[nfbmi-talk] ongoing ada/504 complaint state of mich against blind
joe harcz Comcast
joeharcz at comcast.net
Tue Aug 19 13:30:20 UTC 2014
August 19 2014 On-going complaint Against BSBP and State of Michigan
Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.
1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.
Mt. Morris, MI 484458
joeharcz at comcast.net
810-516-5262
To: Several
All,
This is a part of a systemic complaint and partial documentation of system-wide violations of the ADA and Section 504 against all persons who are blind in the State of Michigan.
This is Director Edward Rodgers speaking on the issue of ADA compliance at the Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons February 7, 2014 meeting (from transcripts):
“ 12 I mentioned to you that we do have a
13 couple committees, and I won't belabor those points,
14 recognizing and working on the issues that we think we
15 need to work on.
16 One of the other things our staff is
17 involved in now that I'm really kind of excited about
18 because I think it's something that was probably 20 years
19 late or 15 years late in getting started, and that is
20 four of our employees who are all either totally or
21 almost totally blind are working and are serving on a
22 committee with the techy experts from the Department of
23 Technology, Management and Budget, in other words, DTMB,
24 and they've already had I believe two meetings, and they
25 are coming up with a list of priorities for state web
Metro Court Reporters, Inc. 248.426.9530
50
1 pages that will be accessible. And as I go around and
2 give speeches, I talk about accessibility in this area
3 because we are woefully behind the ADA in making the
4 state web pages accessible to not just the general public
5 who is blind, but our employees. If you'll recall,
6 20 percent of our staff are blind, and there's other
7 blind folks that work in government, also. For instance,
8 there's a lady who I've known for quite a while that
9 works for MRS who does things with coordinating their
10 hearings, et cetera, she's total, has a dog, and there's
11 web pages she can't access to do her job some days, she
12 has to have somebody do it for her. So we have -- the
13 committee, as I understand it, has, with my input and
14 some input from other staff, have put together a priority
15 list of things to be accomplished this year by that
16 particular committee so that by the end of this fiscal
17 year, those pages will be accessible.
18 The classic example I like to use is one
19 of my employees, even though he's totally blind, is a
20 deer hunter, been hunting since he was a kid before he
21 lost his sight, goes out with his brother, goes out with
22 his two cousins and his uncles, and they go hunting every
23 year, bow and arrow, and rifle. I've said to him, you're
24 not going to catch me out in the woods with you, but I'd
25 probably shoot myself anyways. But to make a long story
Metro Court Reporters, Inc. 248.426.9530
51
1 short, he can do the hunting, he can't go online and get
2 his hunting license. He either has to have somebody do
3 it for him, or he has to go into a DNR office. So those
4 are the kind of hurdles that we want to eliminate, and I
5 think this committee is a step in the right direction.
6 It took me, I started -- sometimes I
7 don't tell you things because I'm at the initial stage
8 and there's really nothing to tell you yet because I
9 haven't got commitments, but I started last August or
10 September trying to talk DMB into doing this, I finally
11 got at a high enough level of discussion with somebody in
12 DTMB that we're able to create this task force and start
13 them down the road of that. And I'm really excited about
14 that, because one of things that ought to be accessible
15 to everybody, by golly, is the state web page. It's not
16 even accessible to me in some areas. There's one thing
17 that I work on with time and record keeping that I need
18 assistance from Sue because it's totally inaccessible to
19 me. That's ridiculous, because it's a system that's been
20 in place for ten years and is still not accessible. So
21 we're cognizant of these issues, and we are working on
22 them I think, and I think we're heading in the right
23 direction.
24 We do have a list that we have put
25 together and are putting together, it's not complete yet,
Metro Court Reporters, Inc. 248.426.9530”
Now this is a statement documenting the known violations of the ADA and Section 504 that exist to this day against all people who are blind. Moreover, effective communications from all State entities was to have been accomplished by no later than January 26, 1992 under implementing regulations, Title II. So I think this state missed some deadlines.
In addition Mr. Rodgers himself is a documented, serial ADA violator.
Oh, by the way note the open statement here that the Michigan Administrative Hearing System isn’t accessible to blind ALJs. It isn’t accessible to blind complaintents either adjudicating cases even for Vocational Rehabilitation Services! (That too is long and copiously documented.) And it fundamentally denies us due process and equal protection under the law system wide! (People should reference Tennessee v. Lane in these regards which states state and local courts must comply with the ADA.
So it is long since time for him and the State of Michigan to be sued.
Sincerely,
Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr
Cc: MPAS
Cc: MCRS
Cc: DOJ, Disabilities Rights Section
Cc: OCR, Ed.
Cc: Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services
Cc: MI SILC
Cc: Michigan Civil Rights Commission
Cc: Michigan ADA
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