[nagdu] Enforcement

[Dan Weiner]

Well, honestly, guys...
What I've seen most of them time in my situations is that neither the state
laws nor the Federal ones are enforced or they don't have teeth...I mean, if
someone commits an infraction of a law he/she must either be forced to
comply and/or penalized for violation.

Are people ever  penalized for denying us access?  I've rarely seen it in
practice.  Perhaps you can provide me some examples to brighten my
morning/--grin.

Just for the record, my posts may make me out to be a cantankerous cynic,
but I'm actually a pretty pleasant guy to have around--grin.  I'm just
talking honestly about how I feel.

Cordially,

Dan W. and the wild beasts  

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Craig Borne
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 6:08 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Enforcement

Ron,

Either the federal ADA will need to be further amended to give it more
"teeth," or the State will need to enact tougher laws that go beyond the
ADA.  Setting up stricter enforcement agencies within the State that are a
product of the State will not work because the State lacks the power to
enforce federal laws, unless of course, the State has the same law enacted
on a State level.

States such as California have done this with good results.  Other States,
unfortunately, are very weak in this area.

Craig

Craig Borne
Baltimore, Maryland
"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial
appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in
defense of custom."  --Thomas Paine, Common Sense

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Davidson
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 4:43 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Enforcement

I found out recently that the ADA laws are not the easiest to get enforced.
I was denied access to a local restraint with my guide dog and as I was
taught in school did not force my way in.  I explained the law to the
management and they still refused. They changed their mind after I asked
them to call the police to have me removed and they refused to do this so I
called the police and filed a complaint or report. When I got home I filled
out a complaint form with the DOJ and also with the state attorney generals
office  because I received a email from DOJ saying to do so. The state
attorneys generals office emailed me and told me they couldn't enforce the
federal law and to contact my local City ADA compliance office they sent me
to the district attorneys office and they sent me to the Human Rights
Commission. Then I received a letter from a law office that worked as
mediators and we set up and met with the restraint owners and worked out a
settlement. The restraint then broke the contract of settlement with me and
I recontacted the mediators office and they said there was nothing more they
could do. I contacted the DOJ and they said the only thing I could do was
privately sue the restraint and the state has limitations on the amount I
could receive and may not be enough to cover my legal fees. Is this normally
how this works a big run around just to be dumped on. I think if we give
local agencies the power to enforce the ada laws that would help maybe I am
wrong. By the way the terms of the contract was that I and someone from the
local low vision center would train all their employees on how to deal with
as far as sight guiding and waiting on us and other things helpful for them
to know just some educating of the public and the management thought that
was a great idea.  But he never had a intensions of sticking to the terms of
the contract.
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