Ragged Edge magazine NEWS

Psychiatric Survivors' "Fast for Freedom" Gains Nat'l Attention
PASADENA, AUG. 30, 2003 -- Two weeks into their hunger fast, psychiatric survivors protesting "for human rights and choice in psychiatry" have finally begun to catch the attention of national news media, with a story in today's Washington Post.

"The strikers are calling on some of the strongest voices in the psychiatric profession, including the American Psychiatric Association and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, to provide concrete evidence that mental illnesses are the result of brain chemistry imbalances," wrote the Post's Kimberly Edds.

The "Fast for Freedom in Mental Health" began on Aug. 16, when six "psychiatric survivors" arrived in Pasadena, Calif. and began a hunger strike to demand "that the mental health industry produce even one study proving the common industry claim that mental illness is biologically-based." The hunger strikers charge that the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatry are "medicalizing an ever-widening spectrum of human emotion and behavior for financial gain, and are willing to deceive the public while they too frequently humiliate and harm their clients.

"The government gives virtually total support to a quick-fix, pill-pushing model of mental health at the expense of alternative, less invasive ways of helping people in emotional distress," says David Oaks, Director of MindFreedom Support Coalition International, who organized the hunger strike, and who was one of the hunger strikers until health concerns forced him to abandon the hunger strike a few days ago.

The strikers have had only clear broth, fruit juice, vegetable juice and coffee or tea, Oaks said. That includes a concoction that Oaks has been making from kale, carrots, beets and garlic.

"Psychiatrists have yet to conclusively prove that a single mental illness has a biological or physical cause, or a genetic origin," noted Dr. Keith Hoeller, editor of the "Review of Existential Psychology & Psychiatry" in an opinion piece in yesterday's Seattle Post. The hunger strikers contend that groups like the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, supported by the American Psychiatric Association, insist, without evidence, that mental "illnesses" are biologically based and must be treated with drugs, to the extent of forcing drugs on those who do not want to use them.

Read Calif. Hunger Strike Challenges Use of Antidepressants" in the Aug. 30, 2003 Washington Post.

More information and background on the strike and the issues available from MindFreedom.org

Airlines Fined For Discrimination Against Wheelchair Users; Most Penalty Money Given Back For Corrections
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 30, 2003 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday that it has fined three major airlines a total of $750,000 for discriminating against passengers that use wheelchairs. Most of the fines, however, were credited back to the airlines for them to use to comply with federal law.

DOT found that America West Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines violated the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and other federal regulations by failing to provide a place to stow standard-size folding wheelchairs inside their airplaines' cabins.

ACAA regulations require aircraft with 100 or more passenger seats, which were ordered after April 5, 1990 or delivered after April 5, 1992, to have space in the cabin designated to stow at least one passenger's folding wheelchair.

America West, which was fined $150,000, received a $135,000 credit; JetBlue, which had been fined $100,000, was given a $90,000 credit; and Southwest was credited back $450,000 of its $500,000 fine.

According to a DOT statement, America West will use its credit to provide stowage space on aircraft that were ordered or delivered before the requirement took effect. JetBlue will create a quality assurance team to learn more about providing service to passengers with disabilities, to provide information on its Web site about DOT's toll-free disability hotline, and to install teletypewriters at ticket counters to accommodate passengers who are deaf and hard of hearing. Southwest will use its credit to cover part of the cost associated with retrofitting all its older Boeing 737s with a closet to be used for stowing folding wheelchairs.

Federal Hearing Tuesday for Schindler-Schiavo's Life
TAMPA, FL, Aug. 30, 2003 -- Judge Richard A. Lazzarra of the U. S. District Court in Tampa has ordered an emergency hearing in the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, moving the life-and-death drama from the Florida state court system, where it has been waged for the past five years, into the federal court system. Attorneys fighting for Schindler-Schiavo's life allege violations of the Americans with Disabilties Act, among other federal laws. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2, 2003 at the Federal Courthouse in Tampa.

Allegations before Lazzarra include those of Heidi Law, who served as a nursing assistant when Schindler-Schiavo was in the Palm Gardens Nursing Home, who says in an affadavit that she had heard Terri form words, and say "help me" a number of times. Other statements presented before the judge include allegations that husband Michael Schiavo refuses to allow therapy for his wife, and has paid his attorney over half a milion dollars from Terri's money from an earlier malpractice settlement.

Read documents filed in this case (note there is an accessible html option on this site).

Terri Schiavo is back in the hospital, taken there by ambulance form the hospice she was sent to yesterday when released from the hospital. A demonstration planned outside the hospice has been cancelled.

"Terri's current medical problems are serious and numerous," says Pamela Hennessey of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation." See story, below.

Boy Dies As Churchgoers Try To Remove "Evil Spirits" Of Autism
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 27, 2003 -- Eight-year-old Terrance Cottrell Jr. died Friday night as a prayer leader and the boy's mother attempted to "exorcise" his autism from him.

The local medical examiner determined Monday that the cause of Cottrell's death was "mechanical asphyxia due to external chest compression" and ruled it a homicide.

Ray Hemphill, 45, a member of the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith, was arrested Tuesday on charges of physical abuse of a child causing great bodily harm, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

Hemphill told police that he had been holding special prayer services during the last few weeks to remove "evil spirits" from the boy. Hemphill said that he would sit on "Junior's" chest for up to two hours at a time. Hemphill weighs 157 pounds. The boy's body weight was not revealed.

During Friday night's prayer service, the boy's shoes had been removed and he was wrapped in a sheet to keep him from scratching parishioners. Three women -- including the child's mother, Patricia Cooper -- sat on his arms and legs while Hemphill sat on his chest. One woman said she pushed down on the boy's diaphragm several times during the service.

Pastor David Hemphill, Ray's brother, said he is confident all of those involved in the death will be cleared.

"Didn't do nothing wrong," said Pastor Hemphill. "We did what the Book of Matthew said, Chapter 12. All we did is ask God to deliver him."

"He just passed away . . . God is a mysterious person, and if he wants to call a life back, he does."

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this is not the church's first run-in with the law over its treatment of children. In 1998, a 12-year-old girl claimed to have been beaten during a church service. When police and the district attorney's office looked into her allegations, Pastor Hemphill claimed her beating was not severe and that congregation members were only doing as the Bible teaches.

No charges were filed in that case.

Related articles: "Boy's death ruled homicide" (Journal Sentinel)
"Healing by faith is dangerous medicine" (Journal Sentinel)

FL Gov. Bush asks for Delay for Schiavo Starvation; Judge Unmoved
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service. Some reporting for this article provided by Ragged Edge magazine.
TAMPA, FL, Aug. 27, 2003 -- "Flooded with 27,000 e-mails urging him to intervene, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has asked a judge to delay setting a date for removal of a feeding tube sustaining the life of a brain-disabled woman, Terri Schindler-Schiavo," WorldNetDaily.com reports. But Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George W. Greer told reporters he was "operating under a mandate from the 2nd District Court of Appeal" and likely wouldn't change his course. (Read article from The Orlando Sentinel).

"In a letter, Bush asked Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George W. Greer yesterday to keep her alive until a court-appointed guardian can 'independently investigate the circumstances of this case and provide the court with an unbiased view that considers the best interests of Mrs. Schiavo.' " Read story from WorldNetDaily.com

Terri has been the center of a battle between her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, who claims she has been in a "persistent vegetative state" for the last 13 years and would want to die, and her parents, who believe she is responsive, aware of her surroundings, would benefit from rehabilitative therapies and should be allowed to continue living.

On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court refused for the second time to intervene on her parent's behalf. All seven of the justices signed the brief order, which noted that the court would not allow any future motions.

The ruling gives the green light to Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer to schedule the removal of the feeding tube that is providing Terri with food and water. That decision could come as early as September 11, when a visitation hearing is scheduled. Once the tube is removed, Terri would likely die in 10 to 14 days. Her parents want an assessment done to see if Terri can be spoon-fed.

Sunday night, Terri was moved back to Morton Plant Hospital with lung congestion and "a substantial infection", just a few days after she was released from the hospital. Terri's parents were not informed of the second hospitalization until Monday afternoon.

Later on Monday afternoon, an attorney for Michael Schiavo submitted a motion to Judge Greer asking that all medical treatment at the hospital be stopped and that Terri be moved back to the hospice that has been her home for the last five years, so she can "die in a peaceful setting with comfort care".

Attorney George Felos admitted in his motion that Terri Schiavo would likely recover from the infection because she is getting antibiotics intravenously at the hospital. Felos wrote, however, that "further treatment (other than comfort care) for the ward's infection and other medical conditions is unnecessary, unwarranted, inappropriate and futile" since it is inevitable that Greer will allow her to starve to death.

The Florida Coalition for Disability Rights asked Bush to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem "to protect the best interests of Terri Schiavo as an individual" and "to ascertain Terri Schiavo's current status and potential for recovery."

"Erring on the side of caution so that the state never takes a human life improperly is a reasonable request," the FCDR said in a media statement. "The fundamental policy issue at stake is whether or not the state can deprive a person with a disability of life because their medical need has become too expensive or some members of the family are no longer willing to care."

"The state stands on a slippery slope. Without caution, the slope leads to a precipice and the precipice leads to death for Terri Schiavo and all like her."

"Terri Schindler Schiavo Placed in Hospital in Critical Condition" (CNSNews.com)

"Schiavo's husband wants medical treatment stopped" (Associated Press via Lakeland Ledger)

"Terri Schiavo's Reasonable Doubt" (FCDR)

"Terri' Fight" (Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation)

NYC traps wheelchair user on subway platform, without restroom access
NEW YORK, AUGUST 25, 2003 -- "Navigating the New York City Subway system can be confusing and frustrating, but for people who use wheelchairs it is often a nightmare," says New Yorker Michael Harris. "People with disabilities have to worry about elevators breaking down, getting the wheels of wheelchairs or the tips of crutches caught between the platform and the subway car."

The signs lie, as well. "Signs on subway map on the No. 2 train display the international symbol of accessibility next to the Times Square-42nd Street station," he says. The sign is supposed to mean the station's accessible. "It isn't!� Once a passenger in a wheelchair gets off they're stuck on the platform with no place to go!" Harris got stuck there himself recently. Read his article, along with photos of the misleading sign.

New York may be a jungle, but when it comes to restrooms, it's more like a desert. At Rockefeller Center writes Harris, "there are at least ten directional signs to the men's and ladies' restrooms, but not a single sign to the segregated accessible restroom.� Simply locating the restroom can take ten or fifteen minutes, but finding it is the easy part. Getting somebody to unlock it is a much more challenging task." Read about Harris's desperate search for the key to the restroom on July 29.

Michael Schiavo Bans Catholic Priests From Terri's Bedside
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
CLEARWATER, FL, Aug. 20, 2003 -- Last Friday evening, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, stopped by Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater to see Terri Schiavo, whom he had visited many times while she was in hospice care. The Catholic priest gave Terri the Sacraments of Absolution and Healing as he had on many occasions.

He visited again Saturday with Terri's family to perform a weekly ritual they've observed together for nearly three years.

But when Malanowski stopped by Monday morning, he was told he was no longer allowed to see Terri because her husband, Michael Schiavo, had banned the Reverend from her room because of concerns about his "integrity."

Malanowski later learned that Terri's husband will not allow any Catholic chaplains at the hospital to see her.

"I thought every Catholic person has the right to the sacrament of the Church by a priest or Catholic chaplain," he said. "I never came across anything like this."

An attorney for Michael Schiavo says that Malanowski was only permitted to visit Terri while she was in the hospice, where she had lived until she was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday. Schiavo claims the priest lied to hospital personnel by saying he was permitted by court order to visit Terri.

"That's not true!" Malanowski exclaimed when he was told Schiavo's reason for banning him.

Terri is being given food and water through a feeding tube installed in her stomach. She is nearing the end of a 30-day legal stay that has kept a local court from scheduling the removal of that feeding tube. Terri's husband and guardian says his wife has been in a "persistent vegetative state" since she collapsed from an apparent heart attack 13 years ago. He convinced the courts that his wife told him before the attack that she would not have wanted to live in her current condition.

Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have been fighting to keep Terri alive. They have medical professionals who state that Terri is aware and responsive, and that she needs therapies to improve. The Schindlers claim that Michael's desire to get rid of Terri is motivated in part by greed because he stands to gain several hundred thousand dollars from an insurance settlement once she dies.

Patricia Anderson, the Schindler's attorney, told WorldNetDaily that Michael Schiavo is trying to make Terri's environment as "barren as possible, and as free from stimulation."

"I don't think there is any justification for removing spiritual comfort from her in what may be her last days," Anderson said. "It's beyond comprehension."

See also:
"Husband bars priest from brain-damaged wife" (WorldNetDaily.com)
"Terri Schiavo's Right To Live" (Inclusion Daily Express)
"Terri's Fight" (Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation)

CA activists to help stop TN Supreme Court appeal
Sacramento, August 18, 2003 -- A group of disability rights advocates is flying to Nashville to join Tennessee advocates in a demonstration next Monday, Aug. 25, to pressure state officials to withdraw the Tennessee v. Lane appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. "Logically, it would appear impossible that the Supreme Court could rule against the right of people with disabilities to be able to enter a state courthouse, which is the basis of the case," says HolLynn D'Lil, one of the Californians traveling to Tennesee. "However, the Supreme Court will not be ruling on the "merits" of the case -- that is, they will not be deciding whether or not it is okay for people in wheelchairs to have to crawl up state courthouse steps. That is not the question before them. What the court will be deciding, she says, "is whether or not to apply a previous ruling they have already made. In their 2001 ruling, University of Alabama v Garrett, the Supreme Court ruled that the portion of Title 1 of the ADA which covers states as employers is unconstitutional. More.

Terri Schiavo Hospitalized, Husband Keeps Info From Family; Bishop Announces Support For Letting Terri Live
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
TAMPA, Aug. 15, 2003 -- Robert Schindler was in for a shock Thursday afternoon when he went to visit his daughter, Terri Schiavo, at the hospice where she has lived for the last five years.

Terri, 39, had been transferred to a hospital in Clearwater because of a medical emergency, nearly 24 hours earlier.

At the instructions of Terri's husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, neither the staff at the hospice or the hospital notified the Schindlers of the transfer, nor could they talk about Terri's medical condition or prognosis for recovery.

Robert and Mary Schindler said Friday that Michael Schiavo is violating a 1996 court order requiring him to notify them of "any significant changes in Theresa Schiavo's condition", and directing him to tell the nursing facility to discuss her condition with the parents.

The incident came three weeks after the Second District Court of Appeal ordered a Pinellas Circuit Court to wait 30 days before scheduling the removal of Terri's feeding tube.

Thirteen years ago Terri was without oxygen for several minutes because of an unusual heart attack. Since then, she has been breathing on her own, but is given food and water through a feeding tube installed in her stomach. The local court has ruled that she is in a "persistent vegetative state" and that she cannot improve. Michael Schiavo contends that his wife would not have wanted to live in her current condition, and has fought through the courts to have her feeding tube removed so she will starve to death.

Her parents have been at legal odds with her husband over his desire that she die. They insist that Schiavo wants to receive several hundred thousand dollars from an insurance settlement that will go to him when Terri dies, and that he wants to marry a woman with whom he has fathered a child.

The Schindlers claim that over a dozen medical professionals have signed affidavits swearing that Terri's condition is being misrepresented, and that she can recover with proper therapies. Video clips show her interacting meaningfully with her parents and doctors, and apparently trying to speak.

Michael Schiavo has refused to allow any therapies for Terri.

One of those supporting the therapy option is a speech-language pathologist from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

"It is my judgment based on my training and clinical experience working with patients similar to Terri that she would, within a reasonable degree of clinical probability, be able to improve her ability to interact with her environment, communicate with others, and control her environment if she were given appropriate therapy and training as outlined above," wrote Sara Green Mele in a signed affidavit. "These recommendations, in my opinion, would greatly improve Terri's quality of life."

Disability rights advocates are closely watching Terri's situation. Many say that Terri's death by starvation would send the message that people with significant disabilities are not worth keeping alive.

On a related note, the Catholic bishop for the Diocese of St. Petersburg has called for Terri's case to be reviewed before the 30-day stay is lifted.

"I strongly recommend that . . . Terri's family be allowed to attempt a medical protocol which they feel would improve her condition," wrote Bishop Robert Lynch in a two-and-a-half-page statement released Tuesday.

Lynch, along with other Catholic bishops in Florida, had been criticized for not speaking out in the case. The St. Petersburg Diocese had issued a statement in October 2002 stating that "as there is significant disagreement among the family of Terri Schiavo . . . the church will refrain from passing judgment on the actions of anyone in this tragic moment."

Read "Terri Schiavo's Right To Live" (Inclusion Daily Express)

Moviegoers in wheelchairs win victory in Oregon
PORTLAND, OR, Aug. 14 -- In a "solid victory for equal rights," the 9th Circuit Court ruled yesterday in favor of wheelchair-using moviegoers. Wheelchair users who go to "stadium riser" style movie theaters are entitled to sit in seats "with viewing angles within the range offered to the general public in the stadium style seats," said the court.

Portland area disabled movie goers had sued six Regal Cinemas theaters in the Portland and Salem areas.In these thateras, the wheelchair seats were in the lst, 3rd and 5th rows of the sloped section of the floor, well in front of the patrons sitting in the stepped seats. Wheelchair users "suffered severe discomfort because not only were the seats close to the screen, but they could not tilt back in their seats or slump like other patrons," said the Oregon Advocacy Center, who handled the case.

"This is the best decision in the country on this topic for people with disabilities," said OAC. The ruling will ultimately require Regal and other theaters to "retrofit their theaters so that wheelchair seats can be among the stadium style seating, which is so highly desired. "

Regal Entertainment Group -- which includes Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres and Edwards Theatres -- operates 6,119 screens in 562 locations in 39 states, making it the "largest motion picture exhibitor in the world," according to the company's Web site.

Read "In a "solid victory for equal rights," the 9th Circuit Court ruled yesterday in favor of wheelchair-using moviegoers. Wheelchair users who go to "stadium riser" style movie theaters are entitled to sit in seats "with viewing angles within the range offered to the general public in the stadium style seats," said the court.

Read "ADA ruling orders theater retrofits" from the Portland Oregonian.

Father, Daughter Fight NJ Over Institution Bias
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
MOUNT OLIVE, NJ, Aug. 7, 2003 -- Eighteen-year-old Maria Tetto and her father, Frank Tetto, have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice claiming New Jersey violates her civil rights and those of other people with disabilities by not providing home health services.

The Tettos say they filed the complaint last month against the state Division of Developmental Disabilities for two reasons.

One reason is that, even though Maria has qualified for in-home nursing services since she recovered from a 1998 automobile accident, several state-certified provider agencies have told her there are no nurses available to meet her needs.

The second reason is that New Jersey heavily favors nursing homes and other institutions over community-based supports. While most people with disabilities in the state live at home, only 6.6 percent of the DDD budget goes to help a person stay in their own home, Frank Tetto told the Mount Olive Chronicle.

"We feel that this is a violation of the civil rights of persons with disabilities. They, or their qualified care-givers, should have the option of remaining in a home setting, which is far cheaper than the institutional settings the state supports," said Frank Tetto.

Related article: "Family claims state biased against disabled" (Mount Olive Chronicle)

Related resource: "My Community Care Team"

Philly Vote Suit Being Settled
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 7, 2003 -- Phildelphia is offering a 3-year plan to make its voting machines and sites more accessible to blind and wheelchair using voters, under the terms of a settlement being worked out in a lawsuit filed two years go by the National Organization on Disability.

The proposed settlement calls for each of the city's 1,682 polling places to have at least one electronic voting machine equipped with earphones and audio instructions by Jan. 1, 2006,

Almost 800 of the 1,682 polling places are not accessible to people who use wheelchairs; under the terms of the settlement, an access committee would recommend changes for these sites -- or relocation -- all to be done by May, 2006.

The proposed settlement agreement was filed last week in federal court here and preliminarily approved. U.S. District Judge John R. Padova has set a hearing for Nov. 19.

Read "City settles suit over voter access," (Philadelphia Inquirer}

NE To Shut Down Non-Accessible Polling Places
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
LINCOLN, NE, Aug. 6, 2003 -- About 10 percent of Nebraska's 1,600 polling places will close because the state has not made them accessible to voters with disabilities. "Any polling places that make it difficult for those who are physically impaired or physically handicapped will have to be eliminated," Secretary of State John Gale said.

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act requires election locations to be accessible. Federal laws enacted since the 2000 general election have also mandated that each polling place have accessible voting methods within the next few years. Nebraska election officials said that they did not think that eliminating the non-accessible polling places would create a serious hardship for voters.

Read "State to cut polling places" (Lincoln Journal Star)

5 Yrs of Protest, Still No PO Access
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
TAMAQUA, PA, Aug. 5, 2003 -- Disability rights advocates demonstrated for the fifth year in a row Friday, to bring attention to the lack of accessibility at Tamaqua's post office. And for the fifth year in a row they went away with nothing more than excuses. The protesters said they want the building to follow the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson said that the building does not have to comply with the ADA because it was built in 1968. Besides, building a wheelchair ramp "is not feasible" because it would have to be 70 feet long and extend into the street, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that if postal patrons call in advance, postal employees will meet them at the curb.

That's not good enough for protester Robert Sommers. "We pay taxes," Sommers told the Morning Call. "We pay their salaries, and they are still not making it possible for us to get into the post office."

Activist Earl E. Kennedy said he would not give up until the Tamaqua post office is accessible. "We'll come back and come back and come back," he said. "They'll get tired of us and build the ramp."

Kmart Discriminated Against Qualified Worker, Suit Claims
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express Email News Service.
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 4, 2003 -- An employment discrimination suit has been filed against Kmart Corporation, claiming it failed to hire an Overland Park, Kansas man because of his mental retardation.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit Tuesday in St. Louis. The EEOC is the federal agency that handles employment discrimination cases under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

The suit alleges that Kmart did not hire Edward Jones, 35, even though he was qualified to perform the job of merchandise stocker. It also claims that Jones scored higher on the company's pre-employment questionnaire than other applicants who were hired for the job.

"It is important that employers realize that obeying the law, with respect to the ADA, means not making hiring decisions based upon stereotypes or prejudices regarding applicants with either physical or mental limitations," said Lynn Bruner, director of the EEOC's St. Louis office, in a statement.

The Associated Press reported that the suit seeks back pay, unspecified damages and an injunction to keep Kmart from discriminating against people with disabilities in the future.

Kmart's spokesperson declined to comment on the case, except to mention that the company has been trying to reach a "fair and equitable resolution" with Jones and the EEOC.

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