The Florida Bar Says It Can Rely On Bar Rules In Direct Conflict With Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act to Discriminate Against Disabled Americans

I have promised to keep the Autism community updated on the Crisis in Florida concerning why adults with Autism Spectrum disabilities cannot find any licensed Florida lawyers trained in our complex disabilities capable of representing us in legal matters we have, and why there is a pervasive hostile environment of Autism bullying and abuses being carried out by lawyers the state of Florida licenses against the extremely vulnerable adult Autism population in Florida any time these lawyers wind up opposing any claim or Court case filed to secure Autism disability rights, medically necessary Autism funding for supports and services, Olmstead community-based living rights, or any other legal right Autistic adults should have -- including the right to a fair and impartial Court . 


The "smoking gun" is contained in a public records response I just received from The Florida Bar asserting that items that are required to be in their publicly available transition plan and self-evaluation (28 C.F.R. Sec. 35.105(a), (c)) to comply with Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act are being kept secret under "confidential" files: 


"I am in receipt of your request dated April 26, 2012, wherein you ask for "all public records for why The Florida Bar does not feel it is required to keep all records necessary to prove it is not violating Title II of the ADA, and index the records keyed to this mandatory civil right requirement."


"[A]fter review of your request by our General Counsel, he indicated that your inquiry as framed seems to seek records of legal determinations that would likely be confidential and exempt from disclosure requirements pursuant to Rule 1-14.1 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar"


Jenny Jolinski, Records Custodian, The Florida Bar, May 4, 2012


Clearly, the ADA subjects conflicting state laws and rules such as "Rule 1-14.1" to federal pre-emption if it conflicts with the ADA. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12201(b); Barry v. Burdines, 675 So.2d 587 (Fla. 1996); Shotz v. City of Plantation, Fla., 344 F.3d 1161 (11th Cir. 2003). 


In this case, since The Florida Bar is within the definition of "public entity" under Title II (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12131(1); Florida Bar v. Clement, 662 So.2d 690 (Fla. 1995), the "conflict" pre-emption analysis must make a comparison between "Rule 1-14.1" and the mandatory anti-discrimination requirements of Title II.


Congress delegated authority to promulgate regulations to the Attorney General of the United States. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12134. 


The federal regulations under Title II clearly apply as follows:


"A public entity may not, directly or through contractual or other arrangements, utilize criteria or methods of administration—

• (i) That have the effect of subjecting qualified individuals with disabilities to discrimination on the basis of disability;
• (ii) That have the purpose or effect of defeating or substantially impairing accomplishment of the objectives of the public entity's program with respect to individuals with disabilities"
• 28 C.F.R. Sec. 35.130(b)(3).

These Title II anti-discrimination prohibitions encompass certain affirmative duties on the part of the "public entity" involving indexing for intake and reception, and thereby spell out that the activities The Florida Bar claims should be "confidential" are within the regulatory authority of Title II of the ADA.

As a result of this, the requirements of  28 C.F.R. Sec. 35.130(b)(3) and Clarkson v. Coughlin, 4 A.D. Cases 1056 (S.D.N.Y. 1995) (public entities have an affirmative duty to implement a method of reception and classification for individuals with disabilities to ensure that no such individual will be deprived of timely and effective necessary reasonable accommodations), the "methods of administration" prescribing how the Florida Bar indexes and files all elements of its Title II ADA compliance activities are by necessity within the mandatory required elements of the "public entity's" transition plan and self-evaluation. 

The transition plan and self-evaluation are required by federal law under Title II of the ADA to be maintained publicly available at all times. 28 C.F.R. Sec. 35.105(c) ("make available for public inspection")).

As a result, the mandatory "maintain public" federal anti-discrimination requirement 28 C.F.R. Sec. 35.105(c) conflicts with the "confidential" files stance of The Florida Bar and it's "Rule 1-14.1," it is CLEAR and CONVINCING the "Rule 1-14.1" secret "confidential" files being maintained by the public entity to conceal The Florida Bar's policy of discrimination against the disabled at the highest levels of Bar membership stands in direct conflict with the mandatory requirements of Title II of the ADA.

How much more CLEAR does it have to be that The Florida Bar is a "public entity" that not only creates a discriminatory hostile environment toward disabled Americans, but institutionalizes this irrational discrimination in direct conflict with the mandatory anti-discrimination requirement of Title II of the ADA in it's own self-regulatory state rules ?

I rest my case that The Florida Bar is incapable of regulating and preventing the pervasive Autism bullying and abuse of severely disabled Autistic people by lawyers it regulates in the state of Florida. 

Autism bullying by a Florida lawyer as "tactics" to "win" a case

I would be remiss and part of the Epidemic Autism bullying problem if I did not speak out about a Florida lawyer and big law firm in Orlando, Florida who retaliated in violation of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12203 by Autism bullying me as some sort of "tactics" to "win" their case. The lawyer's name is Mya Hatchette and her law firm is Winterweedle, Haines, Ward, & Woodman, PA of Orlando, Florida.

Why does this matter that yet one more of THOUSANDS of people with Autism gets bullied and abused because we are deliberately targeted for our Autism as perceived by others as being weak and a "mark" for the abuse ? It matters because this Epidemic of Autism abuse and bullying that gets carried out on severely Autistic disabled people are Human Rights violations. It matters because we are supposed to be a "Great" Country and live in a so-called "civil" "enlightened" society, but we don't as Autism bullying and deliberately abusing the disabilities of severely disabled Autistic people is not civility but instead Barbarity.

Is THIS the type of society we as Americans want to be living in when 1 in 88 now have Autism and it is increasing appx. 80 % every two years in Florida, and appx. 79 % elsewhere ? Is THIS the type of society we as Americans want to be living in when this type of Autism bullying and abuse result in everyone in society having to pay appx. $2.4 million lifetime Autism costs for each and every Autistic disabled person ? Can we AFFORD a society where Autism bullying and abuse results in this TRILLION DOLLAR National Autism debt deficit that EVERY person in this Country must pay ? 

Many people in the Autism community read about my struggles every day through my Facebook posts and Twitter tweets.

I am not out of the ordinary as far as adults with Autism go - I struggle with physical and neurological disabilities that would make most other people give up the will to live. Gastrointestinal problems, vision problems, hyper-acute hearing, loud speech and other loud sounds or bright lights, the wrong lights, hundreds of smells, textures of clothing, blankets, things I touch or sit on, can cause sensory overload and trigger TLE seizures. I have thoracic scoliosis, fetal neural impairments, motor impairments, chronic pain syndromes, a crippled deformed foot that locks in mid-step if I bend it wrong, appx. 6-7 damaged Cranial Nerves, circadian rhythm sleep impairments, sleep apnea and central apnea, meniscus tear in my knee, five disc bulges in my spine, muscular dystrophies, mitochondrial dysfunction, cerebellar impairments, vitamin deficiencies due to mal-absorption, and I could go on as there are many more. This is why NO Autistic person can "name" their "disabilities" when we are asked any more than "name" our emotions we cannot identify.

Somehow, these Autism bullies and abusers think severely Autistic people can do everything just like they can. But that is a very unrealistic and irrational appraisal of Autism. The divide between what they think and how we struggle just to live is so Vast there really is no way to teach those who willfully don't want to understand.

Certainly, the Autistic person cannot do it. Just to get up in the morning and manage to sit at the counter to eat is a major undertaking. Just to walk to the barn to ride my Autism therapy horses is Marathon that takes Massive amounts of energy our bodies do not produce. A social interaction depletes so much energy, there is only enough for a short time, and not for more than one social interaction or more than one person. After that, we need down time to recharge our energy levels again.

To put it into perspective: When lawyers who choose to target a severely Autistic disabled person for bullying and abuse as "tactics" to "win" their case, it is like doing it to an infant child. Would everyone think it was okay for a licensed lawyer to bully and abuse a BABY ? If not, why would they do it to a severely Autistic person ?

Let's look at the FACTS of Autism bullying and abuse - that just happened to me.

I filed a state court case to address some issues with my real property, my Olmstead - protected home where I live in the community that does not have marketable title or a right of access to and from my property that it was supposed to have, that the person who sold my Olmstead home to me promised me it would have.

I filed a title insurance claim over this last fall, and the title insurer's first lawyer repeatedly retaliated against my Autism and other disabilities, deliberately delayed my claim, and then, when he found out I don't have marketable title or a right of access to my property, he passed it on to another lawyer in Orlando, Florida, Mya Hatchette, of the Orlando, Florida law firm, Winterweedle, Haines, Ward, and Woodman, P.A.

Mya Hatchette, the bullying lawyer, deliberately targeted my severe Autism disabilities for bullying and abuse by filing removal papers with the wrong federal court in Pensacola, knowing it was hundreds of miles from where I live and my real property is located that I have asked a Court to order remedied and to record an easement for right of access. She did this to abuse and bully my severe Autism disabilities.

At the time Mya Hatchette, Esq., deliberately Autism bullied and abused me by doing this, she:

    (1.) disobeyed 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1446 (a) the removal statute that REQUIRED her to file the removal papers in the Gainesville federal court near my location where my state court case was  pending that has enforcement power over my real property;
    (2.) deliberately disobeyed Northern District of Florida Local Rules on removals that stated she "shall" file the removal papers in the Gainesville federal court that embraced the location of the state court where I filed my lawsuit, Alachua County; and
    (3.) made materially false statements to the Federal Court intended to mislead the Court by mis-classifying my real property easement / insurance case as an "employment discriminaton case."

I would be happy to post all her removal papers she served on me to the Internet so EVERYONE can read for themselves how she deliberately Autism bullied and abused me. Yeah, it has to make someone feel *really good* to bully and abuse someone who has severe Autism and is extremely vulnerable.

To get a good understanding of the torture levels this Mya Hatchette, Esq.'s deliberately misleading of the Federal Court in Pensacola, Florida as means to target my severe Autism and Autism bully and abuse me has inflicted on me, pls. re-read what I said above about the severe disabilities I have and the intentional transportation disability barriers the lawyer who is abusing the process in a Federal Court has crafted on a severely Autistic person who struggles just to get about at home with a caregiver on a daily basis.

Mya Hatchett, Winterweedle, Haines, Ward, & Woodward's lawyer, knew or should have known Title II of the ADA (and Sec. 504) requires such transportation disability barriers to be removed and eliminated, see 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12131(2), not erected and built bigger by misleading a Federal Court as "tactics" for a title insurer to get out of paying a claim on an Olmstead - protected property to cloak herself under color of federal court authority as means to demand the severely disabled Autistic person travel half-way to Texas or have her case and Olmstead rights dismissed and disregarded. Also known as "writing-off" Autistic people.

When Americans start to scream really loud about the rising costs of Autism, and especially adults with Autism, when Autism reaches TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS PER YEAR in cost EVERY American must pay, REMEMBER those who deliberately target severely Autistic disabled people as weak and therefore bully and abuse us - and multiple this by more than 3.5 million Autistic Americans.

Is this something we as a society can afford ?

Should we be licensing anyone in ANY profession who is intent on bullying and abusing severely Autistic people for ANY reason ?

This is the society you all made folks - the Autistic person is the last person who has any ability to change it.

We have no say. We have no protection. We are merely tossed about by the waves in the sea, trying not to be slammed against the rocks.

If I or any other severely Autistic adult loses a lawsuit to protect our Olmstead community-based living rights in our home, or to get access to necessary medical care our doctors say we need, that's fine for the Autism bullying abuser lawyers lining their pockets with insurance company dollars, but what about YOU ?

The Autistic person has no other recourse, no other help. Nowhere else to turn. This is how our Country has made it -

and YOU all will pay and pay and pay, because the severely Autistic person can't.

Those of us with Autism struggle just to try to reach the lowest rung on the ladder toward independence every day, much less have any ability to pay for these Autism special needs support and services funding losses caused by the Epidemic of Autism bullying and abuse we all can plainly see.

What does Autism cost ? TRILLIONS.

Is this the way everyone likes it to be ? It is YOUR choice.

Pay now, or pay much much more later. Because the Autistic person can't. Not if meaningful access is denied by the Epidemic of bullying and abuse "tactics" -- especially by those we enstrust with power.