Deaf Law Blog

Wal-Mart Not Required to Provide Interpreters
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) The Eleventh Circuit has decided that a deaf person is not entitled to an interpreter at a meeting in which his employment was terminated as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Court reasoned that because termination was not...
Wed, May 02 2007

Police Fire on Deaf Motorist
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) Police in Modesto, California opened fire on a deaf motorist for failure to follow oral commands to get out of his vehicle. ...
Wed, Apr 25 2007

Daphne Wright News Update
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) Here is another article regarding Daphne Wright's murder case from the Argus Leader. The case has engendered a lot of discussion on list services of sign language interpreters, spoken language interpreters and even forensic linguists. ...
Mon, Apr 02 2007

How expensive can those handcuffs be?
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) The town of Palmer, Massachusetts found out exactly how expensive it can be to shackle a deaf user of American Sign Language with handcuffs during an arrest. ...
Fri, Mar 30 2007

State Seeks Death Penalty or Deaf Defendant
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) Greetings after a long hiatus of practicing law. I wanted to write about a trial that is causing much debate in the deaf community and receiving a good deal of publicity from the mainstream press. Last summer, Daphne Wright was...
Thu, Mar 29 2007

On Board TTYs Offered by General Motors
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) FromDeafWeekly, it is reported that ONSTAR BY GM will equip its 2007 GM vehicles with an in-vehicle TTY for emergency service calls!The new TTY-compatible in-vehicle device will be available as a dealer-installed option at in a wide range of 2007...
Thu, Oct 05 2006

South Carolina Courts to Provide Interpreters for Jury Duty
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) According to the weekly deaf news e-magazine, Deafweekly, a deaf prospective juror with the assistance of the local Protection and Advocacy Agency, planned to file a discrimination complaint against the South Carolina Court system for failing to provide interpreting services... [...]
Thu, Sep 14 2006

Texas Company Agrees to Modify Policies
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) As a result of a federal lawsuit by Advocacy, Inc., of Texas agains Spherion Corporation, the parties have entered into an agreement whereby the company will modify its policies with respect to providing sign language interpreters to deaf applicants and... [...]
Thu, Aug 31 2006

Advocacy, Inc., Strikes Again
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) Advocacy, Inc., is set to announce today a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, in San Antonio, on behalf of Maria Salinas, who is deaf against the City of New Braunfels, Texas... [...]
Thu, Aug 24 2006

Advocacy, Incorporated Settles Suit
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) Advocacy, Inc., one of a network of protection and advocacy agencies assisting people with disabilities who have been discriminated against, has been busy in Texas. Lucy Wood, the regional managing attorney for Advocacy, Inc., has settled federal lawsuit against Montgomery County,... [...]
Thu, Aug 24 2006

Employment Update
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) According to GovExec.com, OPM has adopted a final rule to be published at 5 CFR Parts 213 and 315 which reduces some of the barriers to employment faced by disabled job applicants in the federal work force. This is certainly good... [...]
Wed, Aug 16 2006

The Book
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) You might have noticed a new addition to the blog appearing on the right side of the viewing screens.  Before becoming a lawyer, I was a sign language interpreter working primarily in the court systems in Maryland and the District... [...]
Wed, Aug 16 2006

DOJ Announces Settlement on Interpreters
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) The United States Department of Justice has settled a lawsuit with Testmasters, a provider of educational preparatory programs for standardized testing. Testmasters is one of the largest providers in California of prep courses for the LSAT for students seeking admission to... [...]
Wed, Aug 16 2006

Class Settlement Announced in DVD CC Labeling Case
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) How annoying is it to get a captioned DVD and then to find out that none of the bonus material is captioned? The Los Angeles County Superior Court has approved a preliminary settlement in a pending class action against Buena... [...]
Fri, Jun 09 2006

DOJ Focuses on Police Education
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) The United States Department of Justice has issued a guide to police departments advising them on the proper methods of communicating with deaf and hard of hearing citizens. The guidelines differentiate between when and interpreter is required and when other... [...]
Fri, May 12 2006

EEOC Claims Victory
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) The EEOC prevailed in a discrimination case jury verdict on behalf of a deaf employee at Federal Express who was denied sign language interpreters for employment-related communications.... [...]
Wed, Mar 08 2006

Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) After the events of this Fall with Hurricane Katrina, the federal government is gearing up to ensure that the infrastructure does not forget about people with disabilities in times of natural disasters. A report can be found on the Department... [...]
Fri, Jan 20 2006

Reasonable (?) Accommodations
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) From the e-magazine DeafWeekly comes the following request from a deaf defendant in Fort Wayne, Indiana -- a cochlear implant at the state's expense in order to follow the proceedings in his murder trial! The article states:... [...]
Fri, Jan 20 2006

NAD Sues Morgan Stanley
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) NAD and Outten & Golden have filed suit against Morgan Stanley on behalf of a deaf account holder who tried to place a trade through a relay system. Donald Brunner tried to place a stock trade through the TTY and... [...]
Mon, Sep 26 2005

Surveying the Deaf Response to Katrina
McCollum & Associates (Deaf Law) When Hurricane Katrina hit, my thoughts immediately went to the thousands of deaf residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and the surrounding environs. I knew that the deaf community and most likely the interpreting community would mobilize immediately, but I also knew... [...]
Mon, Sep 19 2005