The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and several deaf individuals have reached a settlement with the President of the United States and other White House officials to conclude a lawsuit over the Trump White House’s failure to provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters during press briefings related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The settlement follows a landmark court ruling in September 2020 that ordered the White House to provide interpreters for all such briefings. As a result, in November 2020, a White House press briefing was broadcast live with an ASL interpreter for the first time in history. Today, the NAD and the White House dismissed the lawsuit.

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[Video Desc. & Transcript: Howard Rosenblum stands in the middle of the screen with a black backdrop.

HOWARD: Remember when the NAD and Arnold & Porter sued the White House last year? We represented the NAD as well as five deaf individuals: Graham Forsey, Carlton Trail, Debra Fleetwood, John Rivera Jr., and Corey Axelrod. We sued because at the time, we had repeatedly asked the Trump White House to provide American Sign Language (ASL) access for their coronavirus briefings so deaf and hard of hearing people can understand the latest updates about the pandemic. They refused so we sued. Eventually, the court ordered the White House to provide interpreters and they did. Then with the election, there was a change in administration from Trump to Biden. Our negotiations switched over to the new Administration. The new Administration established a policy of providing ASL interpreters for all their daily press briefings. Their new policy raised the bar. We had to go through the usual court proceedings, sign the necessary paperwork for settlement, have them pay off our attorney fees, and then we withdrew our lawsuit. So the case is officially over. This case got a court order that compels all U.S. Presidents to follow federal disability rights law and provide effective communication which includes ASL interpreters from now on. What a win!]