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News › Deaf Woman Sues Rider Ed
Citing the Americans with Disabilities Act, woman sues over lack of signer.
A deaf Tampa-area woman who wanted to take an adult education class on motorcycle riding is suing the Hillsborough County school district for not providing a sign language interpreter.
"They are discriminating against me, which I felt is not right," Merrie Carol Paul said in an interview conducted through a telephone relay system. "One of my dreams is that I wanted to ride my own motorcycle. ... I love to ride motorcycles because I can do it. It doesn't matter if I am deaf or not. I love to feel the spirit. It is me."
Paul, 46, claims in a federal lawsuit that the district violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when officials refused to provide the interpreter when she signed up to take the class last year.
Paul said she was told the $175 class fee would not cover the cost of an interpreter. In the lawsuit, she says she was told she was welcome to bring her own interpreter, which the suit states would have cost her $2,340. When asked if the district provides sign language interpreters for people in adult education classes, school district spokesman Stephen Hegarty said, "Regardless of what kind of class it is, the law requires that we make reasonable accommodations, and frequently litigation arises over how to define reasonable." Hegarty added he did not know whether a sign language interpreter ever has been requested for an adult school class.
Deaf from birth, Paul said she rode motorcycles with her parents as a teenager in Michigan. She said she passed a written test but needs to take the course to obtain her license.
"I have my motorcycle in my garage, and it is waiting for me," she said.
Posted by editor on Thursday, May 25, 2006 (13:50:25) (568 reads)
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