The document discusses investigating disability issues and provides information on various relevant laws and resources. It summarizes the key titles of the Americans with Disabilities Act related to employment, public services, and public accommodations. It also lists other laws pertaining to fair housing, air travel accommodations, and special education. The document outlines resources for investigating compliance with laws regarding public transportation and finding potential stories involving vulnerable populations.

1. Investigating Disability Issues
IRE 2017 - Phoenix
Kristin Gilger, Arizona State University/NCDJ
Jennifer LaFleur, Reveal
Michael Berens, Chicago Tribune
Brian Rosenthal, New York Times

2. Americans with Disabilities Act
• TITLE I ‐ Employment: Requires employers with 15+ employees to provide qualified
individuals with disabilities equal access to employment‐related opportunities
available to others. Complaints are filed with state and local human rights agencies
and the EEOC.
• Title II ‐‐ State and local government: Requires that state and local governments
give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their
programs, services and activities. Complaints may be filed with the local ADA
coordinator.
• Title III ‐ Public accommodations: Businesses and nonprofit services must comply
with basic nondiscrimination requirements that prohibit exclusion, segregation
and unequal treatment. Complaints are filed with the U.S. Department of Justice,
Disability Rights Section.
• Title IV ‐ Telecommunications relay services: Requires telephone companies to
establish interstate and intrastate relay services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

3. Other laws
• Fair Housing Act: Prohibits housing discrimination and
requires owners of housing facilities to make
reasonable accommodations. Complaints are filed with
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
• Air Carrier Access Act: This act requires commercial air
carriers to provide boarding assistance and certain
other accessibility features in new aircraft and airport
facilities. Complaints are filed with the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
• IDEA: Requires schools to accommodate students with
special needs

4. Transportation
• Public transit agencies must comply with ADA
– Buses and trains must be accessible – that
includes signs and stations
– Paratransit systems must also be accessible and be
available
– Buses must have automatic stop messages or
require drivers to call stops

5. Transportation
• Resources
– Federal Transit Administration
non‐compliance letters to transit agencies
– Complaints against transit agencies to FTA or DOJ
– Court documents from ADA lawsuits
– Transportation statistics documents from local transit
agency.
– Transit authority ridership data
– Transit authority wheelchair lift repair data
– Waiting lists for scheduling rides

6. Transportation
• Resources
– Federal Transit Administration
non‐compliance letters to transit agencies
– Complaints against transit agencies to FTA or DOJ
– Court documents from ADA lawsuits
– Transportation statistics documents from local transit
agency.
– Transit authority ridership data
– Transit authority wheelchair lift repair data
– Waiting lists for scheduling rides

7. Transportation
• AMTRAK has been
cited for failing to make
stations accessible.

8. Census info

9. Resources
• ADA.gov
• Independent living centers
• ADAPT.org
• NCDJ.org

10. Finding stories:
Vulnerable and Voiceless
Michael J. Berens
Chicago Tribune
IRE 2017

11. Money Follows the Person
Alabama $20,110,401 Louisiana $83,884,594 North Carolina $46,254,702
Arkansas $59,838,949 Maine $10,371,462 North Dakota $31,340,262
California $197,640,171 Maryland $178,803,155 Ohio $380,488,044
Colorado $21,878,138 Massachusetts $95,060,502 Oklahoma $52,023,929
Connecticut $234,576,991 Michigan $88,242,009 Oregon $22,655,153
Delaware $14,264,778 Minnesota $76,608,425 Pennsylvania $153,143,765
Wash. DC $34,658,883 Mississippi $30,576,695 Rhode Island $17,859,069
Georgia $159,170,550 Missouri $82,353,917 South Carolina $8,237,969
Hawaii $7,798,138 Montana $9,306,595 South Dakota $5,959,028
Idaho $21,859,299 Nebraska $22,184,278 Tennessee $67,363,025
Illinois $45,195,803 Nevada $10,943,591 Texas $397,958,482
Indiana $92,059,136 New Hampshire $13,972,772 Vermont $15,862,913
Iowa $77,661,590 New Jersey $120,250,213 Virginia $80,380,082
Kansas $65,487,431 New Mexico $595,839 Washington $190,029,341
Kentucky $74,068,555 New York $184,796,857 West Virginia $17,283,347
Wisconsin $64,386,314

12. State Grant Proposals

13. Mathematica Policy Research

14. State websites

15. State Contractors

17. Fire safety inspection records

18. Verify and quantify

19. Create your own database

20. Seniors for Sale

21. Small is good?

22. Protecting privacy?

23. Big is bad?

24. Investigating disability issues: 0 to 60
Brian M. Rosenthal, The New York Times
@brianmrosenthal

27. The Michael Berens checklist

28. Covering disability issues generally, and
special education specifically, is complicated
It is…
• Sensitive
• Stigmatized
• Very different in different cities/states
• Governed by a bunch of legal issues
So… consult experts
• Advocates, researchers, lobbyists, current and former front-line employees,
and, most of all, current and former regulators
• If it’s a local issue, state regulators can be your best friend
• If it’s a state issue, federal regulators can be your best friend
• If it’s a federal issue, local/state regulators can be your best friend

30. What to ask the experts
• What do you think of the tip?
• Is this a local story, a state story, a regional story or a national story?
• What should I know before investigating this tip?
• Where would you start your investigation into this tip?
• Who would you talk to about this tip?
• What the major issues in this area?
• Where does this tip fit into those issues?
• Has there been a lot of reporting about this? Is anyone else looking into it?
• What should my reporting question be?*
*Good reporting is driven by questions. Pick a question that you want to
answer in your investigation, and latch onto it.

32. If you have time and space, start by
trying to DISPROVE the tip
• It will pay off in all kinds of ways…
• It will protect you from yourself
• It will teach you how to speak the language
• It will allow you to discover countless interesting details
• It will start you off on the right foot with every source
• It will improve your odds of getting records
• It will help you build your case
• It will enable you to speak more authoritatively
• And when you get to the interviews that count, you’ll know what
you’re talking about

35. But plan ahead
• Records requests take time, so put them in early
• Data obtaining and analyzing takes time, so start it early
• Finding the perfect source(s) takes time, so begin searching early
• Writing takes time, so start it early*
*At least start an outline as soon as possible
(Yes, I know it’s hard. Do it anyway)

37. Where to look
• Data, data, data
– Special ed evaluations, entries, exits, test scores, seclusion, discipline...
– Obtain it from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), from the
Office of Special Ed Programs (OSEP), state ed department, local districts
– Slice it by region, district, school, disability type, age, race, gender
• Reports filed each year by states and districts
– Ask feds/state for “Annual Performance Report” and “State Performance
Plan”
• Lawsuits
– Look for cases filed by parents against local school districts
• Human sources
– Parents, advocates, special ed teachers, tutors, therapists, counselors,
diagnosticians, general ed teachers, principals, special ed directors,
superintendents, regulators (federal/state), policymakers

39. Where to find the real people
• Ask the tipster
• Ask advocates
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• All the other social media sites that I’m not cool enough to know about
• Community groups
• Clips
• Lawsuits

43. Questions?
brian.rosenthal@nytimes.com
@brianmrosenthal