Deaf man complains nudist festival would not provide interpreter

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Moravia, NY -- For Tom Willard, this week's naturist festival at Empire Haven Nudist Park is more about what he could not hear than what he might want to see.

The 53-year-old deaf man from Rochester recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department, charging Empire Haven and festival organizers with disregarding his civil rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Willard said Empire Haven, just outside Moravia in Cayuga County, rejected his request to provide a sign language interpreter for the deaf so he could understand what would be said at several festival workshops he wanted to attend. Also, he offered to pay for his own interpreter if the nudist camp would discount or waive his park entry and workshop registration fees.

Willard said he has tried twice since 2009 to get the nudist camp to provide an interpreter for him. In July, he received an email from Empire Haven saying, “An interpreter for the deaf is not something Empire Haven or the organizer of the naturist festival provide for this event or any other event.”

That response triggered Willard's complaint to the Justice Department.

“Congress isn’t looking good these days, but they still set the law of the land and some 20 years ago they decided ... that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to participate in society. It is just not right for some rinky-dink nudist camp in Upstate New York to think they know better than Congress,” Willard said in an email to The Post-Standard.

He has the law on his side, a legal expert in Syracuse said.

Private businesses like Empire Haven and the festival organizers are required under the American Disabilities Act to furnish sign language interpreters for deaf people such as Willard, according to Syracuse University associate law professor Michael Schwartz, who is deaf. A lawyer since 1982, Schwartz directs the law school’s disability rights clinic.

“Both the (festival organizers) and Empire Haven share responsibility for being accessible under the (law), Schwartz said in an email.

Empire Haven and a festival organizer said they were unaware that Willard was upset and had complained to the Justice Department. This week they said they would try to fix the problem.

“I don’t know the laws, but we would be happy to provide an interpreter ... . We’re not denying his rights,” said Morley Schloss, a retired educator from Rochester. He is an elected board member of the Naturist Society’s action committee, which is staging the festival. The committee promotes naturism activities and advocates for nudist rights.

The event, which started Tuesday and runs through Sunday, draws about 200 people and offers workshops on everything from photography to retirement, according to Schloss. It costs $45 for non-Naturist Society members to attend the weeklong festival. Empire Haven charges $17 a day for grounds fees and also rents camping sites and charges festival-goers for meals.

SU’s Schwartz said the problem Willard faces illustrates a much bigger problem that disabled people frequently confront as they call on businesses and government to comply with the American with Disabilities Act. The law mandates that businesses and others provide equal accessibility to the disabled; churches are exempt.

Their resistance, he said, stems from the high costs associated with having to comply with the law and pay for such expenses as sign language interpreters. Businesses and government also know that it typically takes years of costly litigation to settle Justice Department complaints like the one filed by Willard, according to Schwartz.

First-time violators of the law can be fined up to $55,000 and repeat offenders face fines of $110,000 for any subsequent violations. Willard said he hopes the Justice Department comes down hard on Empire Haven — setting an example for other businesses that don’t comply with the law.

Empire spokeswoman Michele Keagle said she later emailed an apology to Willard, but he said he never received any such email from Keagle or anyone else at Empire. Two years ago Schloss told Willard that the festival would waive the workshop and grounds fees for a sign language interpreter, but did not offer to provide one for the Rochester man.

Willard, an editor for a weekly online publication for the deaf, said it is too late for apologies and said he would not attend this year’s festival even if organizers hired an interpreter for him.

“I guess I am just plain fed up and not willing to let people trample over my civil rights anymore,” Willard said. “Too many deaf people are afraid to stand up for their rights, but I don’t care what people think of me or if they know that I enjoy naturism activities. It just shows that deaf people are people, too.”
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Story Here

Headline from Reuters
 
Seems pretty clear cut.

The ADA requires that they provide him an interpreter. They didn't.

Don't like the law? Great, you still need to follow it. Don't think it should apply to your business in particular? Great, you still need to follow it. You apologized after? Great, you still need to follow it.

Nudist camps in general strike me as pretty absurd though so I enjoyed the story just because I didn't expect to read something involving deaf people and nudists today.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Seems pretty clear cut.

The ADA requires that they provide him an interpreter. They didn't.

Don't like the law? Great, you still need to follow it. Don't think it should apply to your business in particular? Great, you still need to follow it. You apologized after? Great, you still need to follow it.

Nudist camps in general strike me as pretty absurd though so I enjoyed the story just because I didn't expect to read something involving deaf people and nudists today.
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They have to provide it to him at their own cost though?
 
Stumpokapow said:
Seems pretty clear cut.

The ADA requires that they provide him an interpreter. They didn't.

Don't like the law? Great, you still need to follow it. Don't think it should apply to your business in particular? Great, you still need to follow it. You apologized after? Great, you still need to follow it.

Nudist camps in general strike me as pretty absurd though so I enjoyed the story just because I didn't expect to read something involving deaf people and nudists today.
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Ah, its all cochlear to me now.
 
You know Nudist Camps seem exciting until you realize that the only people who frequent these things are dirty, stinky hippies of the 60's (who by now are in their 60's) who you really don't want to see naked. Ever.

Edit: It's the same with Nude Beaches. Hollywood lies! It's never the kind of people you would want to see at those kinds of places. Just old, flabby, grannies & granpa's.
 
Henchmen21 said:
You know Nudist Camps seem exciting until you realize that the only people who frequent these things are dirty, stinky hippies of the 60's (who by now are in their 60's) who you really don't want to see naked. Ever.
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There is or was a nudist beach in Jamaica. The things I saw, God the milk went past expiration in those titties.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Seems pretty clear cut.

The ADA requires that they provide him an interpreter. They didn't.

Don't like the law? Great, you still need to follow it. Don't think it should apply to your business in particular? Great, you still need to follow it. You apologized after? Great, you still need to follow it.

Nudist camps in general strike me as pretty absurd though so I enjoyed the story just because I didn't expect to read something involving deaf people and nudists today.
Click to expand...


I agree with this. However, I am usually incensed when trolls and activists (not saying this guy is that, but I suspect he is) troll organizations and create need where no natural need existed. There are better targets to make political points at.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Seems pretty clear cut.

The ADA requires that they provide him an interpreter. They didn't.

Don't like the law? Great, you still need to follow it. Don't think it should apply to your business in particular? Great, you still need to follow it. You apologized after? Great, you still need to follow it.

Nudist camps in general strike me as pretty absurd though so I enjoyed the story just because I didn't expect to read something involving deaf people and nudists today.
Click to expand...

Not sure HOW clear cut it is. The ADA doesn't require employers/retailers/etc. to accomodate if it would create an undue burden. I have no idea how much an interpreter costs or how much money this nudist camp has. I also don't know the case law/regulations on deaf people, but if the nudist camp is the sort of place that doesn't have much money I could see this potentially being an undue burden.
 
brucewaynegretzky said:
Not sure HOW clear cut it is. The ADA doesn't require employers/retailers/etc. to accomodate if it would create an undue burden. I have no idea how much an interpreter costs or how much money this nudist camp has. I also don't know the case law/regulations on deaf people, but if the nudist camp is the sort of place that doesn't have much money I could see this potentially being an undue burden.
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Dude offered to pay for the interpreter himself if they'd just let the interpreter in without having to pay the festival fees etc.
 
Freshmaker said:
Dude offered to pay for the interpreter himself if they'd just let the interpreter in without having to pay the festival fees etc.
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Actually, according to a member of the nudist organization they offered just that:
Empire spokeswoman Michele Keagle said she later emailed an apology to Willard, but he said he never received any such email from Keagle or anyone else at Empire. Two years ago Schloss told Willard that the festival would waive the workshop and grounds fees for a sign language interpreter, but did not offer to provide one for the Rochester man.
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The way I read the article, the plaintiff wanted his fees waived, not just the fees of his interpreter, whom the organization claims to have previously offered to admit free.
 
I just don't understand nudist. Like .... I don't get the point.


Also what do they do at nudist workshops?
 
Freshmaker said:
Dude offered to pay for the interpreter himself if they'd just let the interpreter in without having to pay the festival fees etc.
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First, I think MRE is right in saying that the guy wanted his own fees waived not the interpreter which is significantly different from what you're saying. Second, even then you may still be right. It all depends on what the ADA regs and case law are on these things. "Undue burden" is a subjective and fact sensitive determination. I think this guy was probably wronged based on the article's characterization of the organization here, but in my experience the media rarely explains employment law very well because they're quick to jump on a personal interest story. I have no idea what sort of cost this type of thing would place on the nudists.
 
If we're talking about undue burdens, couldn't there also be an issue of finding an interpreter actually willing to perform such services at a nudist event?
 
Zoe said:
If we're talking about undue burdens, couldn't there also be an issue of finding an interpreter actually willing to perform such services at a nudist event?
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Shouldn't be too hard to find a blind interpreter for the deaf.
 
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