Minnesota Disability Law Center Leads Advocacy Efforts as ADA Turns 33

July 26 was the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and though much progress has been made, many barriers still exist that are more than physical. Accommodations that are required by the ADA, such as the right to live as closely as possible to the ways a non-disabled person does, are still being sought. The work of the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) includes helping to legally assert the rights of persons with disabilities under the ADA.

Chad Wilson, staff attorney with MDLC, recently spoke with KARE11 news and said, "We advocate for people with disabilities to access the necessary supports and services they need to live in their most integrated setting in the community so they can live where they want to live."

Last year, MDLC won a settlement against Metro Transit on behalf of a client who was denied bus access over 150 times. As part of the settlement, Metro Transit was required to create a new training video for their drivers instructing them on where they need to stop for persons who have a visual impairment.

MDLC advocates also prevailed in a class action lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Human Services when it was discovered that DHS was delaying help for those trying to leave group homes and live in their own places. Watch the story here or read more on the KARE11 website.

Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) Premieres "In Our Own Words"

People with disabilities share what they most want health care providers to know

Released as an unlimited-run for health care providers everywhere, "In Our Own Words: Improving Care for People with Disabilities" is a two-part video series that debuted June 14, 2023, on Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid's YouTube channel. The first installment, "Communication," is playing now. The second, "Understanding," is set to drop June 21. Both are subtitled in Spanish.

Enlightening and powerful, the voices featured in this production reveal with sheer frankness what works and what doesn’t work for members of the disability community in health care settings. "They describe and refute assumptions made by some physicians and health care professionals but also praise the ways other providers make meaningful connections," says MDLC Public Health Advocate Anna Phearman.

Produced in partnership with the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration and Special Olympics Minnesota, the intended audience for the series are health care professionals. However, Phearman adds, "Anyone and everyone can benefit. We produced this series to be a voice of empowerment. Getting people thinking about how they can promote health equity for the disability community is the goal.”

Distributors will be Mid-MN Legal Aid's Minnesota Disability Law Center—direct to providers—but key distributors will be health care recipients themselves.

MDLC Raises Concerns About Delivery of Special Education Recovery Services

Dan Stewart, deputy director with the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC), recently spoke with Minnesota Public Radio News about last year’s legislation that requires public schools to assess students with individualized education programs (IEPs) and determine whether they have regressed or lost learning opportunities during COVID-19. Schools must then develop and deliver services that would help compensate for the lost learning. Amid staff shortages and school closures, parents and educators face enormous, unprecedented challenges.

Two years of living with the pandemic has meant that many of the youngest and oldest learners with disabilities have missed out on in-person education and programs that are critical to their progress, and may be irreplaceable.

“For these kids, the COVID experience has been a largely unmitigated disaster because of the COVID restrictions, because of staffing problems, because of technology problems,” Stewart said.

Maren Hulden, staff attorney with the Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP), also spoke with MPR News about the difficulties school administrators face in implementing the new special education legislation amidst staff shortages.

“For the kids who are hit hardest by pandemic disruptions, if we don’t find creative ways to meet their needs where they’re at right now, everything is going to get harder for them in the coming months and years,” Hulden said. “And it’s going to get harder for the adults in their lives to be able to figure out how to support them, including — and maybe especially — schools.”

Read more in COVID forces hard school choices for students with Down syndrome and their families.

MDLC Settlement Means Amendments to St. Paul Police Department Policy

Over the past 20 years, the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) has consistently supported deaf citizens for access to equal communication. Recently, MLDC represented a client who was denied a certified ASL interpreter by the Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD).

MDLC’s Rick Macpherson, who represented the client, cited violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Federal Rehabilitation Act, and the Minnesota Human Rights Act, as well as the 2013 Bahl Agreement, in which the SPPD agreed to use only certified ASL interpreters.

As a result of this settlement for the client, SPPD’s policy will be amended to specifically state that only certified sign language interpreters will be used with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The department will not use police officers to interpret if they are not certified interpreters.

“In this case,” says Macpherson, “SPPD relied upon an officer who knows some sign language. He is not an interpreter – he admitted that himself. With a certified interpreter, there’s much more assurance that effective communication will take place.” Read the full story in Attorney at Law Magazine.

Minnesota Disability Law Center Talks to KFAI Radio about Voting in Minnesota

Last week, KFAI Radio Twin Cities spoke with Justin Page, staff attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center, about the sometimes confusing, but nevertheless important topic of voting in Minnesota. At the podcast link below, listen to an informative discussion about how COVID-19 will affect upcoming election options and more.