RE: Americans with Disabilities Act

Steve:

 

The ADA is currently at the center of a lawsuit that has been filed against
Capella University for their discrimination against students with
disabilities. That lawsuit may be found at:

 

http://www.employmentlawyers4employees.com/news.htm

 

As the U.S. government and law enforcement agencies have so far refused to
fully address the issue of the ADA and online applications, this lawsuit has
now forced the issue. It should be noted that the United States Department
of Education, Office for Civil Rights has acted in callous disregard in
their own handling of the matter - they completely dropped the complaints
against Capella once the lawsuit was filed. That; however, barely skims the
surface as to their own inept and incompetent handling of the matter. Linda
McGovern, the Director of OCR's Chicago merely fabricated, in the most
literal sense of the term, her own "facts" pertaining to the complaints and
also refused to acknowledge the very serious issues that were raised. In
addition, McGovern and her incompetent staff also refused to apply existing
OCR rulings on accessibility - most notably, the policies that OCR developed
with the California Community Colleges - McGovern stated that those policies
"only pertained to the blind" - which, of course, simply isn't true as the
complaints against Capella were filed on behalf of all individuals with
disabilities (including the blind).

 

Interestingly, the attorney for the current lawsuit against Capella
University just posted the following message on another web site, located
at: 

 

http://teachandlearnonline.blogspot.com/2005/09/lawsuit-forces-web2-learning
.html 

 

In his post, he states:

 

 

"Your article was fascinating! I would be interested in being contacted by
anyone with a disability who has experienced accessibility problems with any
type of online learning platform. I am the attorney who is representing
Jeffry La Marca in his lawsuit against Capella. I know there are others with
disabilities, especially visual impairments, that have encountered
difficulty with their online learning experiences. Please feel free to share
these experiences with me. I can be reached by email at
rjtlawfirm@yahoo.com."

 

As the United States government has so far ignored the need (and refused) to
clarify the ADA, and other laws, in regard to accessibility and online
matters, the courts will now be clarifying the matter for them.  It would
certainly appear as if there is a lot more in the works. 

 

Good Luck,

 

Jeff


  _____  

From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On Behalf
Of Stephen Morgan
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 3:48 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Americans with Disabilities Act


Hi,
 
I have been asked to provide a colleague with some information about the
specific areas of the ADA that relate to online Activities. I know where to
find the relevant info with regards to the DDA over here in the UK but I am
not as familiar with the ADA.
 
Anyone got any pointers?
 
Kindest regards
 
Steve Morgan