Corporate Employment Law Edition: Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Upcoming Meetings
Apr 21, 2010
By Maria Elena Abate, Shareholder
Colodny Fass
Capitol to Courthouse Corporate Employment Law Update
Emergency Management Specialist Planner Steven Detwiler of Orange County Emergency Management will discuss Personal Disaster Preparedness for Persons with Hearing Loss at the upcoming quarterly meeting of the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (“FCCDHH”) on May 13-14, 2010 in Orlando. To access the meeting agenda, click here.
The FCCDHH Legal Systems Accessibility Task Force (“Task Force”) is scheduled to meet via teleconference prior to that on April 26, 2010. The meeting agenda includes a discussion of training methods to implement alaw enforcement video and training manual relating to accessibility in Florida legal/law enforcement/court arenas for persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened and deaf-blind.
To view the April 26 Task Force meeting agenda, click here.
The Task Force has been successful in making a number of collaborative improvements for Floridians. These include providing training to American Sign Language (“ASL”) interpreters working in legal settings, additional Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) accreditation criteria to obtain detention facility accreditation, the creation of a manual to assist Florida Bar members to effectively work with deaf, hard of hearing and deaf/blind clients, an automated system to verify the credentials of ASL interpreters available to the legal system, training to court ADA coordinators, presentations at law enforcement conferences and others.
One of the Task Force’s larger current undertakings is the development and production of an instructional DVD with an accompanying written training guide to assist law enforcement more effectively address the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing. This material was developed in partnership with the Deaf Service Center of Palm Beach County. Funding for the collaboration has come from the FCCDHH and The Florida Bar Foundation. A Web-enabled, captioned version of this video is expected to be available soon.
Now completed, the training manual and slide show detail the obligations of law enforcement under ADA. The instructional material includes discussions as to the legal obligations pursuant to the ADA, due process issues, communication strategies, special considerations for persons with different needs, such as those with service animals.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Maria Elena Abate (mabate@cftlaw.com) at Colodny Fass.