Blog

DRM’s Lauren Young Awarded On Our Own Maryland’s Lifetime Achievement Award

DRM’s Lauren Young Awarded On Our Own Maryland’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Please join us in congratulating Lauren Young, J.D., Director of Litigation at Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), for receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from On Our Own Maryland (OOO)! The award was presented on June 16, 2021 by Mike Finkle, founder of OOO, at the “Our Care, Our Community, Our Choice” conference.

OOO, a longtime partner of DRM, is a peer-operated behavioral health advocacy organization promoting equality, justice, autonomy, and choice about life decisions for individuals with mental health and substance use needs.

Lauren is being recognized for her many years of service to the Disability Rights community, including more than 20 years with DRM.

Lauren Young

Across her career, she has tackled a wide variety of cases aimed at supporting our client community in achieving their goals and in advancing their civil rights. Recently, Lauren has been part of the call to ‘Decriminalize Behavioral Health’ in the face of discriminatory systems of policing and mass incarceration.

In accepting the award, Lauren thanked OOO for their outstanding vision of how our communities can care for one another; their advancement of peer support; and their education campaigns about the harms of distorted perceptions and stigma. Lauren thanked the organization for helping her to see more clearly.

In addition to OOO’s Lifetime Achievement award, in 2020 Lauren was a recipient of one of The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women awards, which recognize “high-achieving Maryland women who are making an impact through their leadership, community service, and mentoring.”

Read more

DRM Takes Legal Action to Make City Sidewalks Accessible

DRM Takes Legal Action to Make City Sidewalks Accessible

Press Contacts

Martie Lafferty, Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center: MLafferty@CREECLaw.org, 615-913-5099

Rebecca Rodgers, Disability Rights Advocates: RRodgers@DRALegal.org, 212-644-8644

Cory Warren, Disability Rights Maryland: CWarren@DisabilityRightsMD.org, 410-727-6352, ext. 2472

Baltimore, MD – Three wheelchair users and the IMAGE Center of Maryland have filed a class action lawsuit alleging widespread and ongoing violations of federal accessibility requirements by the City of Baltimore for its failure to properly install and maintain curb ramps and sidewalks. These violations severely impact the ability of people with mobility disabilities to access sidewalks and curb ramps, making it difficult or impossible for them to fully and equally participate in civic life in Baltimore.  

“Accessible curb ramps and sidewalks are necessary to achieving the integration and equal opportunity mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability non-discrimination laws,” said Linda M. Dardarian, a Partner at Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho. “They’re also critical to the safety and well-being of people with mobility disabilities who would otherwise be faced with the terrible choice of either risking their personal safety by traveling in the streets or staying home and foregoing participation in community life.”

Baltimore’s lack of accessibility harms Plaintiffs Susan Goodlaxson, Janice Jackson, and Keyonna Mayo; Plaintiff IMAGE Center’s constituents with mobility disabilities; and all other persons with mobility disabilities who live in, work in, or visit Baltimore. Imagine not being able to safely cross your street to visit a neighbor or navigate around the block where you live. This is a frequent reality for Plaintiffs Goodlaxson, Jackson, and Mayo.

There are no curb ramps at any of the corners of the  Glenmore Avenue block where Ms. Goodlaxson lives. So, she cannot cross the streets on her block. “I manage life quite well in my wheelchair, but all too often I hit a curb and can’t do things I love — like volunteering in my community or joining my grandson for a snowball,” says Ms. Goodlaxson. Adds Ms. Jackson, who is unable to travel by sidewalk on Loch Raven Boulevard to go shopping or access major facilities in the area, “Individuals with disabilities should not have to fear entering their communities because of the unsafe condition of the sidewalks.” Likewise, Ms. Mayo is unable to use sidewalks to travel to the Post Office or Light Rail in her area.

Baltimore’s own data demonstrate that there are systemic barriers to the accessibility of the City’s pedestrian right-of-way. In 2019, the City conducted a multi-phase evaluation of its curb ramps. Only approximately 1.3 percent of the 37,806 surveyed curb ramps were found compliant with the ADA. Although the focus of the 2019 survey was on curb ramps, notes from that survey also document widespread problems with sidewalks, including sidewalks that were damaged or too narrow, which can make them unusable by people who use wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility aids, so that people with mobility disabilities have to travel in the street with cars. 

Plaintiff IMAGE Center is an independent living center located in Baltimore County which advocates for and promotes independent living for all persons with disabilities living in Central Maryland, including Baltimore. Michael Bullis, Executive Director of the IMAGE Center says, “Baltimore needs to be a welcoming place for all.  So long as only two percent of the city is fully accessible, we aren’t that place. This lawsuit will hopefully awaken city leaders to a vision of our city that includes all people, including those of us with disabilities.”

Rebecca Rodgers, Senior Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, adds, “It has been more than 30 years since the passage of the ADA. Baltimore should have established procedures to make its pedestrian rights of way accessible to people with mobility disabilities long before now.  We expect that this lawsuit will compel Baltimore to make the necessary changes to ensure that people with disabilities can safely use sidewalks and curb ramps.”

Plaintiffs are represented by the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC); Disability Rights Advocates (DRA); Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH); and Disability Rights Maryland (DRM).

“We and our clients intend for this lawsuit to result in Baltimore implementing comprehensive construction and remediation of curb ramps and sidewalks. People with mobility disabilities must have equal access to pedestrian travel when living in, working in, and visiting Baltimore,” said Martie Lafferty, Director of the Accessibility Project at CREEC.

###

Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) is a nonprofit membership organization whose goal is to ensure that everyone can fully and independently participate in our nation’s civic life without discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity. 

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), founded in 1993, is a leading national nonprofit disability rights legal center.  Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with disabilities nationwide. DRA represents people with all types of disabilities in complex, system-changing, class action cases and has previously negotiated systemic sidewalks-related improvements with New York City; Sacramento, CA; Long Beach, CA; and the California Department of Transportation.

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is Maryland’s designated Protection & Advocacy agency (formerly known as “Maryland Disability Law Center”). DRM is federally mandated to advance the civil rights of people with disabilities. We provide free legal services to Marylanders of any age with all types of disabilities (developmental, intellectual, psychiatric, physical, sensory, learning, traumatic brain injury), who live in facilities, in the community or who are homeless. 

Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH) is one of the oldest and most successful plaintiffs’ public interest class action law firms in the country.  GBDH represents individuals against large companies and other entities in complex class and collective action lawsuits. The firm has three primary practice areas: employment discrimination, wage and hour violations, and disability access, and also brings other public interest cases, including voting rights, environmental protection, and consumer cases. The firm has a national practice, litigating cases in federal and state courts throughout the country. 

Read more

Congressman Jamie Raskin Recipient of 2022 Judith Heumann Champion of Justice Award

Congressman Raskin Recipient of 2022 Judith Heumann Champion of Justice Award

Baltimore, MD – Congressman Jamie Raskin (Maryland’s 8th District) has been named the recipient of the 2022 Judith Heumann Champion of Justice Award. The award’s namesake, Judith “Judy” Heumann, will present the award at Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12, 2022.

The award was established in 2020 to recognize internationally renowned disability rights activist Judy Heumann, whose historic accomplishments were profiled in the Oscar-nominated Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, a documentary that was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. Wade Henderson the inaugural recipient of the award

In honoring Congressman Raskin, DRM applauds and acknowledges his lifelong commitment to the advancement and legal protection of rights for people with disabilities at the intersection of the national struggle for equal justice. This deep commitment is evident through his life’s work, and most recently as a member of the United States Congress, where he has represented Maryland’s 8th District since 2016, and formerly as a member of the Maryland State Senate, where he represented Montgomery County from 2007 to 2016.

Through concurrent legislation supporting civil rights and liberties such as same-sex marriage, Congressman Raskin introduced and supported legislation aimed at advancing the rights of people with disabilities across many spheres including supporting voting rights and accessibility of the election process, securing funding in support of independent living, and protecting Social Security benefits of children with disabilities in foster care.

Congressman Raskin’s disability rights activism has had an exponential impact as seen in the Thomas Bloom Raskin Act, which was recently passed by the Maryland General Assembly to increase access to emergency mental health services across the state.

Please join us in honoring Congressman Raskin for his extraordinary service to people with disabilities at the 2022 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12. Subscribe to our newsletter below to receive updates as the other awardees are announced, and to reserve tickets.

###

Stay in the Loop

Join our mailing list to receive updates about Disability Rights Maryland.

Read more

DRM’S Leslie Margolis Featured in ABA Journal

Leslie Seid Margolis, managing attorney at Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), was featured in the ABA Journal last week for her role in the passage of the American Bar Association (ABA) Resolution 103, which urges government bodies to establish and enforce legislation and educational policies that prohibit school personnel from using seclusion and restraints on students in preschool through 12th grade. She worked with the ABA Commission on Disability Rights over the past year to draft and edit Resolution 103 and was invited to speak in favor of the resolution at the ABA’s Annual Meeting on August 3, 2020. Leslie shared the story of a 7-year-old child in foster care who was restrained more than 147 times by his school’s staff—a story she “wished that she could say [was] unusual,” but one that continues to affect children across the county at high rates, particularly students with disabilities and students of color. Thanks to the vigorous efforts of Leslie and other advocates, the ABA House of Delegates expressed overwhelming support for Resolution 103 by passing it with a vote of 358-19.

Every child has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. No child should ever be subjected to abusive treatment under the guise of providing effective educational services. DRM continues its efforts to hold school systems accountable for their over-reliance on these traumatic and potentially deadly interventions and is profoundly thankful to the ABA for passing Resolution 103 and, by doing so, acknowledging that what happens to so many children across the United States is unconscionable and inhumane.

Read more

DRM Presents 2020 Gayle Hafner Grassroots Advocacy Award to Consumers for Accessible Ride Services (CARS)

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) is pleased to announce Consumers for Accessible Ride Services (CARS) as the honoree for the 2020 Gayle Hafner Grassroots Advocacy Award. This prestigious award honors members of the community who have succeeded in creating substantial positive change for Marylanders with disabilities through grassroots activism. A remarkable team of Baltimore self-advocates with disabilities, CARS is a close partner of Disability Rights Maryland in the struggle for accessible public transit. DRM will present the award to CARS’ Chairman Floyd Hartley, on behalf of the full CARS team, at the virtual 2020 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala on Nov. 12, 2020.

CARS members teamed up with DRM and AARP Foundation Litigation in 2015 to file a lawsuit against the Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) in order to resolve critical failures in MTA Mobility services. These failures included widespread, abrupt, and inappropriate denials of eligibility to people who met the criteria for paratransit services, as well as egregiously long telephone hold times for paratransit users. CARS members Floyd Hartley, Debbie Benedaret, Danielle Phelps and Phillip Freeman were the four individual plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

For people with disabilities in the Baltimore Metro Area, MTA Mobility has been and continues to be a lifeline to essential services. MTA Mobility connects people to vital resources for maintaining their health, employment, ability to visit family and friends, and ability to participate in their communities. When DRM determined that wrongful denials of eligibility to people like Phillip and Debbie were widespread, DRM Director of Litigation Lauren Young took the issue to court, and the plaintiffs reached a settlement with MTA.

In the years that followed, CARS and DRM presented their concerns to the Maryland Secretary of Transportation, and when the MTA failed to meet the requirements of the initial settlement, CARS helped DRM file a breach of settlement to renegotiate with the MTA. Former CARS Chairman Michael Gerlach emphasizes the importance of CARS’s presence in the Baltimore community. “A group like this is desperately needed,” Gerlach says, “because there are so many problems with the MTA, and the average rider doesn’t have anybody to protect them.” He explains, “We advocate for the riders and the community to make sure that their voices are heard.”

This May, after five years of negotiations driven by the experiences and guidance of Marylanders with disabilities, CARS and DRM successfully secured provisions for accountability and oversight to ensure that people like Phillip and Floyd never face this crisis again. The advocacy efforts of DRM and CARS, along with other coalition groups, have won a significant victory for the over 30,000 Marylanders who use paratransit services and a crucial step forward in our community’s fight for access to transportation for all!


The Breaking Barriers Awards Gala is Disability Rights Maryland’s (DRM) signature celebration where individuals, law firms and organizations that have demonstrated exceptional leadership, vision and achievement in safeguarding the legal rights of people with disabilities in Maryland are recognized and honored. To learn more, go to https://www.disabilityrightsmd.org/2020-bb-gala.

Read more