Georgia Department of Community Supervision ADA Policy
This is the ASL translation and plain language version of Cobb v Georgia Department of Community Supervision ADA Policy.
Disclaimer
***Before we start, there is one important idea we want to share with you. This paper is a way of writing the words that the lawyers used in a way that is easier for more people to understand. If this paper and the ADA Policy written by the lawyers are different, then everyone will follow the ADA Policy and not this paper. ***
Introduction and Summary
The Georgia Department of Community Supervision (DCS) follows the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA has rules about programs, services, and the things that groups do and how everything must be accessible for people with disabilities. The ADA also has rules that groups must follow to be fair to people with disabilities. We have written this ADA Policy to set up a way to get accommodations that is open and should work well when you are meeting with a person with disabilities on parole or probation. If there are problems, this paper also sets up how a person with disabilities on parole or probation can tell DCS that there are problems with how things are being done. There is also a way for a person with disabilities on parole or probation to ask that higher-level DCS staff look into a problem if it is not fixed the first time.
This paper has many ideas that are for all people with disabilities. There is another paper, called the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Guidelines, that is only for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. DCS must follow both papers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. DCS will follow the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Guidelines (see Appendix A) if the two papers disagree on something. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Guidelines has already set up what some words mean as they are used in special ways. This paper will also use words the same way. In this paper, the word “Policy” means both papers together, this one and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Guidelines.
Authority
A state law, called O.C.G.A. § 42-3-5(b), gives the Commissioner of the Department the power to tell the staff what to do and how. Two more laws also give this paper power to set things up as written below. Those laws are:
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: 42 U.S.C. §12102, § 12131-34, and 28 C.F.R. §35.101 et seq.;
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794 (a) – (d); O.C.G.A. § 30-3-3