When I first sat down to talk with Maura Healey,candidate for Attorney General, we were actually chatting about the Convention process and I happened to discuss the work that the MDP has done to include people with disabilities at the Convention. Maura mentioned to me how much work she had done in advocating for people with disabilities. I referred to that work in a comment a few days ago and I was asked for details. I researched it, spoke with Maura and the campaign, and I found an impressive record of accomplishment.
Here is the information provided to me by the campaign. I believe that they will be adding it to their website in the near future.
In the Attorney General’s Office, Maura was a champion for people with disabilities in ensuring access to education, employment, housing, transportation and public accommodation. Here are a few highlights of her efforts in this area:
- Maura achieved a landmark national settlement with Apple to ensure that the iTunes education platform was accessible to blind and other print disabled users. Apple now makes the most accessible Smartphones on the market.
- Understanding that people with disabilities are disproportionately under or unemployed, she reached an agreement with Monster.com to make sure its job website and mobile applications were accessible.
- Maura also achieved a settlement agreement with the country’s three largest movie theaters companies so that people who are visually-impaired or deaf can enjoy the movie-going experience.
- Maura also brought a contempt action against the nation’s leading purveyor of ATMs when they failed to meet their court-ordered obligations to make their fleet accessible for blind and visually impaired users.
- Maura also achieved a critical settlement with one of the nation’s largest real estate management companies resulting in important changes to their method of responding to requests for accommodation from tenants with disabilities.
- Maura also fought for important updates to the state’s anti-bullying law, which were passed in 2014, and which require schools to implement policies that specifically address groups, such as students with disabilities, who are more vulnerable and who are more likely to be the victim of bullying.
- Maura won a case against a bus company that failed to accommodate and refused service to patrons with disabilities.
- And, under Maura’s leadership, the Civil Rights Division also aggressively investigated and mediated matters involving landlords, employers, and store owners who failed to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
