[blindlaw] Judge rules for ACB in Social Security case

[Don Brown]

Judge Alsup's decision in the ACB vs. SSA case came out today  
(10.20.09):

Judge William Alsup of the US District Court, Northern District of  
California in San Francisco, today issued a judgment in favor of the  
American Council of the Blind (ACB) and two classes of 3,000,000  
individuals with blindness and visual impairments.  The suit  
challenged the Social Security Administration's (SSA) failure to  
provide its critical benefits communications to recipients in  
alternative formats that would enable people with visual impairments  
to have equal access to SSA programs as required by federal disability  
civil rights laws.

This ruling signals a major victory for the disability rights  
movement, and it sets precedent for the obligations of other federal  
and state agencies to accommodate people who are blind or have visual  
impairments. The Social Security Administration (SSA) sends out 390  
million notices and forms each year.  Plaintiffs won the right to  
receive communications in a format that is accessible to them, and  
Judge Alsup ruled that these formats, at a minimum, must include  
Braille and CD.

Here are links to the

Judgment
http://www.dredf.org/SSA/2009-10-20-Judgment.pdf

and

Findings of Fact and Conclusions
http://www.dredf.org/SSA/2009-10-20-Findings.pdf