Holding America’s courts accountable to federal disability law.
Mission Statement
Project ADA investigates how courts across the United States routinely violate the Americans with Disabilities Act—denying parents, veterans, survivors, and people with invisible and visible disabilities the basic accommodations required under federal law.
Through interviews, records, transcripts, CPRA and FOIA releases, and first-person accounts, we expose the systemic failures in state court systems that deprive disabled litigants of due process, access, and equal protection.
Our mission is simple:
To document, expose, and challenge ADA Title II violations inside America’s courtrooms—where compliance is legally mandatory, but too often ignored.
Why This Project Exists
In courtrooms built on paper promises of access, thousands of disabled parents are being:
• denied ADA coordinators
• denied medical-necessary accommodations
• punished for cognitive impairments
• sanctioned while unaccommodated
• blocked from filing ADA requests
• retaliated against after submitting medical documentation
• silenced with protective orders, gag orders, or contempt threats
• pushed into impossible deadlines that worsen their conditions
• forced to litigate without the support their disabilities require
This is not a series of isolated incidents.
It is a national civil rights breakdown.
Project ADA exists to make the pattern undeniable.
What We Investigate
1. ADA Title II Failures in Family, Juvenile, Civil, and Criminal Courts
Refusal to process accommodations, unreasonable delays, and judges disregarding medical documentation.
2. Invisible Disabilities and the Courtroom
PTSD, TBI, ADHD, epilepsy, visual-processing disorders, autism, panic disorder, and chronic pain—conditions frequently misinterpreted as noncompliance or defiance.
3. Procedural Barriers and Retaliation
Ignored motions, improper service, clerks refusing filings, and judicial retaliation after ADA requests.
4. Federal and State Conflicts
Misuse of Rooker-Feldman, exhaustion requirements, and systemic failures that block federal ADA oversight.
5. The Human Cost
Parents losing custody. Veterans losing benefits. Survivors losing their cases. People losing their homes, their stability, and their health because courts fail to follow federal law.
How We Work
Project ADA blends investigative reporting, legal analysis, and survivor-centered storytelling.
Our tools include:
• court transcripts
• administrative records
• ADA requests and responses
• CPRA, FOIA, and PIA investigations
• interviews with parents, advocates, ADA coordinators, and attorneys
• oversight reporting on state courts, state agencies, and the Department of Justice
• deep-dive analyses of legislative failures and Title II noncompliance
The result is a national repository of evidence documenting how courts treat disabled litigants—and how they violate the law.
Who This Project Serves
Project ADA documents and supports:
• disabled parents navigating family court
• veterans with PTSD or TBI
• survivors of domestic violence
• people with invisible cognitive or neurological disabilities
• pro se litigants unable to obtain counsel
• individuals denied basic access to justice
• anyone harmed by a court’s refusal to accommodate their disability
Our work helps them tell their stories—and builds the record needed for systemic reform.
Editorial Sections
1. Case Files
Investigations into individual cases where accommodations were denied or mishandled.
2. System Failures
Pattern reporting on state courts, administrative structures, ADA coordinators, and state compliance systems.
3. Federal Oversight
In-depth explanations of Title II, DOJ enforcement, Duvall, Tennessee v. Lane, and federal case law.
4. The Human Story
Narrative essays and personal accounts of disability, survival, and access barriers inside the courts.
5. Records & Evidence
Public documents, transcripts, CPRA/FOIA releases, and primary-source materials forming the evidentiary archive of Project ADA.
Submit Your Story
Project ADA is building the national archive of ADA violations in state courts.
If you have experienced:
• denied accommodations
• ignored ADA requests
• retaliation after disclosing disabilities
• proceedings you could not meaningfully participate in
• sanctions issued while unaccommodated
• trauma, TBI, or invisible disabilities dismissed by the court
• judicial misconduct tied to disability
You can submit your story or request a confidential interview.
Your name will never be published without permission.
Our Commitment
Project ADA will always:
• honor source confidentiality
• publish verified evidence
• avoid partisan framing
• prioritize accuracy over speed
• center disabled voices
• hold public institutions accountable
We believe access to justice is a civil right—not a privilege.