Deaf Poway High student wins partial legal victory

By Emily Sorensen

It’s been four long years of legal battles, but Poway High School senior Delanie Harrington has something to celebrate over winter break.

Harrington, 17, who is deaf, has been in a lawsuit with the Poway Unified School District since she was in eighth grade over the district’s refusal to provide her with a necessary interpretive service. The Ninth Circuit Court on Dec. 19 granted Harrington a preliminary injunction, which will force the school district to provide her with CART (Communication Access RealTime Translation) while the district’s appeal is ongoing.

“I feel relieved,” said Harrington, “and excited. It’s a good feeling to, after four years, be able to say we did this.”

The court has ordered that the district must provide Harrington with CART in classes while the district’s appeal is in process. The court order reads, “...the Court grants [Harrington]’s motion for preliminary injunction, and orders the District to provide [Harrington] with CART during classes at school.”

The court order also says “the public interest of providing equal access to education far outweighs the public interest of allocating some nebulous ‘limited funds’ to a disabled child instead of some ‘other students,’” citing the district’s legal argument that providing Harrington with CART would take away limited funding from other students ‘for an unjustified reason.’”

Harrington was diagnosed as deaf as a toddler, and though her cochlear implant and hearing aid help, she still requires assistance in hearing and understand in class, especially during discussions. Currently, Harrington has her teachers and fellow students speak into a microphone, which is transmitted directly to her hearing aid, but it isn’t an ideal solution, especially in group discussions.

Using CART, Harrington will have a specially trained interpreter with her in class, who will type everything said in a form of phonetic shorthand, similar to what is used by a court reporter, which will then be translated by a program and sent to a television, laptop or tablet in front of Harrington in real time.

Harrington said she hopes the district will have provided her with CART when she returns to classes after winter break ends Monday, Jan. 6. She plans to use it for at least four of her classes, her three AP classes and for physics, and said she might not need it in art or photography, which have less discussion.

“I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me,” said Harrington of her remaining six months of high school, “but it will be a relief knowing what is going on in discussions. With CART, it will be easier for me to understand [my classmates and teachers], and I will be able to contribute and participate more.”

Poway Unified School District spokeswoman Jessica Wakefield released a statement Friday saying, “Poway Unified learned just this morning of the TRO [Temporary Restraining Order] regarding this case. Staff is working to fully understand and fulfill the order. At this time, we understand a judge issued a TRO until this matter is further resolved. We will be working to comply with all requirements set forth by the court.”