馃攳
Sarah's Housing Discrimination Story and Reasonable Accommodations - YouTube
Channel: unknown
[0]
[Music]
[8]
my name is Sarah Meyer I am blind and
[11]
also have a mental health disability and
[15]
some chronic health disabilities I
[19]
experience a lot of challenges and
[22]
obstacles pretty much every day I think
[25]
there are a lot of things that I have
[27]
become used to but I never thought that
[30]
I would experience discrimination or
[33]
barriers in terms of housing when I
[39]
graduated from college in December of
[43]
2011 I was young idealistic I was very
[51]
nervous but also excited for the future
[53]
and I moved into an apartment as I was
[59]
getting accustomed to my environment and
[64]
learning the area and looking for
[66]
employment I also started experiencing a
[71]
number of situations that
[74]
made me feel really unsafe in my
[78]
apartment and around my apartment and
[81]
these experiences really took a toll on
[86]
my physical and mental health and
[90]
exacerbated those disabilities so I went
[94]
to my my doctors and they strongly
[99]
recommended that I tried to move but I
[103]
had signed a full year 12 month lease I
[106]
went to my apartment management told
[111]
them like a little bit about my
[113]
situation provided them with medical
[115]
documentation and requested to be
[118]
released from the terms of my lease they
[120]
refused to have any conversations with
[125]
me about it and denied my request I felt
[129]
very very trapped and very helpless
[134]
in that situation eventually a friend
[138]
was able to help me get the money to get
[141]
out of that lease and to move I still
[145]
had this lingering fear and was very
[150]
honestly traumatized by what had
[153]
happened and
[155]
it had been handled I actually started
[161]
working as an advocate for people with
[163]
disabilities I actually attended a
[166]
training that the fair housing center
[168]
was doing as I was in that training I
[174]
was like just really resonating with a
[177]
lot of what was being discussed Sara
[184]
initially contacted us because she felt
[186]
she may have been discriminated against
[188]
under fair housing laws
[189]
she actually attended a fair housing
[191]
class that I conducted and afterwards
[193]
reached out to me and explained her
[195]
story and because she had identified as
[198]
part of the class that maybe she had
[200]
been discriminated against in violation
[201]
of fair housing laws so I started with
[204]
her through that process she had already
[205]
moved out of the property so there
[207]
wasn't an opportunity to really advocate
[210]
with her with the housing provider but
[212]
instead what we did was we reviewed her
[215]
documents we've reviewed case law and
[217]
decided that she did have an allegation
[219]
of a potential violation of fair housing
[221]
law and at the heart of Sara's case it
[224]
really was about not only the denial of
[227]
an accommodation for her disability but
[229]
under the regulation the lack of a
[232]
process and trying to work with her to
[234]
find common ground that worked for both
[236]
the housing provider as well as for Sara
[238]
I for the first time felt like there was
[243]
some glimmer of hope like there was an
[247]
opportunity for me to not just find my
[252]
voice again against the property
[255]
management company but to also
[258]
potentially be a voice to speak up for
[262]
other people with disabilities who could
[264]
potentially be harmed by discrimination
[268]
unfortunately the fair housing center
[270]
receives a lot of complaints related to
[272]
a reasonable accommodation request for
[274]
persons with disabilities this is
[275]
actually one of the highest forms of
[277]
discrimination that we receive here at
[278]
the fair housing center we see this on a
[280]
daily basis we believe that a lot of
[282]
housing providers are just not educated
[284]
about fair housing laws across this
[286]
not just here in Indianapolis and that's
[288]
one of the reasons why we feel that
[290]
reasonable accommodation requests are
[292]
being denied on a daily basis here in
[294]
this particular case and Sarah's case
[296]
was in so many ways really
[297]
precedent-setting
[299]
the administrative law judge ruled that
[301]
Sarah had in fact been a victim of
[302]
housing discrimination and awarded her
[305]
monetary damages plus attorneys fees as
[307]
well as some injunctive relief as well
[310]
since this case has closed I feel like I
[315]
can breathe this was for sure without a
[321]
doubt handled and appropriately
[324]
illegally and but now there has been
[329]
justice and I have felt so empowered
[335]
I will definitely carry the message of
[342]
the fair housing center with me for the
[346]
rest of my life it shouldn't matter who
[348]
you love what your color is where you
[350]
come from your gender or gender identity
[351]
your family makeup or whatever makes you
[354]
uniquely you we all deserve a place to
[356]
call home
[360]
you
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage