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Not all grievances require the services of a lawyer, although Class Actions suits ARE a great way to go to enforce Federal legislation already on the books to protect and provide for the disabled and/or homeless. If you need a disability attorney, check our Related Links page for recommended firms. The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section provides an avenue for filing a complaint under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Their Discrimination Complaint Form can be printed out -- it's only three pages, and simple to complete. Go to http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ to get to the Discrimination Complaint Form. This does NOT require a lawyer's services to complete and file. Then, at the Office for Civil Rights, you can find a TON of information for filing complaints under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in re: the Age Discrimation Act and much more. They have a "Hot Topics/Issues" section with good information on implementing the most integrated setting (for the retarded/disabled) mandate of the Olmstead decision. Olmstead was the July 22, 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of enforcing A.D.A. (Americans with Disabilities Act) of the disabled. At this site, they provide remarks by Donna Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Disability Policy Consortium information and much more. At the OCR "Sites of Interest" page you can find more on legislative and legal information, special populations, the congressional budget office House of Representatives Hearing Schedule and even the Library of Congress. Another item of interest is the Docket of Protection and Advocacy Cases Challenging State Home and Community-Based Waiver Criteria and Waiting Lists at http://www.protectionandadvocacy.com/waiverdocket.htm. Recent litigation in federal courts have resulted in court rulings that the state violates the Medicaid Act if it establishes a wait list for serving people in appropriate community based settings and then fails to move individuals off the list at a reasonable pace. (For George W., a "reasonable" wait is ten to 66 years, but with sedation of course !!!) Need help? I'm NOT a lawyer, but I did attend law school for a year and spent almost l5 years working as a paralegal. Email me if you need moral support or a little help writing letters or filing your complaint forms. Need more? I'd rather eat dirt than do legal research, let alone write briefs (and yes, I've both washed and written lottsa briefs) but you can literally 'find law' at http://findlaw.com And, if you can afford the filing fees, (which may be waived, depending on income) you can always represent yourself in any court of low (ooops. Fraudian slip) or law, by signing your petitions with 'Pro se' after your name. Probably get thrown out a lot, but you never know! The Disabled of Pennsylvania has a great site that links right into "ragged-edge-magazine" (online) which explains the hows and whys of a pro se complaint, with directions on filing same. They even provide a form for a Pro Se Form which you can file, yourself, in Federal District Court (since ADA is a Federal law). This has worked with good success (100% !!!) in Pennsylvania to make businesses and other public accomodations more accessible. It might even work to force Texas to make changes in the delivery of services (e.g. appropriate housing) for the developmentally disabled! According to John Tassone who presents the above information, Pro Se suits worked faster than filing complaints to the Dept. of Justice and hoping for "mediation" which never happened.
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Advocate F