"DRA Tackles the Giants"
By Shawna Parks

isability Rights Advocates (DRA) is a national and international
non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil
rights of people with disabilities. Our advocacy includes high-impact class
action litigation on behalf of people with all types of disabilities,
including mobility, hearing, vision, learning, and psychological
disabilities. The common denominator among all of DRA’s cases is that they are intended to affect the greatest amount of change, and enforce the rights of as many people with disabilities, as possible. Through this approach, DRA has made thousands of facilities throughout the country accessible and has enforced access rights for millions of people with disabilities in many key areas of life. This approach also means that DRA is often pursuing high stakes cases against major corporations and state entities. DRA’s nine-lawyer staff is currently litigating multiple cases against such entities in order to enforce the civil rights of people with disabilities in
the areas of employment, education and health care, among others. These
cases include:

• Bates v. United Parcel Service: DRA and co-counsel Schneider & Wallace represent a class of current and former United Parcel Service employees with hearing disabilities in a nationwide lawsuit. In November 2001 the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification thereby allowing the case to proceed as a class action on behalf of all UPS employees who use sign language as a primary means of communication due to a hearing loss or limitation and allege they have been discriminated against by UPS. This was a landmark victory as this is the first time an employment discrimination case has ever been certified on behalf of a class of individuals with hearing disabilities. The case is set to go to trial in June 2002 challenging UPS’s: (i) use of facially discriminatory policies to exclude deaf workers from entire job categories; (ii) failure to develop and
implement policies and procedures necessary to address communication
barriers faced by deaf workers; and (iii) creation a glass ceiling for deaf
workers, who are generally restricted to the company’s bottom-rung
positions.

• Chapman v. California Department of Education: DRA and co-counsel Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, represent a class of students who are being denied equal educational opportunities as a result of California’s newly implemented high stakes, high school exit exam. Beginning with the class of 2004 students will be required to pass this exam in order to receive a high school diploma. The suit, which is one of the first such cases in the
country and the first in California, alleges that the exit exam discriminates against students with disabilities in multiple ways, and that its design practically ensures that students with disabilities will fail, no matter how smart and hard-working they may be. The Plaintiffs in this case charge that the deficiencies of the exam include failure of the exam to align test questions with the curriculum actually taught, absence of an “alternate assessment” required by federal disability rights legislation, and failure to provide reasonable accommodations. This case was recently certified as a class action by Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District. DRA is now in the process of moving for an injunction to prevent the test from being administered in March, 2002.

• Metzler v. Kaiser Permanente: Pursuant to a settlement in this case Kaiser
Permanente will dramatically improve access at its hospitals and medical
office buildings throughout California. A key aspect of the agreement
addresses access to medical equipment. Kaiser will consult with people with disabilities to examination tables, scales, imaging equipment, mammography machines, and secure the equipment needed. Kaiser has also retained an architectural access consultant to survey its facilities, identify barriers, and recommend improvements. In addition, beginning with two model facilities, in Riverside and San Francisco, Kaiser will examine its policies and programs to determine what improvements should be made, and will then implement these improvements throughout its California system.

Although each of these cases focuses on a different substantive issue, they
share the common approach of enforcing the rights of people with
disabilities on the broadest scale and with the largest effect possible.
Although often hard-fought, DRA brings such high impact cases in order to enforce the civil rights guaranteed by law in a manner that will have a
long-lasting and broad based impact on the lives of people with
disabilities.

DRA never charges its clients a fee, and sustains itself through charitable
donations, grants and attorneys fees in successful cases. For more
information on DRA’s work and current case load please visit our website at www.dralegal.org.