Blind and Visually Impaired Social Security Recipients Win Major Legal Victory

Blind and Visually Impaired Social Security recipients won a major victory on Tuesday when Judge William Alsup of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California found that the Social Security Administration was violating the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

In 2005, The American Council of the Blind sued the Social Security Administration for failing to provide important information to, among others, blind and visually impaired recipients of social security in alternative formats such as Braille or other media besides its standard printed notices.

The case finally came to trial before Judge Alsup for a seven-day trial. On October 20th, Judge Alsup issued his Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and his Judgment that Social Security was violating the Rehabilitation Act. Plaintiffs were represented by a number of attorneys, including the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund.

The DREDF press release with information about other counsel for plaintiffs and links to the decision is found at http://www.dredf.org/SSA/SSA-Judgment-10-20-09.pdf

Paul's Comment:

Four years of litigation to come to a conclusion that seems as plain as the nose on one's face is a slap in the face to the disability community. The amount of money spent by the government to fight this litigation is the height of irresponsible waste of taxpayer's money. This sad saga is a further reminder to the disability community of the need to stand together, support each other's causes, and fight the intellectually weak and spineless, in this case, the Social Security Administration.

Please help by disseminating this information to everyone who may possibility be affected by this decision.