[nfbmi-talk] request for reasonable accommodations mcb meeting

[joe harcz Comcast]

August 24, 2010

 

Re: Request for accommodations Michigan Commission for the Blind meeting

 

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.

Mt. Morris, MI 48458

E-mail: joeharcz at comcast.net

 

Patrick D. Cannon, Director Michigan Commission for the Blind

And State of Michigan ADA Coordinator

Via E-mail

 

Dear Mr. Cannon,

 

I am writing today as a blind person to make a request for reasonable accommodations at the upcoming MCB quarterly meeting on Friday, August 27, 2010. Specifically I am requesting that all materials to be voted upon or referenced by the MCB at these meetings are remitted in accessible formats both at the meeting and prior to it. At a minimum I am requesting the following in contracted Braille at the meeting:

 

-The agenda

-all written reports submitted to the commissioners including, but not limited to, the Administrative report and any associated documents, the Consumer services report, the written Training Center Report, and the Director’s Report

-the complete college policy as it will be presented and voted upon at the meeting

 

In addition I am requesting these items prior to the meeting as simple e-mail attachments sent to my e-mail address listed above. This should not be difficult as you might simply send me those documents which have already been furnished in that format to a number of commissioners already as provided in their By Laws.

 

I make these requests pursuant to the effective communications requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (subpart e), and the “auxiliary aids and services” requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Moreover, I invoke the obligation to be accessible in these regards pursuant to your obligations in both of these laws vis a vis accessible meetings. And, of course MCB has obligations to make its meetings (and information related to them) accessible under Title II of the Rehabilitation Act which is the very act that created MCB and requires at a minimum quarterly meetings in the first place.

 

I have omitted statutory and regulatory citations here as you are required to  be intimate  with them by your very positions as State ADA coordinator and Director of MCB -- or at least the knowledge of, and compliance with these laws are part of your very job description and known obligations.

 

Regardless, as you know the Americans with Disabilities Act has just turned twenty years old on July 26. As you, Mr. Cannon is fond of quoting former President Bush who signed this civil rights law into being: “Let the shameful walls of discrimination come tumbling down.”

 

Regardless, a failure to comply, or to respond affirmatively will result in either further complaints with appropriate entities of enforcement, or with a civil action in United States District Court.

 

So I advise you to simply do the right thing here for once.

 

Respectfully,

 

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

 

Cc: MCB Commissioners

Cc: President National Federation of the Blind of Michigan

Cc: President Michigan Council of the Blind of Michigan

Cc: Advocates for the Blind

Cc: Advocates for the Blind

Cc: United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section

Cc: Office of Civil Rights, United States Dept. of Ed.

Cc: Rehabilitation Services Administration

Cc: Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services, Inc.