DeafBlind Californians' Message to the Federal Communications Commission

The following is the letter accompanying the petition we sent to the Federal Communications Commission.

Dear Ms. Singleton,

We, the Northern California Association of DeafBlind (NCADB), hereby submit our Petition to the Disability Rights Office of the Federal Communications Commission (DRO and FCC, respectively) in the matter of the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) in California. Over one thousand (1,000) DeafBlind Californians and their allies respectfully request that the DRO immediately revoke the certification of San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired (LightHouse) to continue administering the NDBEDP in our State, by applicable FCC regulations, such as 47 CFR Part 64 Subpart GG.

Why de-certify LightHouse?

Below, we explain why LightHouse cannot continue to be certified to manage almost $1 million in funding from the FCC.

Lying to the government

In an e-mail dated December 1, 2023, responding to your Agency and a former worker who had filed an informal complaint with the DRO, LightHouse stated that it ceased to send qualified NDBEDP trainers to certain parts of California to meet the staffing requirements of the NDBEDP because a Deaf interpreter had requested a new contract. LightHouse further claimed that it and this Deaf interpreter could not agree after negotiations.

However, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge recently sided with the Deaf interpreter, finding that: (1) LightHouse lied to the FCC; (2) there was never a negotiation; and (3) LightHouse demanded the contract because of anti-deaf discrimination.

When the same Superior Court judge asked LightHouse why it did not provide qualified ASL interpreters to NDBEDP consumers and staff for six months, LightHouse said (under oath) there was no need for such interpreters, contradicting evidence presented in court clearly showing staff persistently asking for qualified ASL interpreters (in order to comply with NDBEDP rules) and management consistently refusing. This would constitute perjury, underscoring that this certified entity will not hesitate to lie to the government, and that is because this organization’s leaders have a track record of reckless disregard for the truth.

NOTE: The court transcript is available upon request.

The rules are still being disobeyed by LightHouse

In an e-mail from the DRO dated May 14, 2024, the former worker who filed the informal complaint in September 2023 was told by the DRO that it did not have sufficient records to grant his request for LightHouse to be de-certified. However, we now know that several other current or former staff members submitted complaints to the DRO between May 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, alleging widespread violations of your Agency’s regulations. Additionally, about two dozen DeafBlind consumers reported having shared their concerns with your Agency between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024, many more than once; others wished to share their concerns but could not be due to lack of effective communication access.

In the March 2024 Further Notice of Informal Complaint the DRO sent to LightHouse involving the aforementioned former worker, the certified program was given months to demonstrate compliance with NDBEDP regulations, despite ample evidence that it repeatedly and knowingly violated your Agency’s rules in 2023 and 2024, and made intentional misrepresentations to the FCC.

But since then, delays in equipment delivery and related services increased substantially, further hindering many consumers’ access to communications, including emergency-related communications. This is because there is only one full-time qualified NDBEDP trainer who knows ASL but is not fluent in Braille. In addition, records submitted to your Agency by LightHouse in accordance with its reporting obligations grossly distort reality.

NOTE: Some consumers have reported that there is another DeafBlind trainer based in Southern California, but this individual has not yet started providing NDBEDP equipment and related services.

A culture of retaliation

In the September 2023 informal complaint from the worker mentioned above, whistleblower retaliation was alleged. Two other staffers who worked in the NDBEDP program had previously communicated with the NDBEDP Administrator also alleged whistleblower retaliation in 2024. LightHouse’s open disregard for the FCC’s whistleblower protections is consistent with the experience of many other workers in other LightHouse programs, who faced retaliation for raising concerns about a host of questionable workplace practices.

As a result of its culture of retaliation, NDBEDP consumers are widely afraid that they would be retaliated against by LightHouse for either signing the petition or sharing their concerns with the DRO. NDBEDP-certified programs are supposed to post information about whistleblower protections on their websites for consumers to know, and LightHouse still does not do this.

Pattern of discrimination

Shortly after agreeing to fulfill a set of action steps prescribed by your Agency in March 2024 to bring the organization into compliance, LightHouse removed from either the organization itself or the NDBEDP program all the remaining non-male employees who had extensive experience with the NDBEDP and proficient in both ASL and Braille. Male employees who never directly worked with DeafBlind people before and had been with the certified program for a few years were then hired or promoted, including those who assumed managerial roles in the NDBEDP program at LightHouse. (In the case of the “iCanConnect Program Manager,” he was with LightHouse for less than one year before assuming the title.) This lines up with the certified Program’s long history of sexism.

All the individuals who were accused by more than a dozen current or former LightHouse workers of harassment (including widespread sexual harassment), intimidation, retaliation, and other hostile acts remain employed as of January 31, 2025. Most of them are males. The organization’s senior leadership knew about these allegations and chose to not only ignore them but also help perpetuate a hostile workplace. Top executives, including the Chief Executive Officer, were themselves implicated in widespread harassment and discrimination.

In addition, many current and former workers reported experiencing retaliation as a direct result of opposing disability discrimination. Affidavits and other documents from former workers shed light on the extent to which LightHouse mistreats various protected classes, particularly women, Deaf, and DeafBlind people.

Ongoing failure to maintain sufficient staffing

Qualified assistive technology trainers are very hard to come by, much more so in the case of qualified trainers who are concurrently proficient in ASL and Braille. Yet, between September 2023 and October 2024, LightHouse removed all three (3) highly qualified trainers who have been with the NDBEDP program since its inception using bogus rationale. This shows that LightHouse does not care about DeafBlind people’s needs and is not committed to fully complying with your Agency’s regulations.

In our view, LightHouse’s motivation for removing the three highly qualified NDBEDP trainers, rather than making an effort to retain them when it knew replacing them would be very difficult, is to control communication between the FCC and qualified staff so that it can avoid scrutiny. We would not expect a certified program that is genuinely committed to providing NDBEDP equipment and related services through qualified staff to engage in such behavior, let alone eliminate an entire team of highly qualified professionals.

Even with the existing staff, LightHouse continues to discriminate against them by failing to provide reasonable accommodations, which defies logic. This further reduces the availability of these NDBEDP trainers to serve eligible DeafBlind consumers across California.

Consumer perspectives

We encourage you to hear directly from consumers. We have put together a sampling of the experiences of many DeafBlind Californians in a series of video clips and written testimonials found at https://www.decertifylighthouse.org/deafblindvoices.

Request for response

We kindly request that the DRO provide a substantive response to our Petition by March 10, 2025; otherwise, we intend to take our message to Congress. Failure to respond to the Petition will be interpreted as a defiance of an act of Congress.

We urge you to affirm our right to equal access to communication through another certified program that does not discriminate against people with disabilities, is safe to work at, and fully complies with laws and regulations. Doing so is consistent with your Agency’s mission of consumer protection and our Nation’s democratic culture.

LightHouse squandered many opportunities to respect our rights and your Agency’s regulations.  We have tried to engage with the organization in good faith, individually and collectively, but were ignored at every turn, because the organization’s leaders want everything their way. We have also directly reached out to the organization’s Board of Directors, but received silent treatment, showing that the Board is not interested in discharging its legal duties.

How many times does a certified program like LightHouse have to violate the FCC’s rules before your Agency takes enforcement action? How many DeafBlind consumers does LightHouse have to harm by denying them access to communications and thus putting their lives on the line before it faces real consequences?

We are available to answer any questions you may have regarding our Petition. We appreciate your consideration.

Sincerely,

Northern California Association of DeafBlind

www.ncadb.org