On this day.. the ADA was signed into law

It was on this day (July 25, 1990) that President George H.W. Bush signed the American Disablity Act into law. Senator Tom Harkin says the ADA law was inspired by his deaf brother. The Iowa Democrat says watching his brother, Frank, struggle against social barriers motivated him to push the ADA bill through the U.S. Congress. The law prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training and other conditions and privileges of employment. You can watch the signing in the video below.

Terp Services Lawsuit Goes Forward

An appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have prevented a lawsuit from going forward against two South Florida hospitals over interpreters. The hospitals used VRI (video remote interpreting) but Cheylla Silva and John Paul Jebian requested an in-person interpreter. When the hospitals refused, they sued. Read the full story from CBS Miami here.

Lawsuit: Denied Services by Sheriff's Office

screen grab from Action News Jax video 

Cassandra Kinney says the Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff's Office failed to provide her an sign language interpreter. Police were called to her home several times but she says they failed to get her side of the story. Now she has filed a lawsuit. Action News Jax has a video report here.

Lawsuit: Add Captioning at Pepsi Center

image KM Newnham

A class action lawsuit is asking the courts to make Denver's Pepsi Center include captioning on its video board and "provide interpreters for hearing-impaired fans at events when the video board isn’t in use." Read the full story from KMGH-TV.

School would rather take videos down than caption them

image: brainchildvn on Flickr

Many of UC Berkeley's educational videos don't meet ADA requirements, according to the Department of Justice. In response, the California school says that rather than caption more than 20,000 course capture videos accessible to the public, it would rather just take them down in order to save money. A senior is quoted in the school's student newspaper as complaining that Berkeley "does not adequately support its disabled students." Read more in the Daily Cal here.

SCOTUS sides with Service Dog

A Supreme Court ruling could have an impact on students with disabilities across the country, according to the ACLU. The high court has unanimously ruled in favor a Michigan girl who wanted to bring her service dog school with her. Administrators at the Napoleon Community School had told Ehlena Fry's family that she could have human helpers but not her Goldendoodle named Wonder. Her family thought that was a violation of ADA law. The case now goes back to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Deaf Student: School Discriminated Against Me

A deaf Lousiana college student has filed a lawsuit claiming that the University of Louisiana-Lafayette did not him as required by ADA. Fabian S. Strauss says he requested a note taker but was denied. Read more about it in the Louisiana record here.

Court hears appeal of deaf patients

Two deaf people were in federal court today because a hospital refused to give them in-person interpreters. Baptist Hospital provided VRI but Cheylla Silva and John Paul Jebian are challenging that technology as inadequate to meet ADA requirements. A lower court judge dismissed the case but they are appealing and hoping the federal appeals court overturns the lower court ruling. Read the full story from the Miami Herald here.