" too quickly for you, because of a physical limitation, to enter the necessary response or command? And if none of these are problems for you today, are any likely to be when you get older? If your answer to any of these questions is "yes," or if the answer is "yes" for someone you know or care about, or if you have ever had to pass up a good job or not hire a promising candidate because you couldn't figure out how the phone would be used as effectively as the work required, then telecommunications access is no longer a remote abstraction in your life. Indeed, telecommunications have already had a major impact on the ability and opportunity for people with disabilities to learn, work, and participate in the community. Moreover, just as telecommunications is becoming increasingly important in the lives of Americans generally, so also is its significance in the lives of people with disabilities destined to grow. Explain that if these services are not required to be accessible, you will continue to have fewer employment opportunities, and that you will not be able to fully participate in today?s society. Urge the FCC to cover "enhanced services," because coverage of these services is critical to full telecommunications access. 4. Complaint Process The FCC will enforce Section 255 with a complaint process. Support the following proposals by the FCC: - There should be no filing fees for informal or formal complaints with the FCC against either manufacturers or service providers. Waiving these fees would be in the public interest. - There should not be any time limit for filing complaints, because one never knows when he or she will discover that a product or service is inaccessible. - Consumers with disabilities should be able to submit complaints by any accessible means available. - Manufacturers and service providers should be required to establish contact points in their companies that are accessible to consumers with disabilities. Thank you for assisting us in this effort to educate the FCC about the telecommunications needs of people with disabilities. For more info: If reading the entire NPRM is a bit overwhelming, there is a summary prepared by the National Association of the Deaf is available at: http://48i.com/nadtc/action/255/255Summary1.htm JFA previously distributed the NCD analysis, which is available at http://www/mailbot.com/justice: IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCESS: AN UPDATE FOR CONSUMERS By the National Council on Disability Marca Bristo, Chairperson, June 5, 1998 Also available at : http://www.empowermentzone.com/ed255.txt The entire NPRM is available in text,WordPerfect, and PDF formats from the web site of the FCC available at: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/Notices/1998/fcc98055.html If you need assistance in writing your comments or if you have questions: Contact: Betsy Bayha, betsy@wid.org Phone: (510) 251-4355 Fax: (510) 763-4109, Director, Technology Policy, World Institue on Disability 510 Sixteenth Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94612 This alert was adapted from NAD comments, by June Kailes, Betsy Bayha and Fred Fay. Thanks to all who have already written! -- June Isaacson Kailes 310.821.7080 310.827.0269 FAX Disability Policy Consultant jik@pacbell.net June's website http://www.jik.com -- Fred Fay jfa@mailbot.com Justice-For-All Moderator ---- Current job list on the Jobs for Deaf page. Santa Ana, California (2-15-98) Carson City, Nevada (2-23-98) Framingham, Massachusetts (3-2-98) Nationwide USA (3-22-98) Santa Fe, New Mexico (4-9-98) ---------------------- If you are interested in reselling products for the deaf please contact me lothar@northernwolfent.com Lothar Lussier ============================================================== DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY Orange County, California Richard Roehm President Internet : Deaf@activist.com Deaf_Workers_OC@usa.net Website Nesmuth@bbs.hwsys.com Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/dwoc.htm =============================================================== Circulation Information Direct Email subscribers : 37 Indirect Email Subscribers : 39 Feel free to redistribute this newsletter in it's entirety and if you are planning to add a mailing list as a subscriber then let me know for my records. 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