Deaf students file suit against community college system

Two deaf students have filed a complaint against the technical college system for not being provided interpreters or other assistance.

It appears they attempted to rectify the situation through officials on campus, to no avail, and decided to file the civil lawsuit after losing financial aid or seeing grades suffer due to their lack of accommodations, according to the suit and attorney Andrew Bizer.

Andrew Bizer of Bizer & DeReus, a civil rights law firm in New Orleans, first filed the suit in October on behalf of two Delgado Community College students, Lee Em Bruce and Ronneka Smith.

Bizer said his firm received responses from more students with similar claims.

"It's just a shame," Bizer said. "These deaf students just want to get an education like everyone else." 

He withdrew the civil suit and re-filed Jan. 5 in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana, in Baton Rouge.

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It still only names Bruce and Smith as plaintiffs, but Bizer said other students will be added "in the coming weeks."

"Unfortunately we've found that there is just widespread discrimination against deaf people in all different manners," Bizer said in a phone interview. "The only way to enforce their rights is through civil lawsuits."

His firm recently has represented clients denied sign language interpreters in medical and criminal justice settings. He learned of the students' dilemma through the firm's work with other deaf clients.

The suit names as defendants the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana Community and Technical College (System) and Monty Sullivan in his official capacity of system president.

Nothing beyond the Jan. 5 complaint has been filed in this suit by either side. The system has legal counsel and is aware of the suit.

"Regarding the lawsuit itself, I wish I had more details and could talk specifically, but as you know with pending litigation there's not a lot I can talk about," said Quintin Taylor, executive director of Communications & Outreach for the system.

"We take this issue and all issues of accessibility of our students and faculty very seriously," he continued. "We always do everything we can to provide proper access to our students and faculty."

What the suit claims

In January 2017, Bruce enrolled in three courses and withdrew from two in March. Interpreters in the one class he stayed in stopped coming to class about that time, according to the suit.

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Bruce contacted the Delgado City Park campus's disability services coordinator, but did not see any change, according to court documents.

He kept attending class without an interpreter and "attempted to communicate via passing handwritten notes."

His attorney said that is not effective communication.

"It's one thing to have people take notes for you and another to have meaningful discourse," Bizer said.

Bruce lost his financial aid from dropping those two classes, which left him with a $3,000 bill for tuition.

In the suit, he claims he would never have dropped those courses had he known it would cut his financial aid. He said he did not understand this consequence ahead of time because he did not receive interpreters to communicate with financial aid staff — that it was caused by the lack of sufficient accommodations.

Last January, Ronneka Smith enrolled in five courses at the City Park campus in New Orleans.

She received adequate accommodations for two of them and was able to communicate effectively with teachers and classmates, according to the suit.

But that was not the case for the other three classes. The suit claims she was not able to participate in 90 percent of those classes. 

She claims this lack of sufficient accommodations caused her grades to suffer and that, like Bruce, she was not afforded an equal opportunity to learn and participate in courses as her hearing classmates.

The suit claims this violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which provides that individuals will not be excluded from participation in or denied benefits of public services like an education.

It also claims violation of a section of the Rehabilitation Act, which provides the same as Title II but from an entity that receives federal financial assistance.

Taylor said the technical and community college system follows these laws and tries "to do everything in our power to make sure students have what they need to take classes."

He said the problem lies in "a shortage of quality and trained people in this area," referring to sign language interpreters.

"This is an issue plaguing every industry," Taylor said. "We know it exists in not just higher education but all industries."

He said two of the system's colleges are in the process of developing an American Sign Language program to train future interpreters for Louisiana, which would meet student and industry needs.

What they're asking for

The students, through their attorneys, demand a jury trial and are seeking a declaratory judgment, in which the court determines their rights.

The suit also asks for:

• an injunction ordering the system to develop, implement and comply with policy prohibiting future discrimination like this as well as develop a policy "requiring a qualified, in-person ASL interpreter be provided to all Deaf or hard of hearing individuals for effective communication in all services;"
• to develop and implement a new system or integrate into an existing system a means of identifying students as Deaf, Deaf Blind, Deaf disabled, Hard of Hearing and other persons with disabilities; 
• to create and maintain a list of sign language interpreters and ensure availability of such interpreters at any time of day or night;
• and to train all its employees, staff and other agents on a regular basis about the rights of individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act.

Taylor said he "can certainly see professional development opportunities" for faculty and staff for training to work with students who are Deaf in ways other than just signing.

The students also ask for damages, with no amount specified, and to cover costs of experts, attorneys' fees and interest.