ARLINGTON, VA -- He knew he was in jail, but he didn't know why. Eventually, Abreham Zemedagegehu learned that he'd been accused of stealing an iPad, an iPad whose owner later found it. He spent the next six weeks in jail, unable to communicate with his jailers because he is Deaf. He described a frightening, isolated experience in which medical procedures were performed without his consent and he feared for his safety.
Zemedagegehu sued the Arlington County sheriff last month in federal court, saying his treatment failed to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"I felt like I was losing my mind," Zemedagegehu said through an interpreter in an interview at his lawyer's office. "I thought Virginia would give me an interpreter and they said no. That's why I felt lost."
Zemedagegehu, who is homeless, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia. He grew up using Ethiopian Sign Language. He has learned American Sign Language, but he has never learned more than rudimentary written English.
Maj. Susie Doyel, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, which runs the jail, declined to comment on the specific allegations. She generally defended the jail's ability to handle Deaf inmates and others with disabilities, and said several deputies in the jail are proficient in sign language.
But she also acknowledged that communication with a Deaf inmate is more problematic in cases where the inmate can't communicate in written English.
In court papers filed Monday, lawyers for the sheriff ask a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that even if Zemedagegehu's allegations are true, they fail to show intentional discrimination because they attempted various different ways to communicate with him, including handwritten notes.
And even if the discrimination were intentional, the lawyers write that it would not violate federal law because there is a rational basis for the discrimination: "it takes extra resources and creates additional security considerations to bring in an ASL interpreter," they write... Read The Full Story.
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