Blind students who attend LACCD cannot use classroom materials, textbooks, educational platforms, and websites because of access barriers. The students brought a case in federal court to fix the problems. The case is called Payan v. LACCD. Instead of taking steps to remove the barriers to blind students, LACCD plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that people with disabilities cannot bring a case under a “disparate impact” theory of discrimination.
"Disparate impact" is a phrase the lawyers use to talk about discrimination that is not intentional. Unintentional discrimination can include inaccessible spaces without ramps and elevators, trains or buses that are not wheelchair accessible, websites and mobile apps that are unusable by blind people and people with other disabilities, and policies that seem neutral but exclude people with disabilities.
The ruling LACCD wants from the Supreme Court would make it impossible for disabled people to challenge that kind of discrimination. The only reason we have made some progress expanding disability rights is because the ADA and Section 504 require businesses and government to do things differently regardless of what anyone “intended.”
Sign the petition and tell LACCD to BACK OFF.
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