Deaf men sue Burning Man because it will not restore its interpreters program
As tens of thousands of Burners prepare to descend on the playa this weekend in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, two deaf men have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the annual Burning Man event violates the Americans With Disabilities Act by not providing interpreters for hearing impaired participants.
Melvin Patterson and Branton Stewart, in the suit filed Wednesday, claim Burning Man dropped its sign language interpreters program in 2017 and refuses to bring it back for the 2019 event beginning Sunday in Nevada.
“Our clients are looking for justice not only for themselves, but for the over 100 deaf Burners whom come to Burning Man each year,” attorney Andrew Rozynski said. “We hope that Burning Man will take swift action for the upcoming event and provide sign language interpreters before our clients experience any further harm.”
San Francisco- based Burning Man Project, which manages and operates the unique arts metropolis created in the desert each year, is named as a defendant in the suit. Representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Patterson, who lives in Patterson, has attended Burning Man since 2012, and worked as a “Black Rock Ranger” the past five years. The rangers are a volunteer group that “act as non- confrontational community mediators, providers of reliable information, facilitators of public safety ... and navigators of the edge of chaos,” according to Burning Man’s website.
Patterson claims he is unable to communicate with fellow rangers. Last summer, he requested three gift tickets for interpreters but was denied, the suit said.
“While we certainly appreciate your interest in providing interpreter services to Deaf Burners, Burning Man isn’t able to issue gift tickets to participant camps for use by their members,” according to an email from Placement Manager Trippi Longstocking and Community Services Department Manager Terry Schoop, which was included in the lawsuit. You “are of course welcome to have interpreters join your camp to assist your members. The interpreters will just need to acquire their own tickets.”
Similarly, Stewart, of Temecula, said a proposal he sent in May for Burning Man to provide six interpreters was denied. Jim Graham of Burning Man’s communications team told Stewart there was no funding, according to the suit.
“I would like to call your attention to two of Burning Man’s Ten Principles—Radical Self Reliance and Communal Effort,” Graham wrote in an email to Stewart, according to the suit. “Through these guiding Principles, we encourage our participants to rely on their own resources in discovering Black Rock City.”
Stewart and Patterson plan to attend Burning Man and are asking the court to issue an injunction ordering Burning Man to provide interpreters. The suit also seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities at places open to the general public.