{"id":19475,"date":"2012-08-02T13:28:19","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T18:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=19475"},"modified":"2012-08-02T15:26:15","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T20:26:15","slug":"city-settles-suit-brought-by-deaf-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/city-settles-suit-brought-by-deaf-resident\/","title":{"rendered":"City settles suit brought by deaf resident"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not So Tone Deaf?<\/strong><\/p>\n

City settles suit brought by deaf resident<\/p>\n

BY JORDAN SMITH<\/p>\n

JULY 31, 2012<\/p>\n

For the second time in a decade the city of Austin has settled a
\nfederal civil rights suit, reaffirming its agreement to provide
\ntraining for Austin Police officers on how to effectively communicate
\nwith Austin’s deaf population, including how to obtain interpreters to
\nensure effective communication as required by the Americans with
\nDisabilities Act.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was brought by the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of
\nEsther Valdez, who is deaf and who was arrested in 2009 for resisting
\narrest after failing to hear an officer yelling at her to stop walking
\ndown a sidewalk along a busy street in North Austin. The story of
\nValdez’s arrest was featured in a cover story in the Chronicle in
\nDecember 2010. The charges against Valdez were eventually dismissed,
\nbut last year she filed suit against the city and against Travis
\nCounty, arguing that the two entities discriminated against her based
\non her inability to hear. (The suit was initially filed ins state court
\nbut was removed to federal district court in July 2011.)<\/p>\n

In settling the suit the city has not admitted any fault, but has
\nagreed to a list of accommodations it will make for the hearing
\ndisabled. In addition to reaffirming it’s commitment to training new
\nAPD recruits in how to effectively communicate with the hearing
\ndisabled \u2013 a commitment the city originally made in 2002 in settling a
\ncase brought by a blind-and-deaf couple after they were arrested at the
\nCatfish Parlour in 2000 \u2013 the city has agreed it will require one hour
\nof refresher training for all officers every two years, “including a
\nreview of APD’s operational policies and procedures on communicating
\nwith persons with hearing disabilities and instructions on how to
\nobtain a sign language interpreter and other auxiliary aids and
\nservices,” reads the settlement. Moreover, the city has agreed to
\ninstall videophones within APD’s holding room at the jail and at the
\nmunicipal court in order to ensure that detained individuals with
\nhearing disabilities have the same access to telephone communication as
\ndo hearing individuals who are detained by police.<\/p>\n

The settlement also calls for the posting of a simple sign in the jail
\nholding room, in the municipal court, and in the magistrate courtroom
\nwithin the county’s Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center that
\ninforms the hearing disabled that they need only to point at the sign
\nto indicate that they are hearing impaired and in need of interpreter
\nservices. (The city also agreed to pay TCRP’s attorney fees and to pay
\nValdez $500, a nominal penalty allowed under the law.)<\/p>\n

Valdez is pleased with the settlement, said TCRP attorney Joe Berra. He
\nsaid the city was very open to making the kind of changes necessary to
\nensure fair treatment of hearing impaired individuals involved with the
\ncriminal justice system. The changes, he said, will ensure that the
\nsystem “identifies the needs” of the hearing impaired right away. “We
\nare happy with the agreement,” he said, and with the city’s “proactive”
\napproach to handling the lawsuit. Berra acknowledges that the city has
\nbeen down this road once before, agreeing to train police and to ensure
\neffective communication for the hearing impaired, but that the changes
\ndidn’t prevent future issues \u2013 such as in Valdez’s case. “Perhaps this
\ntime around it will penetrate the institution more,” he said.
\n“Hopefully, it will stick this time.”<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.austinchronicle.com\/blogs\/news\/2012-07-31\/not-so-tone-deaf\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not So Tone Deaf? City settles suit brought by deaf resident BY JORDAN SMITH JULY 31, 2012 For the second time in a decade the city of Austin has settled a federal civil rights suit, reaffirming its agreement to provide…<\/p>\n

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