Armless man sues UH over note-taking problems

A man born with no arms has sued the University of Houston, claiming a professor refused to give him lecture notes and would not allow him to have someone take notes in her class, the Chronicle reports this afternoon. The suit, filed by 42-year-old Gary Bradford, was one of 16 filed statewide this week accusing the government and private businesses of failures to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Bradford enrolled at UH last fall intending to pursue a bachelor's in music. The university's Academic Accommodations Evaluations Committee and Center for Students with Disabilities recommended he get help with note taking and an extended time to take tests and be allowed to use a computer to write essays and essay exams. That went well in all his classes but one: Shirley Yu, an instructor in a social sciences writing-intensive course, refused to give Bradford class notes or a copy of a slide presentation used in a lecture, and the four TAs in the class wouldn't take notes for him, he claims. When Bradford complained to the department head, he said he was told the policy decision was up to Yu.

Bradford dropped the class and eventually dropped out of UH over a dispute about scheduling an exam. Bradford isn't suing the university for money; instead, the suit asks for a university policy allowing professors to choose whether they comply with requests for help from disabled students to be struck down. (Bradford also claims in the suit that the handicapped entrance to UH's Moores School of Music Building didn't work, so he often had to wait for other people to open the door for him.)

The UH suit, and the 15 others this week, were filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project; most of the others targeted restaurants that lack facilities for the disabled. UH hasn't commented on the suit.