On the evening of April 7^th, a Deaf woman, Andrea “Dre” Hollingsworth, was handcuffed and detained by the North Las Vegas Police. The police made 11-year-old twin daughters of Hollingsworth interpret for them during Hollingsworth’s encounter with the police. Hollingsworth says that her daughters were traumatized. Such an act would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Eisenberg & Baum’s Attorney Andrew Rozynski (Partner, Deaf Law Center) spoke with local FOX 5 Vegas station regarding the situation.

“Requiring an 11-year-old to interpret in a police situation is against the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are regulations in there that expressly prohibit children from being used as interpreters…There are services out there such as video relay, in which someone can bring up an interpreter on an iPhone or iPad.”

Read the article at FOX 5 Vegas.

Eisenberg & Baum’s Deaf Law Center, led by Directors Sheryl Eisenberg Michalowski and Andrew Rozynski, has been advocating on behalf of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community across the country to make sure that Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals get the protection they deserve to the fullest extent of the law.