Memphis: The Disability Community Enforcing the ADA By Themseves

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Memphis: The Disability Community Enforcing the ADA By Themselves

By Jacqueline Kravetz

Memphis, TN (July 11, 2000) – The Spirit of ADA Torch Relay made its twelfth stop in Memphis, beginning a 7-city tour of the South. The Relay will travel to Jackson, Mississippi following the Memphis stop.

The day-long ADA celebration began with an opening ceremony at the Pyramid, a high-tech pyramid replica that is Memphis’ ode to the ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile for which it was named. The Relay then took off on a 14-mile trek through the streets of downtown Memphis that included over 60 torch bearers.

Along the Relay route, the caravan passed some of the city’s most famous sights highlighting Memphis’ diverse and rich history, including the Beale Street Historic District and The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. The event ended at the Overton Park Shell with entertainment and a picnic for the local community.

Though Memphis may be behind the curve in ADA enforcement, according to advocates there, its disability community has taken ADA compliance into their own hands and come up with what they consider to be the only solution: filing a Pro Se Complaint.

According to Judy Neal, the Executive Director of the Memphis Independent Living Center and a Relay co-coordinator, there’s very little enforcement of the ADA in Memphis. "There are federal mandates for transition plans in cities to voluntarily comply with the ADA. Memphis stands way behind on that so its up to people with disabilities to take charge of our own lives," she said.

Neal’s organization began encouraging the use of Pro Se in 1997 to take control since nothing was happening in Memphis to enforce the ADA. "There is no way to enforce the ADA except by noticing what’s wrong and pointing it out and doing what’s necessary to make it right," she said.

Neal gives the credit for the use of Pro Se in Memphis to Philadelphia-based disability rights attorney Steve Gold.

Gold worked with the Pennsylvania Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities to develop a way for ordinary disabled people, without the help of an attorney, to file law suits under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, by means of a Pro Se lawsuit.

Sandi Klink, also a Relay co-coordinator said in an interview, "doing it ourselves is what independence is all about and Pro Se is kind of the same here." Klink said that "since the beginning of the ADA, we’ve had to do a lot of fighting and legal battles cost a lot of money." Using Pro Se is a way to enforce the ADA without the Department of Justice or an attorney.

To date, the disability community in Memphis has won three Pro Se cases: one against Greyhound, one against a local taxi company, and one against a local restaurant, Public Eye. A case is currently pending against an area Wendy’s restaurant.

Neal said the success of the Pro Se cases in Memphis has provided much more accessibility for people with disabilities in her city. The Memphis Center for Independent Living (MCIL) provides counseling and assistance to individuals interested in filing Pro Se Complaints.

The Center serves the entire disability community in Memphis, providing direct services to from 600-800 people annually.

In addition to Neal and Klink, speakers at the Memphis opening ceremony included, among others, Mayor W.W. Herenton; Tim Wheat, the MCIL ADA coordinator; Barbara Swearengen Holt, Memphis City Council Chair; and Andy Imparato, President of the American Association of People with Disabilities.