COVID-19 Summary: On April 29, 2020, four individuals with disabilities and Disability Rights New York sued the Governor of New York State for the absence of live televised American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation on the Governor’s daily televised briefings. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the ...
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COVID-19 Summary: On April 29, 2020, four individuals with disabilities and Disability Rights New York sued the Governor of New York State for the absence of live televised American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation on the Governor’s daily televised briefings. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the plaintiffs alleged that lack of live ASL accommodations discriminated against populations with disabilities residing in New York.
On April 29, four individuals with disabilities and Disability Rights New York filed this lawsuit against Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York State, as a declaratory and injunctive action. The plaintiffs alleged that the absence of live televised American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation in Governor Cuomo’s daily televised briefings on COVID-19 discriminated against populations with disabilities residing in New York, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Further, the plaintiffs added that New York residents already faced disproportionate health risks from the pandemic and that every other state in the nation has provided some form of live televised ASL. The case was filed at the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York and assigned to Valerie E. Canroni.
The plaintiffs immediately sought a Temporary Restraining Order and preliminary injunction requiring New York to immediately include live in-frame ASL interpretation for all the governor's briefings addressed to New York residents. The plaintiffs also sought attorney fees and were represented by Disability Rights New York. The state's opposition argued that they complied with the ADA and 504 by providing closed captioning and ASL interpretation through the Governor’s website.
The Court granted the preliminary injunction on May 11, and ordered Governor Cuomo to immediately implement live, in-frame ASL interpretation for his daily press briefings. 2020 WL 2393285.
Settlement discussions are proceeding and the case is ongoing.
Averyn Lee - 05/17/2020
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