C. Presentation
Presentation to the County Commission, Monroe County
June 6th, 2007
By Marc Dubin, Esq.
Former Senior Trial Attorney, Us. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division,
Disability Rights Section, Washington, D.C. 1992-2005
Thank you for sponsoring the conference addressing the needs of people who are deaf or
hard of hearing in the Keys. The conference was well attended, and featured experts in a
variety of areas. I have been asked to provide you with a brief summary of the highlights,
and some recommendations. Before I do so, I also want to commend your Advisory
Council for the work they have done to enhance the lives of people with disabilities in the
Keys and for their ongoing efforts to identify solutions to concerns.
By way of background, I am a resident of the Keys, and formerly served as an Assistant
State Attorney here from 1989-1993. I worked closely with Sheriff Roth for two years, as
a member of the HIDTA Task Force in Marathon. I love the Keys, and am proud to live
here. I returned to the Keys in 2005, after serving as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Justice
Department for over 12 years. At the Justice Department, I worked in the Disability
Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, enforcing the ADA nationwide on behalf of
the United States. Some of you, and some of your staff, may remember me as the Justice
Department attorney who came back year after year to provide technical assistance to the
ADA Coordinators and to others about how to comply with the law.
I now work as Director of Advocacy for several nonprofits that seek to enhance the lives
of people with disabilities, and work collaboratively with government officials and
businesses to help them come into compliance without the need to resort to litigation. I
also train consumers with disabilities about their rights. On a state level, I serve as Co-
Chair of the Florida Bar's Disability Law Committee. I also serve as Chair of the
Disability Advisory Committee to the Red Cross Chapter of Miami-Dade and the Keys.
The conference highlighted many concerns, and suggested a wide variety of options to
help people with disabilities in Monroe County lead fuller, more productive lives. Many
of the solutions are likely to save money, rather than cost money. Some involve training.
Other solutions will require leadership, and will require efforts to enhance collaboration
among governmental agencies and services. Let's review some of them:
Problem:
· Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing are entitled, pursuant to federal law, to
effective communication. Often, that requires the services of a qualified sign
language interpreter. .Monroe County has a shortage of qualified sign language
interpreters, and as a result, unqualified interpreters are used, resulting in a
violation of the ADA.
Solutions:
· Use video relay interpreters, and also identify local qualified sign language
interpreters and share the information.
~.
The courts in Monroe County are already using video relay interpreters. This is
commendable, and others should do so as well. All state and local government
services are obligated to ensure effective communication. Using pen and paper
will not provide effective communication in many situations, such as in hospitals,
police investigations and interrogations, and when lawyers interview clients and
witnesses, for example. Sharing the cost of hiring video relay interpreters may be
far more cost-efficient in the long run.
Problem:
· In emergencies, people who are deaf or hard of hearing are not adequately alerted
to the emergency information they need to prepare and stay safe.
Solutions:
· Broadcasts of emergency information needs to be presented with captioning, so
that the information conveyed is accessible to people who are deaf or hard of
hearing. Failure to do so violated FCC regulations. This rule applies to
broadcasters, not county officials, and so discussions should be undertaken with
Comcast and other cable service providers to ensure this is being done,
Complaints should be filed with the FCC in the absence of compliance.
. Title II of the ADA applies to the programs and services of state and local
govemments. When viewed in their entirety, programs and services of state and
local governments must be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities.
Are County Commission meetings, and emergency broadcasts by the Mayor and
the Emergency Operations Center accessible to and usable by people with
disabilities? Are they accessible to and usable by people who are deaf or hard f
hearing? In addition to the broadcasters' obligation to provide captioning, under
FCC rules, the County has an independent obligation under title II of the ADA to
ensure effective communication, when its meetings are viewed in their entirety.
Essentially, this means that steps should be undertaken to assess what meetings
are broadcast, and then develop a list of priorities to assess which will be
captioned and will also be provided with a qualified sign language interpreter
present. It is important to ensure that essential information is conveyed to the deaf
and hard of hearing community, so that they are not excluded. The failure to
develop such a system presents some legal liability as well. Here, too, remote
video interpreting can be used.
Problem:
· Attorneys fail to provide effective communication to clients and witnesses who
are deaf or hard of hearing, by refusing to hire qualified sign language
interpreters. Too often, attorneys fail to provide a qualified sign language
interpreter upon request, and violate title III of the ADA. Or, they hire a qualified
sign language interpreter, and then charge the client. Both actions violate the
ADA.
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Solutions:
· IdentifY qualified sign language interpreters and create a list of them, identifYing
their specializations (health care, law, accounting, other). Share the information
with everyone in the community who needs to provide a sign language interpreter
(doctors, hospitals, lawyers, accountants, law enforcement, etc.). Use video relay
interpreters when necessary. Enter into a contract and share the costs.
Problem:
· People with disabilities are unemployed or underemployed, and experience
discrimination in the workplace.
Only 35 percent of Americans with disabilities of working age are employed full or
part time. That number is in contrast to 78 % of Americans without disabilities,
according to the comprehensive N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans with
Disabilities.
http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=oage. viewPage&pageID= I 430&nodeID=
I &FeatureID= 1649&redirected= I &CFID= 13 277142&CFTOKEN=68600205&nohea
der=l
Of those aged 18-64, people with disabilities are much less likely to be employed
(either full-time or part-time) than people without disabilities (32% versus 81 %
respectively).
http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID= 1430&nodeID= I
&F eatureID= 11 O&redirected= 1 &CFID= 13277142&CFTOKEN=68600205
People with slight disabilities are 8 times more likely to be employed than people
with very severe disabilities (64% versus 8% respectively), but they are still less
likely to be employed than people without disabilities.
http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=oage. viewPage&pageID= 1430&nodeID= 1
&F eatureID= 11 O&redirected= 1 &CFID= 13277142&CFTOKEN=68600205
More than 3 out of 10 employed people with disabilities (36%) say they have
encountered some form of discrimination in the workplace due to their disabilities,
the most prevalent of which is not being offered ajob for which they are qualified.
More than half (51 %) of those who have experienced discrimination say they have
been refused a job due to their disabilities.
http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID= 1430&nodeID= 1
&F eatureID= 11 O&redirected= 1 &CFID= 13277142&CFTOKEN=68600205
Other forms of discrimination include: being denied a workplace accommodation
(40%), being given less responsibility than co-workers (32%), being paid less than
other workers with similar skills in similar jobs (29%), being re.fused a job promotion
(28%), and being refused ajob interview (22%).
http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page. viewPage&pageID= 14 30&nodeID= 1
&FeatureID=ll O&redirected=l &CFID=13277142&CFTOKEN=68600205
Solutions:
· Educate employers about their obligations under the ADA and educate applicants
and employees about their rights.
Problem:
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. Businesses and state and local government employees are inadequately trained to
answer calls from callers using TTY s or Relay Operators. Too often, callers using
TTY s or Relay Operators find that the recipient of the call is unfamiliar with
TTY s and Relay Operators, and callers are often hung up on without a response.
Solution:
. Train county staff on receiving TTY and Relay Operator calls.
Problem:
. The emergency response system, including the response from the Red Cross, does
not adequately include people with disabilities in the planning and
implementation process.
Solutions:
. People with disabilities should be encouraged to participate in development of
plans and in testing evacuation and sheltering plans. The local Center for
Independent Living should be encouraged to participate, and participants should
be sought out to participate in the work of the Disability Advisory Council ofthe
American Red Cross Chapter of Miami-Dade and the Keys. Staff of the County
Commission shouIdjoin the Advisory Council as well. To do so, write to me at
mdubin(a).pobox.com.
Problem:
. The Key West Courts currently have contracts with video remote interpreting
(VRI) service companies to facilitate communication with members of the
community who are deaf. Because these services are not shared by other
emergency services, however, deaf citizens cannot communicate and the county
loses money when it tries to meet their needs on a case-by-case basis.
Solution:
. Pool VRI needs and establish a single bulk VRI contract. Set up a task force to
(a) identify all emergency services where VRI will be useful and (b) work with
the Key West Courts and their VRI service provider to find the lowest cost
solution that can be shared by all emergency services.
Problem:
. Accessible shelters and services are not located near people with disabilities.
Solution:
. Start researching the availability of geographic information services (GIS) data to
identify where large concentrations of people with disabilities live. Stay aware of
new census data that may better target these demographics. Also, pinpoint
nursing homes, hospitals, and other medical facilities that are likely to house
people with disabilities. Then, use this information to plan ideal placement of
accessible shelters.
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Problem:
. People in Key West all need emergency information close to real-time. This
information must meet the communication needs of people with disabilities. It
must also provide information for people using different emerging technologies,
such as cell phones, RSS readers, internet appliances, etc.
Solution:
. Provide real-time information in several simultaneous modalities. For instance,
when new information becomes available, simultaneously (a) post this
information to a website and RSS feed, (b) send out an email alert to people
subscribing for email alerts, and (c) send out SMS messages to user's cell phones.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this ongoing effort to enhance services to
people with disabilities in Monroe County.
Respectfully submitted,
m ...-< )) V'L.-
Marc Dubin, Esq.
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