Advocating for D/HH people needs!
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Federal litigators reached a civil settlement Tuesday with the largest operator of group homes in Virginia for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities over allegations it failed to provide necessary sign language interpreters.
Read the rest at https://wtop.com/virginia/2020/10/group-home-provider-settles-allegation-from-deaf-resident.
Steven Beyer wanted to take care of his mother, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and referred for hospice care. He could not because Ascension Health and its hospice center refused to provide effective communication to him.
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Stein & Vargas, and Iglesia Martell Law Firm represent Mr. Beyer in his lawsuit against Ascension Health. The lawsuit also names the hospital’s subsidiaries including: Ascension Michigan, Ascension Providence Hospital, and Ascension Clinton Township Reverence Home Health and Hospice care.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act of 1976. These laws require hospitals and hospice workers to ensure effective communication with deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
Read the rest of the article at https://www.nad.org/2020/11/02/hospital-sued-for-refusing-interpreters-during-hospice-care.
A Fourth Circuit panel heard arguments Thursday over whether a North Carolina prison violated a deaf civil detainee’s First Amendment rights by not allowing him to use a videophone to contact people on the outside.
Thomas Heyer, who has been deaf since birth, first sued the Bureau of Prisons in 2011 over its failure to provide American Sign Language interpreters for medical and mental health treatment and religious services, access to a videophone and warning lights in his cell.
Read the rest at https://www.courthousenews.com/fourth-circuit-hears-debate-over-prison-video-calls-for-deaf/?amp=1.