[nfbmi-talk] reiterated ada complaint

[joe harcz Comcast]

August 6, 2010

 

Re: DELEG ADA complaint – inaccessible documents

 

To:

 

Patrick Cannon, State of Michigan ADA Coordinator

 

Dear Mr. Cannon,

 

I have yet to receive a response to the attached ADA complaint let alone compliance from you or anyone at DELEG. This stands as yet another complaint against you for your utter non-compliance and your lack of a timely response. The ADA just turned twenty years old as you know. How long should we people with disabilities await compliance from Michigan State entities?

 

People who are blind deserve and have the same right to access documents such as these at the same time afforded the sighted public.

 

Frankly, sir I’m outraged by this and other violations of the ADA and 504 by another blind person who heads the MCB and who is also the State of Michigan ADA coordinator.

 

As I’ve long ago sent you out relevant regulatory citations and free technical assistance on this and other matters I must assume that these acts of discrimination are not only “deliberate indifference” to known obligations, but also discrimination with malice of forethought.

 

I would greatly appreciate it if you remedy this and other complaints forthwith.

 

Sincerely,

 

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

 

Cc: USDOJ

Cc: NFB MI

Cc: MCBVI

Cc: Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services

 

 

 

Attachment:

 

March 29, 2010

 

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.

Mt. Morris, MI  48458

E-mail: joeharcz at comcast.net              

Cell Phone: 810-516--5262

Re: ADA, Title II Complaint

To: Patrick Cannon, State of Michigan ADA Coordinator

And Michigan Commission for the Blind Director

Via E-mail: cannonp at michigan.gov

 

And to United States Department of Justice, Civil rights Division, Disabilities Rights section

 

 

 

 

 

To Whom It May Concern,

 

 

This is a complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II. I just went to the Michigan Department of Energy Labor and Economic Growth’s (DELEG) Freedom of Information Act web page at:

 

http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0,1607,7-154--51740--,00.html

 

>From there I tried to access the following .pdf documents:

 

DLEG FOIA Online Forms

DLEG FOIA Policy/Procedures/Guidelines

DLEG FOIA Policy/Procedures/Guidelines Attachments

 

Now, I use adobe and Jaws screen reading technology as I am blind. Yet when I click on the above documents and do an accessibility check with Jaws the documents have no text in them. Thus the documents themselves are totally inaccessible to me. Thus this is a violation of Title II of the ADA especially subpart e, effective communications.

 

Now, folks web sites not only need to be accessible but the documents on them need to be accessible. This could easily be fixed if the documents were made available as html, xml, or simply as text documents, or if they weren’t imbedded image based files in a pdf envelope.

 

This is a common situation here in Michigan. And saying that a web sites or documents therein are accessible just doesn’t make it so.

 

As I am blind any responses to this complaint should be made as either Word or plain text attachments to my e-mail adress listed above (no inaccessible pdf docs will be accepted and if I get one that will be another complaint). I invoke the effective communications requirements of the ADA, Title II and the “auxilliary aids and services” provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in this regard.

 

Sincerely,

 

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

 

Cc: Patrick Cannon, State of Michigan ADA Coordinator

Cc: Great Lakes TAC

Cc: John L. Wodatch, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disabilities Rights Section

Cc: several attorneys at law

Cc: several people who are blind and list serves serving them