September 10, 2006
Inside ■ Miss Unattainable 2006— p. 3 ■ Ghanaian Man Wins Award— p. 7 ■ MCIL 25th Anniversary Celebration— p. 9-10
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“Every moment in planning
saves three or four in execution.” – Crawford Greenwalt
Page 2 Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Mpls. MN Permit No. 4766
Volume 18, Number 9
Minnesota’s Disability
Community Newspaper
September 10, 2006
Access Denied At Univ. of Houston Student With Disability Sues Over Professor’s Right To Refuse Accommodation by Scott Jaschik
D
isputes over accommodations for students with disabilities have become commonplace. Institutions, students and lawyers fight over whether students are in fact eligible, what changes they are entitled to and plenty more. But a lawsuit filed recently against the University of Houston involves a student with an undisputed disability who says he was turned down by a professor, without explanation, for his requests for
accommodations. Not only is the suit challenging the treatment of the student, but the litigation is demanding that the university abandon a policy in which professors have wide leeway to decide whether to comply with requests from students with disabilities. “This policy allows professors complete discretion, and that’s illegal,” said Ernest Saadiq Morris, a lawyer for the Texas Civil Rights Project who is handling the case. It’s
as if, Morris said, a public university announced that it was going to let individual professors decide whether to follow laws that bar discrimination on the basis of race or gender. “They are trying to delegate the undelegatable,” said Morris. “This case shows a resistance at some universities to viewing discrimination against people with disabilities as what we have accepted as unfair or illegal practice.” Officials from the university
said that they could not comment directly on litigation, but confirmed that the policies cited in the lawsuit remain in effect. Dona G. Hamilton, general counsel for the university, said, “The welfare of our students is a primary concern at the University of Houston. We take such complaints very seriously, and we are committed to resolving any problems that we may find.” The plaintiff in the case is Gary Bradford, who was starting his senior year at Houston
Still Parking In The Public Lot: Comedian Rises From St. Paul Roots To National Prominence by Tim Benjamin Josh Blue, who recently won NBC’s talent-contest show, “Last Comic Standing,” was in town last month as part of his nationwide tour. Access Press editor Tim Benjamin and Rick Cardenas of Advocating Change Together got a chance to chat with Blue before the show.
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was fortunate enough to meet and interview comedian Josh Blue before his appearance last month at the Acme Comedy Club. He is obviously a very successful young man: at only 27 years of age, living with cerebral palsy, Blue has prominently forged his way into a very difficult arena. And according to his Web site, he is booked up through the rest of the year, mostly at colleges and comedy clubs all over the country. And yet, I noticed he’s still humble enough to park in the public parking lot (about four spaces down from where we parked) and walk with a friend lackadaisically into the main entrance of the club in the warehouse district
of downtown Minneapolis. We met him in the main seating area of the club and chatted while he sucked a soda through a straw without lifting it off the table. On stage, he wore the same shirt and pants he walked in wearing, along with his trade-mark bandana holding his disheveledstyle hairdo; Blue jokingly said that he wears the bandana because he always wants to be ready for a pickup game of handball. In case you didn’t catch “Last Comic Standing” you should know that not only did you miss some very good humor, you also missed a true local; as Blue says, “My hood is St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood.” Blue attended Como Junior and Como Senior High School. One of his classmates, who was also present at the interview, noted that even back in high school, he was drawn to Blue because of his humor. “In school Josh was the class clown.” Blue quickly remarked back, “Being class clown kept me out
of trouble, the opposite of most class clowns.” The “Last Comic Standing” isn’t Blue’s first big win; he also won the Grand Prize at the 2004 Royal Flush Comedy Competition in Las Vegas, which earned him $10,000 and was nominated for “Best Diversity Event of 2006.” Comedy is not Blue’s only talent; he played soccer for the United States Paralympic team, and he participated in the 2004 Paralympic Games that took place in Athens, Greece. Blue’s humor is aimed at how he perceives life and how life perceives him as a “victim of cerebral palsy.” His genius is that he has found a new way to make us laugh at life and our abilities, and laugh at the stereotypical image of people with disabilities. I can’t put a
Josh Blue name on his style of humor; others have labeled it “spastic and engaging.” I think it’s just really fun stuff, without quite as much of the vulgarity and sexual innuendo as your standard nightclub fare. Don’t get me wrong—Blue’s show is probably not appropriate for really young kids, but it’s not total X-rated either. The guy is just funny! After high school, Blue went off to Evergreen State College in Olympia, WashingComedian - cont. on p. 14
in the fall of 2005, when the disputed actions took place. As a result of a genetic impairment, Bradford was born without arms and his hands are attached at his shoulders. He also has rickets, seizures and immune deficiencies and uses a wheelchair for mobility. When he enrolled at Houston, he registered with the university’s Center for Students With Disabilities, which both verified his disability and approved a set of recommendations to help him succeed academically. Those recommendations included obtaining notes from classmates and instructors. With professors generally cooperating, Bradford was proceeding until he enrolled in a required social sciences writing course last fall. According to the lawsuit, the instructor and teaching assistants turned down—without explanation—Bradford’s requests for accommodations such as providing him with notes of class lectures and discussions and copies of slides used in class sessions. What is striking, according to Bradford’s lawyer, is that the instructors apparently had the right under the university’s policy to do so (even if that is against the law). The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires colleges to make “reasonable accommodations” to students with disabilities, provided that the students present evidence of the disability and that the accommodations requested do not distort the nature of the academic work. The University of Houston’s policies on students with disabilities have much in common with other institutions’ policies. But they suggest in several places that faculty members get to decide whether to make any accommodations. There are references to faculty members
There are references [in the university’s policies] to faculty members being “encouraged” t o make reasonable changes and language such as “if the faculty member agrees to provide academic accommodations.” This language, the lawsuit charges, gives professors the right to ignore the law… being “encouraged” to make reasonable changes and language such as “if the faculty member agrees to provide academic accommodations.” This language, the lawsuit charges, gives professors the right to ignore the law, as the suit says happened in Bradford’s case. Richard Allegra, associate executive director of the Association on Higher Education and Disability, said that he did not know the details of the Houston case, but that he was surprised that colleges would have policies letting any one player effectively veto accommodations for a student with a disability. Developing a plan for such a student, Allegra said, is a question of finding “balance” between academic goals, the desires of students and faculty members, and the nature of student abilities. Faculty members need to be “a part of the process and a part of the team,” he said. But there needs to be “a total team,” in which someone—typically a dean or director—makes sure that the law is being followed. One of the issues in the Houston case is the claim by Bradford that he was never given explanations for why Access Denied - cont. on p. 14