Investigator says inn discriminated

PORTLAND – An Ogunquit motel discriminated against a hearing-impaired woman by failing to provide her with a closed-captioned television, according to a state human rights investigator.

Ellen Cormier of Framingham, Mass., filed the complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission, saying her weekend getaway at the Juniper Hill Inn last winter was ruined when a desk clerk failed to provide her with a closed-captioning converter kit for her TV.

The investigator’s finding has yet to be considered by the Human Rights Commission, which will take up the case on Aug. 6.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires motels to have special phone and TV equipment for the hearing-impaired, but the hotel failed to comply with the law, human rights investigator Susan Clark found.

According to Clark’s report, Cormier’s husband was assured that closed-captioning equipment would be provided when he made the reservation at the 100-room inn.

But the couple found no closed-captioned TV when they got to their room. They informed a desk clerk that the law required such equipment be provided to the hearing-impaired, but the desk clerk then expressed doubt that the law applied to privately run motels, the report said.

The Cormiers demanded their money back and checked out of the inn.

The inn was equipped with closed-captioned TV equipment but the staff on duty did not know about it, and therefore denied Cormier the use of such equipment, Clark said.

The Juniper Hill Inn “failed to provide equal access to and enjoyment of its facilities by failing to make available the auxiliary aid and service required,” Clark wrote in her report.

The case illustrates the need for hotel and motel employees to be better educated about disability laws, disability advocates said.

Many deaf people “don’t realize what their rights are and have no idea that they’re entitled to this equipment” said Mary Edgerton, civil rights director for the Maine Center on Deafness.

Juniper Hill Inn owner Robert Hanson declined to comment on the case.

A ruling by the Human Rights Commission in favor of Cormier is nonbinding and carries no penalties. But a finding of discrimination can be used as the basis of a lawsuit or a private settlement.