Help:Trouble getting ADA Accommodations at County Courthouse

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I am having an impossible time getting the court to give me accomodations. I have tried emailing several of the officers there, and they just send me in circles. What should I do?

I have threatened to file a section 504 ADA complaint. But not much of response there either.

The County Clerk does not respond. The judge says he cannot talk to me outside the courtroom, The County Prosecutor offices sends me to Court Assistance Office that sends me a phone number, which doesn't help me.

Should I just send complaints to the Justic Department? And please don't tell me to call, I cannot solve anything on the phone, I just freak out and piss people off when I use the phone.

Best Regards,

Idaho Aspie

What accommodations (and their reasoning) are you trying to get?

First off, do you have a lawyer. If not, get one immediatly if not sooner. You have in a sense angered the whole courtroom staff who will not look kindly upon you when your case finally comes up on the docket. The judge was right in not talking to you. If he did, the person you are going against could see that is biased and his entire ruling could be thrown out on appeals.

The idea of a lawyer is that you are paying someone to deal with the courts. If you need accommodations, the lawyer will know who to contact to obtain those was well as if they court is legally required to provide them. I have learned you hire a lawyer to deal with the courts primarily. They are the ones who are versed in the rules of the court, the rules of evidence, in doing up the paperwork correctly, in dealing with the beauacracy, etc. Yes, you have to do some work yourself, even if you hire a lawyer. However, I do not suggest doing anything legal without a lawyer.

Finally, in order to get accommodations under Section 504 and ADA, some things have to occur. They are:

1) You must profess a need for said accommodations

2) The accommodations must only level the field and not give you an advantage over others who do not receive them

3) The accommodations are appropriate for you disability

4) The accommodations are reasonable and do not create an excessive burden on the party providing them

For example, under the ADA, the courthouse must offer wheelchair access. However, the ADA does not say that the access has to be through the front door. It can be a side door where it is cheaper and more reasonable based on design for the courthouse to offer access.

In short, the court is only required to offer you accommodations that meet the 4 conditions above and that you should really get a lawyer to assist you.