Protecting the ADA
Sunday, March 12, 2017, 7 pm EST/ 4 pm Pacific
In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.” This is particularly true with the current administration and changes in policies and programs that seem to happen on a daily basis.
Join the co-partners of #CripTheVote, Gregg Beratan, Andrew Pulrang, and Alice Wong, in a conversation on the importance of protecting the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the proposed changes to this law that may impact people with disabilities.
This chat will be focused on the strengths and weaknesses of the ADA, the misconceptions of it, and a look at a bill introduced earlier this year, H.R. 620: ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017. This is a bill “To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to promote compliance through education, to clarify the requirements for demand letters, to provide for a notice and cure period before the commencement of a private civil action, and for other purposes.”
How to Participate
Follow @GreggBeratan @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility on Twitter.
When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.
If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote
If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check @DisVisibility’s account. Each question will be tweeted 5-6 minutes apart.
Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat
Check out this captioned ASL explanation of how to participate in a chat by @behearddc
https://www.facebook.com/HEARDDC/videos/1181213075257528/
Introductory Tweets and Questions for 3/12 Chat
Welcome to the #CripTheVote chat on protecting the #ADA! Please remember to use the hashtag when you tweet.
If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote
Q1 Based on your experiences, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the Americans with Disabilities Act? #CripTheVote
H.R. 620: ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 is a bill introduced in Jan 2017: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr620 #CripTheVote
H.R. 620 seeks to amend the #ADA to ‘promote compliance through education’ & among other measures to delay civil actions. #CripTheVote
Proponents of this bill say that the amendment is intended to curtail ‘nuisance’ or ‘serial’ lawsuits. #CripTheVote
These issue have been around for a long time, but a recent 60 Minutes segment summarizes the claims. #CripTheVote http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-americans-with-disabilities-act-lawsuits-anderson-cooper/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=31955379
Blog post by @LFlegal w/ quotes from @IngridTischer regarding the “60 Minutes” story. http://www.lflegal.com/2016/12/60-minutes/ #CripTheVote
Also, “An Open Letter Opposing Ableism in ABA Section on Litigation Programming” https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGCeu9knUilZcW2k7H_IMyYnRP1P2YQWvM-QlwVV-fRu_61w/viewform #CripTheVote
Q2 How would the disability community be affected by notification & waiting periods before being able to file a lawsuit? #CripTheVote
Q3 Have you ever filed an official ADA complaint or lawsuit? If so, what can you share about the experience? #CripTheVote
Q4 How often do you encounter violations of the ADA and what are the most common violations you experience? #CripTheVote
Q5 When you encountered access barriers & other #ADA violations in the past, how did you respond? Did you get a resolution? #CripTheVote
Q6 Please share any examples in your local community of lawsuits that resulted in ADA compliance & improved access. #CripTheVote
Q7 If there are some people using the ADA only to make money, what could we do about it without weakening the ADA? #CripTheVote
Q8 How much of a practical impediment would it be to require negotiation first before filing lawsuits? #CripTheVote
Q9 No law is perfect, but why is it important to protect the ADA in its current form? #CripTheVote
