Deaf man wants sign language interpreter at nudist camp in Cayuga County

 
Moravia, NY -- For Tom Willard, this week's naturist festival at Empire Haven Nudist Park is more about what he could not hear than what he might want to see.
The 53-year-old deaf man from Rochester recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department, charging Empire Haven and festival organizers with disregarding his civil rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Willard said Empire Haven, just outside Moravia in Cayuga County, rejected his request to provide a sign language interpreter for the deaf so he could understand what would be said at several festival workshops he wanted to attend. Also, he offered to pay for his own interpreter if the nudist camp would discount or waive his park entry and workshop registration fees.
Willard said he has tried twice since 2009 to get the nudist camp to provide an interpreter for him. In July, he received an email from Empire Haven saying, “An interpreter for the deaf is not something Empire Haven or the organizer of the naturist festival provide for this event or any other event.”
That response triggered Willard's complaint to the Justice Department.
“Congress isn’t looking good these days, but they still set the law of the land and some 20 years ago they decided ... that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to participate in society. It is just not right for some rinky-dink nudist camp in Upstate New York to think they know better than Congress,” Willard said in an email to The Post-Standard.
He has the law on his side, a legal expert in Syracuse said.
Private businesses like Empire Haven and the festival organizers are required under the American Disabilities Act to furnish sign language interpreters for deaf people such as Willard, according to Syracuse University associate law professor Michael Schwartz, who is deaf. A lawyer since 1982, Schwartz directs the law school’s disability rights clinic.
“Both the (festival organizers) and Empire Haven share responsibility for being accessible under the (law), Schwartz said in an email.
Empire Haven and a festival organizer said they were unaware that Willard was upset and had complained to the Justice Department. This week they said they would try to fix the problem.
“I don’t know the laws, but we would be happy to provide an interpreter ... . We’re not denying his rights,” said Morley Schloss, a retired educator from Rochester. He is an elected board member of the Naturist Society’s action committee, which is staging the festival. The committee promotes naturism activities and advocates for nudist rights.
The event, which started Tuesday and runs through Sunday, draws about 200 people and offers workshops on everything from photography to retirement, according to Schloss. It costs $45 for non-Naturist Society members to attend the weeklong festival. Empire Haven charges $17 a day for grounds fees and also rents camping sites and charges festival-goers for meals.
SU’s Schwartz said the problem Willard faces illustrates a much bigger problem that disabled people frequently confront as they call on businesses and government to comply with the American with Disabilities Act. The law mandates that businesses and others provide equal accessibility to the disabled; churches are exempt.