'Hamilton' Producers Sued Over Services for Blind Theatergoers

REUTERS -- The producer of "Hamilton" has been sued by a blind theatergoer who claimed that the blockbuster Broadway musical violates federal law by failing to offer services to help blind and visually impaired people enjoy the show.

Article by Jonathan Stempel | January 24,2017       

In his complaint on Monday, Denver resident Mark Lasser said Hamilton Uptown LLC and Nederlander Organization, which runs the Richard Rodgers Theatre in Manhattan where "Hamilton" is performed, could easily provide live audio narratives to help visually impaired people follow stage action between songs.

But Lasser said the theater refuses to offer such narratives, which can be listened to with headphones so other patrons will not be disturbed.

He said this violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in places of public accommodation, and "will continue to deter blind and visually impaired people from attending musicals."

The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court. It was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Nederlander did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment. Spokesmen for Hamilton Uptown declined to comment. A lawyer for Lasser could not immediately be reached for further comment.

Lasser seeks to require "Hamilton" to put on at least one show per week with at least 25 headsets designed to accommodate visually impaired people.

He noted that former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Nov. 21 signed a final rule requiring many movie theaters to provide similar accommodations by late 2018 to blind patrons. (here)

"Given the similarities," the complaint said, "live theaters must also be required to provide live audio description to the blind."

It is unclear why the lawsuit specifically targets the Broadway production of "Hamilton."

The New York law firm representing Lasser specializes in ADA lawsuits.

"Hamilton" tells the story of U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton in a musical blending, hip-hop and rap, rhythm and blues, ballads and Broadway showstoppers.

It won 11 Tony awards last year, including best musical and best book for creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also won a Pulitzer Prize.

The case is Lasser v Nederlander Organization Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-00490.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-theater-hamilton-idUSKBN15900N

'Life, Animated' A Story Of A Man with Autism Gets Oscar Nomination

“Life, Animated” was one of five films Oscar nominated in 2017 for Documentary Feature.

The other nominees announced on Jan. 24, 2017 for best documentary were "Fire at Sea," "I Am Not Your Negro," "13th" and "O.J.: Made in America."

SYNOPSIS

Shortly after he turned three, Owen Suskind, the son of journalist Ron Suskind and his wife Cornelia, stopped speaking. Owen was diagnosed with autism, but as the years passed, his family discovered that he had memorized the dialogue of every Disney animated film. As he has grown to adulthood, Owen has gained vital life skills through his connection to animated movies.

For more on “Life, Animated” a website is available at: http://www.lifeanimateddoc.com/

The 89th Oscars will be televised live at 7 p.m. Feb. 26 on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Life, Animated Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Owen Suskind Documentary

White House Under President Trump Removes Website Pages About Disabilities

During the Obama administration, there was a page on the White House website that had information about federal policy regarding people with disabilities. Its URL was https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/disabilities. Not under the Trump administration. The Trump-run White House website — which went live moments after Friday’s inauguration of President Trump — says: “You are not authorized to access this page.”

Article by Valerie Strauss for the Washington Post | January 20, 2017
The Obama White House website page labeled “Contact the Disability Issues Outreach Team | The White House” isn’t there any longer either. Click on it and it now says: “The requested page/disability-issues-contact could not be found.” And the Obama White House website’s fact sheet about expanding opportunities for people with disabilities is gone too. (You can see the former disabilities page here.)

Archiving website pages from past administrations is common practice, and restructuring websites from administration to administration is, too. What is interesting here is that the website team didn’t find the time to make sure there were replacements for the disabilities information they were taking down before Inauguration Day.

But according to this Post story:

Just moments after President Donald Trump took the oath of office Friday, the official White House website was transformed into a set of policy pledges offering the broad contours of the Trump administration’s top priorities — including fierce support for law enforcement and gun owners’ rights to defend themselves, the seeming immediate elimination of the White House’s policy page on climate change and a notable absence of any directives involving President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Trump did not talk about expanding opportunity for people with disabilities during the primary and general election campaigns, but he did become known for mocking a New York Times reporter with disabilities. In late 2015, Trump went after reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, a physical disability that affects the flexibility and movement of his arms. Trump said at a rally in South Carolina, “You’ve got to see this guy,” and then jerked his arms spastically. Later Trump said he did not know Kovaleski had a disability and wasn’t trying to mock him. Kovaleski noted that Trump had met him repeatedly.

If you search for the word “disabilities” on the Trump White House website, you get links to historical stories and posts about how people with disabilities can visit the White House and apply for fellowships.

Here’s the list of URLs:

• Ida Saxton McKinley | whitehouse.gov
• Elections & Voting | whitehouse.gov
• Tours & Events | whitehouse.gov
• Mrs. Karen Pence | whitehouse.gov
• Frequently Asked Questions | whitehouse.gov
• The Executive Branch | whitehouse.gov
• Grover Cleveland | whitehouse.gov
• 2016-2017 Class of White House Fellows | whitehouse.gov

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/20/trump-white-house-takes-down-website-pages-about-disabilities/?utm_term=.7dc0ee4eaf53

EEOC Sues Walmart for Discriminating Against Employee with Intellectual Disability

Retail Giant Refused to Make a Simple Accommodation for a Longtime Employee, Federal Agency Charges

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Walmart violated federal law when it failed to accommodate and fired a longtime employee because of her disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to EEOC's lawsuit, Marlo Spaeth, who has Down syndrome, was disciplined for absenteeism after her schedule of 15 years was changed by management. Managers at Walmart ignored Spaeth's repeated requests to work her usual shift of 12:00pm - 4:00pm, insisting instead that she work the longer and later shifts that were assigned to her by a new computerized scheduling system. Because of Spaeths's disability, she was unable to adapt to the change in routine.

Spaeth's sister, Amy Stevenson, who acts as her guardian, became involved after disciplinary actions resulted in Spaeth's termination. Ms. Stevenson tried to protect her sister's rights under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), demanding that Walmart rehire Spaeth and allow her to work her preferred schedule of 12:00pm to 4:00pm as a reasonable accommodation. Walmart refused, failing again to accommodate Spaeth, in violation of the ADA. EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, Civil Action No. 2:17-cv-70), in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement though its conciliation process. The lawsuit asks the court to order Walmart to reinstate Ms. Spaeth with appropriate back pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit also seeks a permanent injunction enjoining Walmart from failing to provide a reasonable accommodation for disability and discharging an employee due to a disability.

Marlo Spaeth had a long record of successful employment with Walmart, receiving multiple pay raises and satisfactory performance reviews over the years. Gregory Gochanour, regional attorney for the Chicago District, said, "Walmart's refusal to accommodate such a simple scheduling request here is not only a violation of the ADA, it's also an example of how easily a successful 15-year career can be harmed by disability discrimination. EEOC will continue to fight ADA violations and uphold the rights of people with disabilities."

"Even the nation's largest private employer must comply with the law's requirement to make a good faith effort to accommodate an employee with a disability," said Julianne Bowman, district director of the Chicago District. EEOC's Chicago District is responsible for investigating charges of employment discrimination, administrative enforcement, and the conduct of agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.

SOURCE: Press Release 01/18/2017

CHICAGO DISABILITY STUDIES 2017 CONFERENCE, DISABILITY AND VIOLENCE, APRIL 7th

2017 Chicago Disability Studies Conference: Disability & Violence 9am-3pm on April 7, 2017 at the University of Illinois at Chicago Organized by the Disability and Human Development Student Association

The Chicago Disability Studies Conference is a one-day, interdisciplinary conference focusing on disability and violence. This event is free, accessible, and open to the public. Papers are welcome from contributors inside and outside of disability studies, by undergraduate students, graduate students, non-UIC students, activists, and community members.

Violence has been a major issue faced by individuals and groups alike. Violence directly impacts the lives of many groups, especially as it is often perpetrated to exert power and control over an individual or a group of people. To understand the social oppression of any group, it is important to explore the forms of violence to which they are subjected, the impact violence has on them, and how they actively resist violence. As a marginalized population, people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to many forms of violence. We invite presentations that examine the intersection of violence and disability.

Possible questions to explore include, but are not limited to:

• How do disabled people experience violence in contexts that claim to care for them, such as medical settings, group homes, and nursing homes?
• How do local, state, or the federal government support or sanction various forms of violence, such as police brutality, denial of disability benefits and other forms of public assistance, and lack of affordable healthcare?
• How do lack of or denial of access operate as forms of violence?
• How do disabled people who are also marginalized by race, gender, class, age, sexuality, and other social identities experience violence?
• How do transnational and global violence complicate issues such as disability identity and disability pride?
• How do disabled people, disability culture, and disability rights/justice movements address or resist violence? What coalitional possibilities exist between groups working to address diverse forms of violence?

We invite everyone to consider these questions and others as they submit papers that address the relationship between violence and disability by February 17th, 2017 at 11:59 PM.
Abstracts should be no more than 250 words.

Presentation Times:

• Graduate Students: 10-15 minutes
• Undergraduate Students: 5-10 minutes
• Community Members: 5-15 minutes

Please submit abstracts using the following Google Form:    
 https://goo.gl/forms/ukZcv5MRNpVb5HJs2

If you have any questions or have any difficulties accessing the submission form, contact DHDSA Academic and Professional Development Committee Chair Nell Koneczny at: nkonec2@uic.edu

SOURCE: https://drc.uic.edu/chicago-disability-studies-conference-2017-disability-and-violence-april-7-2017/

For the University of Illinois at Chicago, Disability Resource Center:

https://drc.uic.edu/

Ed Roberts Day 2017 - January 23rd - Empowering Advocates and Activists for People with Disabilities

Ed Roberts was both an advocate and an activist. He was a leader in the civil rights movement and championed the rights of people with disabilities. He was the founder of the first Center for Independent Living and the World Institute on Disability. Ed advocated for his right to attend a university and was a activist in the 504 sit-in held in San Francisco. He was known for a lot of things by a lot of people, but most importantly he believed in empowering others to become advocates and activists.
Ed Roberts Day 2017 is celebrated by a dedicated website, and is A Project of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers at: http://yodisabledproud.org/ed-roberts-day/   

Please join a Twitter Chat on Monday, January 23rd - 3pm EST/1pm Central/12pm PST!
Tweeting about the importance of Ed and mentors like him in the disability community.
#MyMentorEd #EdRobertsDay17

For more information, videos, interviews on Ed Roberts amazing journey, we have numerous posts over the years:

• Celebrating a Disability Rights Pioneer: Ed Roberts
• Disability Activist Ed Roberts on "60 Minutes" in 1989 with Harry Reasoner (cc)
• Ed Roberts: His Words, His Vision : America's Disability Activist History : video
• Ed Roberts an advocate for inclusion and equality for people with disabilities: "Free Wheeling" video (cc)
• Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann 1984 Video Interview, Disability Rights Movement History

Webinar Feb 9th: Engaging Emergency Management Leadership to be Champions of Disability Integration and Inclusive Planning

The Commonwealth of Virginia has learned that a whole community approach to emergency management requires leadership that promotes and champions inclusive emergency planning and disability integration. When leadership is not convinced of the necessity of whole community planning, inclusive planning, policy changes, and disability integration is extremely challenging. However, when leadership becomes champions of whole community emergency management, amazing results can be achieved. This webinar will review how the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) achieved an engaged, supportive leadership VDEM has achieved great and the resulting successes in whole community emergency management that engagement provided.

February 9th, 2017

Webinars begin at 2.30pm ET/1.30pm CT/12.30 pm MT/11.30am PT/9.30am Hawaii.

Registration: Free on-line at http://www.adapresentations.org/registration.php

Come hear this webinar covering some of the most significant results of Virginia's leading from the top approach including:

• Creation of the Access and Functional Needs Advisory Committee
• Functional and Access Needs Network
• Disability Partner calls during emergency response operations and recovery
• Establishment of Functional and Access Needs Support Teams volunteer programs in partnership with the Medical Reserve Corps
• Ensuring accessibility of shelters and the sheltering program was written in to the job description of the new State Sheltering Coordinator position
• Including access and functional needs considerations in the development of the new statewide sheltering strategy
• Including a certified ADA Coordinator in review of the Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan and Annexes

Learning objectives:

• Learn how leadership can move disability inclusion and integration forward.
• Learn how to turn leadership into champions of change for disability inclusion and integration.
• Learn how state emergency management agencies can lead from the top down with local agencies
• Learn what leadership needs to be involved and why.
• Learn about what Virginia is doing to ensure equal access to their emergency programs and planning.

Presenters:

Dawn Brantley is the Sheltering Coordinator and Acting Director of External Affairs for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management where her responsibilities include developing a comprehensive, state-wide strategic approach for sheltering operations and ensuring sheltering programs are accessible to everyone. Ms. Brantley previously served as Regional Inclusive Emergency Planner for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and as Emergency Programs Manager for the Office of Emergency Management in Anchorage, Alaska. She has also served as a Disability Integration Advisor in FEMA's Reservist program and is a certified ADA Coordinator.

These 90 minute webinars are delivered using the Blackboard Collaborate webinar platform. Collaborate downloads files to your machine in order to run. We recommend that you prepare your technology prior to the start of the session. You may need the assistance of your IT Staff if firewalls prevent you from downloading files.

To view all of the sessions for the coming year, or to see previous sessions, go to http://www.adapresentations.org/schedule.php

The information presented in this webinar is intended solely as informal guidance, and is neither a determination of legal rights or responsibilities by NIDILRR or FEMA.

President Barack Obama last email - 'Thank You'

With a week where we now have a new U.S. President in the White House, It's a honor to share the last email from President Obama as his administration comes to end of it's term.
# # #

My fellow Americans,

It's a long-standing tradition for the sitting president of the United States to leave a parting letter in the Oval Office for the American elected to take his or her place. It's a letter meant to share what we know, what we've learned, and what small wisdom may help our successor bear the great responsibility that comes with the highest office in our land, and the leadership of the free world.

But before I leave my note for our 45th president, I wanted to say one final thank you for the honor of serving as your 44th. Because all that I've learned in my time in office, I've learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.

Throughout these eight years, you have been the source of goodness, resilience, and hope from which I've pulled strength. I've seen neighbors and communities take care of each other during the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. I have mourned with grieving families searching for answers -- and found grace in a Charleston church.

I've taken heart from the hope of young graduates and our newest military officers. I've seen our scientists help a paralyzed man regain his sense of touch, and wounded warriors once given up for dead walk again. I've seen Americans whose lives have been saved because they finally have access to medical care, and families whose lives have been changed because their marriages are recognized as equal to our own. I've seen the youngest of children remind us through their actions and through their generosity of our obligations to care for refugees, or work for peace, and, above all, to look out for each other.

I've seen you, the American people, in all your decency, determination, good humor, and kindness. And in your daily acts of citizenship, I've seen our future unfolding.

All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into that work -- the joyous work of citizenship. Not just when there's an election, not just when our own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime.

I'll be right there with you every step of the way.

And when the arc of progress seems slow, remember: America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word 'We.' 'We the People.' 'We shall overcome.'

Yes, we can.

President Barack Obama

P.S. If you'd like to stay connected, you can sign up here to keeping getting updates from me.

Source: White House email list

Webinar (Jan. 31 and Feb. 2): Final Rule Updating the Section 508 Standards and Section 255 Guidelines

The U.S. Access Board will conduct a free webinar on its recent final rule updating accessibility requirements for information and communication technology covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act. The webinar will take place on January 31 from 1:00 to 2:30 (ET).  It will be repeated on February 2 from 2:30 to 4:00 (ET), but registration is limited.  Both webinars will be recorded and archived.

Presenters will provide an overview of the rule's scope and structure, highlight substantive changes, and answer questions from attendees. The Section 508 Standards apply to electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained or used by the federal government. The Section 255 Guidelines address access to telecommunications products and services and apply to manufacturers of telecommunications equipment.

For further information or to register, follow these links:

• January 31 webinar: www.accessibilityonline.org/cioc-508/session/?id=110610
• February 2 webinar: www.accessibilityonline.org/ao/session/?id=110588

The webinars are provided by the ADA National Network and the Accessibility Community of Practice of the CIO Council in partnership with the U.S. Access Board.

U.S. Access Board Publishes Updated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Requirements in the Federal Register

On January 18, 2017 Federal Resister, the U.S. Access Board published a final rule that updates accessibility requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act. The Board released an advance copy of the rule on its website last week.

The rule jointly updates and reorganizes the Section 508 standards and Section 255 guidelines to advance accessibility, facilitate compliance, and harmonize the requirements with other standards in the U.S. and abroad. The Section 508 standards apply to ICT procured, developed, maintained, or used by federal agencies. The Communications Act guidelines cover telephones, cell phones, pagers, computers with modems and other telecommunications equipment.

Further information, including an overview of the rule, is available on the Board's website.