蜜桃影视

Marcie Lipsitt used to enjoy checking the mail. But these days, not so much.

Over the course of several years, the disability rights activist has filed thousands of federal civil rights complaints against school districts and universities across the country 鈥� all part of a personal crusade to make websites accessible for people with disabilities.

Lipsitt said state education departments, prestigious universities, and large school districts 鈥� even specialty schools geared toward students who are blind or deaf 鈥� often provide sprawling websites that fail to comply with federal accessibility laws. Filing civil rights complaints en masse, she found, was an efficient tool to improve web access for people with disabilities, including those who are blind or deaf or have fine motor impairments.

As a result of her complaints, her mailbox was routinely flooded with letters from the Education Department, and often, she was pleased with what she found inside.

Each month, the 58-year-old said, the department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights (OCR) would open as many as 150 new investigations based on her complaints. Simultaneously, she received as many as 100 letters a month notifying her that an institution had signed a resolution agreement to fix the problem.

But in 2018, things are looking bleak for Marcie Lipsitt.

In January and February, she said, she witnessed a dramatic drop in new investigations and resolution agreements. By mid-March, her luck started moving in the opposite direction. The OCR began closing pending civil rights investigations brought by mass filers that it said place an 鈥渦nreasonable burden鈥� on agency resources. She dubbed it the 鈥淢arcie Lipsitt Rule.鈥�

The number of complaints submitted to the OCR has surged in recent years, due in large part to grievances brought by a handful of people. Last year, three people submitted 23 percent of the complaints, Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill told 蜜桃影视. A year earlier, they accounted for 41 percent.

In an email, Hill said the new procedures follow months of collaboration among OCR鈥檚 鈥渃areer investigations and career managers,鈥� and it reflects their 鈥渃ommitment to robustly investigating and correcting civil rights issues.鈥�

A formidable record

Lipsitt isn鈥檛 an attorney. A professional advocate for disabled students and their families, Lipsitt followed her intuition and took on web accessibility as a voluntary side project. Often, she鈥檚 found, education institutions offer websites that run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibit disability-based discrimination. Some have websites without closed captioning on videos, for example, or web pages that cannot be navigated without a mouse.

Her track record is formidable. Since 2016, Lipsitt has filed roughly 2,400 web accessibility complaints, about 1,000 of which have resulted in signed resolution agreements between the institutions and the Education Department鈥檚 civil rights division. The institutions agreeing to make changes include 26 state education departments, several of America鈥檚 largest school districts, and, ironically, specialized schools for children with visual and auditory impairments.

Lipsitt hasn鈥檛 received universal praise for her work. Staring down federal investigations, some school officials have accused her of filing frivolous and expensive complaints.

Since OCR updated its rules on March 5, more than 550 pending civil rights investigations that stemmed from Lipsitt鈥檚 complaints have been dismissed, she said, and about 100 new complaints have been dismissed.

Under the new rules, the Education Department dismissed a civil rights investigation against the Western Michigan Aviation Academy, a charter high school located at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport near Grand Rapids. That school was founded in 2010 by Dick DeVos, the husband of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Hill, the department spokeswoman, did not respond to questions about the episode.

The Education Department, Lipsitt argues, is turning its back on the civil rights of children with disabilities.

鈥淚 believe in civil rights,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 believe they are the fabric of America, and I have said since Trump was elected that the one thing his administration couldn鈥檛 take away from me and others was the right to file a civil rights complaint.鈥�

In other words, she has no plan to roll over.

鈥淚鈥檓 working harder than ever,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow I鈥檝e got a new job. I鈥檝e got to find a way to rescind these revisions. It鈥檚 very, very, very depressing.鈥�

鈥楾he monster that I became鈥�

Lipsitt鈥檚 activism stems from her childhood in Michigan, when she stood up for her younger sister, who struggled with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. In 1989, her son was born with learning disabilities, and she became his advocate. That advocacy soon became a full-time job, and for more than two decades, she鈥檚 helped other families navigate the often-byzantine special education bureaucracy. She helps families negotiate services with school officials, offers advice during disagreements, and, if necessary, helps families file civil rights complaints.

In 2014, Michigan education department officials proposed changes to special education procedures and created a website to address public comments. That website, it turned out, wasn鈥檛 accessible for people with disabilities. So she filed a complaint. That complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in 2015.

A few months after Lipsitt filed the Michigan complaint, an attorney with the federal Office for Civil Rights introduced her to several automated tools the agency uses to investigate website compliance.

鈥淗e turned me into the monster that I became,鈥� she quipped.

She checked all state education departments across the country, and agency websites in all but two states 鈥� Virginia and Maryland 鈥� had accessibility issues, she said. Up next were the 200 largest school districts across the country. By the end, she鈥檇 filed complaints 鈥� each of which takes about 30 minutes to complete 鈥� against thousands of universities, school districts, and libraries.

The big reversal

Under DeVos, the Education Department鈥檚 civil rights division has become a focal point for fierce political conflict. Student complaints ballooned under the Obama administration, and in defending a proposed OCR budget cut earlier this year, DeVos said she was trying to make the civil rights division more efficient. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers, however, of undermining students鈥� civil rights by narrowing the focus of investigations.

In mid-January, the civil rights office was investigating more than 800 cases involving accessibility issues for students with disabilities at school districts and universities, with cases dating as far back as 2013, displayed on the department鈥檚 website. By the end of March, that tally dropped to just over 200, according to the most recent public data.

The update : It eliminates the appeals process for complainants who disagree with investigators鈥� findings, for example, and eliminates all mentions of 鈥渟ystemic鈥� investigations intended to find widespread problems.

In letters to Lipsitt, federal investigators cited a provision that says cases will be dismissed if they demonstrate 鈥渁 pattern of complaints鈥� filed by an individual or a group against multiple recipients. The department will also dismiss a complaint that is 鈥渇iled for the first time against multiple recipients that, viewed as a whole, places an unreasonable burden鈥� on OCR resources.

In the coming months, Hill said, the Education Department plans to issue updated technical assistance materials on web accessibility, a technique she said will help the agency solve the type of cases Lipsitt has dealt with 鈥渕ore quickly and efficiently.鈥�

Parents and advocates often look to civil rights complaints as a mechanism for relief, since lawsuits are time-consuming and expensive. But Denise Marshall, executive director of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, said the changes could prompt students and parents to file more disability lawsuits. Although she couldn鈥檛 comment on the merits of Lipsitt鈥檚 complaints, she said department resources shouldn鈥檛 play a role in whether to open an investigation.

鈥淭heir obligation is to resolve discrimination and violations of the law where they know they exist, and not to just dismiss outright because of what they claim to be an administrative burden,鈥� she said.

The open-ended language, Lipsitt argues, could be used to terminate a range of pending civil rights investigations, not just those related to disability. Additionally, she argued that federal disability laws don鈥檛 permit the government to dismiss 鈥渕eritorious complaints鈥� because they鈥檙e a financial burden.

Through her work, she鈥檚 inspired others to follow suit, including Joey Poirier, a 35-year-old special education advocate from Florida who鈥檚 filed dozens of civil rights complaints against school districts in his home state. The Education Department sent letters in March notifying him that 10 investigations stemming from his complaints had been closed.

鈥淭hese weren鈥檛 fraudulent, bogus complaints 鈥� these were all complaints that were legitimate,鈥� Poirier said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredible what they did. I guess we have selective civil rights in the United States now. 鈥�

With the investigations being closed, Lipsitt said she鈥檚 met with attorneys about potential legal action against the Department. Lipsitt said she鈥檚 proud of moving the needle forward on computer access for people with disabilities.

鈥淲hen I鈥檓 dead and gone,鈥� she said, 鈥淚 will have actually done something that mattered.鈥�

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