The People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California to determine whether OHO has the authority to provide reasonable accommodations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  Section 504 prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and requires Federal agencies, including SSA, to provide meaningful access to their programs to individuals with disabilities.  

Any individual with a disability may request an accommodation that facilitates meaningful access to SSA’s programs under Section 504.  PWDF’s lawsuit is based on the agency’s failure to provide reasonable accommodations for “effective communication” to a SSI claimant with psychosis from schizophrenia, which the suit argues was necessary to provide meaningful access to the SSI program and its complicated rules on resources. 

For more information, please read the article about the case by PWDF Legal Director Steven Bruce: