By Michael Phillips | Project ADA — A Father & Co. Investigation
Every year, millions of Americans walk into their local courthouse believing that the justice system will treat them fairly. They expect due process. They expect access. They expect judges and clerks to follow the law. Yet for a growing number of disabled litigants—parents with PTSD, veterans with traumatic brain injuries, people with ADHD, autism, epilepsy, chronic pain, or visual-processing disorders—the American court system has quietly become one of the harshest, most inaccessible institutions they will ever face.
This is not a matter of inconvenience. It is a matter of federal law.
Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, every state court is required to provide “meaningful access” to people with disabilities. They must process ADA requests, provide accommodations, assign ADA coordinators, and ensure disabled litigants can fully participate in their own cases.
But across the country, courts are failing. And they are failing in ways that are so widespread, so systemic, and so consistent that it can no longer be dismissed as bureaucratic oversight or isolated administrative error.
This is a civil-rights crisis—largely unreported, mostly unrecognized, and quietly devastating lives.
Project ADA exists because the record must be built. The failures must be documented. And the public must understand how deeply routine ADA violations have become inside America’s courtrooms.
The Illusion of Access
Most Americans assume the ADA is a settled issue. They imagine ramps, sign-language interpreters, and accessible restrooms—physical accommodations that are easy to see.
But the ADA’s deepest guarantees involve cognitive, neurological, and psychiatric disabilities that are not visible to a judge reviewing a docket or a clerk processing paperwork.
These are the disabilities courts routinely dismiss, ignore, or punish.
A father with PTSD asks for a few extra minutes to gather his thoughts during a hearing—and is reprimanded for “evasive behavior.”
A veteran with TBI requests extended time for filings—and is sanctioned for “failure to prosecute.”
A mother with ADHD asks for help understanding a complex scheduling order—and is told by a clerk, “We don’t give legal advice.”
A parent with epilepsy discloses a seizure disorder—and the court’s response is to accelerate deadlines rather than accommodate them.
In many states, simply submitting an ADA request can result in retaliation, courtroom hostility, or judicial skepticism that becomes baked into the entire case.
This is not access to justice. It is a barrier disguised as procedure.
The Law Is Clear. The Violations Are Clearer.
The ADA is not optional.
Cases like Tennessee v. Lane and Duvall v. County of Kitsap established decades ago that courts must:
- provide meaningful participation
- engage in interactive dialogue
- evaluate accommodation requests individually
- document reasons for denial
- avoid retaliation, sanctions, or adverse rulings connected to disability
Yet today, state courts routinely:
- refuse to accept ADA filings
- delay requests until after hearings
- assign no ADA coordinator at all
- deny accommodations without explanation
- punish disabled litigants for symptoms
- treat cognitive impairments as credibility issues
- misapply jurisdictional doctrines to block federal review
The result: disabled parents lose custody of their children not because they are unfit, but because they were never meaningfully heard.
Disabled veterans are jailed on child-support orders they physically cannot understand or comply with.
Disabled survivors of domestic violence are labeled “uncooperative” or “unstable” simply because their trauma responses do not fit courtroom expectations.
These are not anecdotes. They are patterns.
The Human Cost
When courts ignore the ADA, the consequences are not procedural—they are life-altering.
A parent who cannot process rapid-fire questioning appears “hostile.”
A litigant who misses a deadline due to cognitive overload is labeled “neglectful.”
A disabled father unable to stand for long hearings is accused of “disinterest.”
A mother recovering from a seizure in the hallway is found in default.
A veteran in a dissociative episode is punished for “refusing to participate.”
These outcomes are not just unjust—they are discriminatory. They are civil-rights violations that destroy families, careers, custody rights, reputations, and mental health.
And because courts rarely document ADA failures, the public never sees the harm.
Project ADA is built to change that.
Why This Crisis Persisted in Silence
There are three reasons ADA violations in courts have gone unchecked for decades:
1. Lack of Federal Oversight
The Department of Justice enforces the ADA, but its civil-rights division is understaffed, overwhelmed, and selective. Courts know that enforcement is rare.
2. Judges Are Shielded
Judicial immunity ensures that even egregious ADA violations rarely lead to accountability.
3. Disabled Litigants Are the Least Likely to Be Believed
When you suffer from PTSD, TBI, ADHD, or chronic illness, courts routinely interpret your symptoms as “behavior,” not disability.
This dynamic silences the very people the ADA was designed to protect.
The National Record Must Be Built
Project ADA is establishing the first comprehensive, public-facing archive of:
- ADA requests submitted to state courts
- denied accommodations
- ignored filings
- records showing retaliation
- transcripts showing misunderstanding or misconduct
- clerk correspondence
- misapplication of law
- federal complaints blocked by doctrine
- the lived experience of litigants who were denied access
For decades, these failures existed in the shadows. From Maryland to Arizona, Texas to California, parents and survivors describe the same story: they entered the courtroom disabled and left it punished.
It is time to bring these patterns to light.
A Path Forward
Reform begins with evidence. Evidence begins with documentation. Documentation begins with stories—submitted by parents, veterans, survivors, and disabled individuals who endured what the law forbids.
Project ADA is more than a reporting series. It is a long-term national record of a civil-rights crisis hiding in plain sight.
The ADA is the law. Courts must follow it.
And someone must hold them accountable.
Keep Father & Co. Free
Father & Co. exists to support parents navigating separation, custody, and systems that are often confusing, isolating, or overwhelming. This work is grounded in lived experience, careful research, and respect for the real stakes families face.
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