Westlake, Ohio – Yesterday a group of over 30 Deaf & Deaf-Blind protesters and their supporters held a four-hour sit-in at a local doctor's office demanding that the doctor agree to provide sign language interpreting services for those who need them. The protest was the first ever of its kind in the country.

The Deaf & Deaf-Blind Committee on Human Rights (DDBCHR), a grassroots advocacy group based in North Olmsted, Ohio organized yesterday's protest. In the same way that civil rights groups held sit-ins at restaurants in the 1950's & 60's to draw attention to the discrimination faced by African-Americans, DDBCHR's sit-in action yesterday hoped to bring attention to the fact that many doctors still refuse to provide sign language interpreters for Deaf and Deaf-Blind patients despite the fact they are required to do so by law.

Over the last year the group sent information to over 100 randomly selected doctors in Northeast Ohio about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and asked them to sign an agreement form stating the doctor would provide interpreters as required by law. One doctor DDBCHR contacted four times about signing the ADA Agreement was Dr. Solymos. This doctor, however, never responded to the group's request. So DDBCHR members decided to bring their request in person to Dr Solymos' office.

When the group arrived at the doctor's office with signs and banners displaying their demands, DDBCHR President, Ray Seal approached the front desk to ask to speak to the doctor but none of the staff opened the glass window to find out what he wanted. DDBCHR members then made a statement to the press about their demands and why they had come to protest.

"Our basic rights to communication and to healthcare are being violated" Sarah Messina, an 83-year old Deaf leader explained. "Every doctor takes a vow to 'do no harm'" but when a doctor refuses to provide interpreters for a Deaf or Deaf-Blind patient, serious harm or even death can result from miscommunication."

Doctor Solymos' office soon notified the police and half a dozen officers showed up asking the group to leave the premises immediately. DDBCHR leaders vowed that they would not leave until their demands were met.

Members then shared stories of how Deaf &Deaf-Blind people have received poor medical care when interpreting services have been denied. Judy Groner, a Deaf-Blind member of the group explained how a Deaf-Blind patient went in for surgery and was not provided an interpreter. The surgeon, having no communication with her patient mistakenly amputated the Deaf-Blind patient's leg! "We can no longer sit back and let our rights as Deaf and Deaf-Blind people and as human beings be violated!" Groner exclaimed. "We must fight for our rights!"

Kirby Smith, President & CEO of St. John West Shore Hospital stopped in at the protest and expressed his support for the group's issues saying he himself had family members with disabilities. Since Dr. Solymos' office leases space from St. John's Hospital, Kirby explained that he had no direct authority over the doctor's medical practice. He did say, however, that he would talk to the doctor's office to see if something could be worked out. DDBCHR leaders thanked Kirby for his support and invited him to become a member of their organization.

Throughout the day the protestors marched in a circle and chanted "What do we want? INTERPRETERS! When do we want them? NOW!" and "Doctors-should-DO-NO-HARM!" Despite the group's persistence, Doctor Solymos refused to meet with the protestors or even send one of her staff out to listen to the group's requests. At one point the doctor said she would meet with one person only- either the organization's director, Heather West who is hearing, or the group's president Ray Seal who is Deaf. As a Deaf and Deaf-Blind organization, Heather explained that she would not meet with the doctor without the group's Deaf president also representing the group. When the group explained that the President could not meet with the doctor without a hearing interpreter to communicate, the doctor still refused to allow more than one person in the office to meet with her.

West was outraged by the doctor's disrespect to the Deaf and Deaf-Blind Community. She explained, "Dr. Solymos was selected two years in a row as one of America's best doctors in the country by the Guide to America's Top Family Doctors. It is a disgrace that a leader in the nation's medical community cannot even give us enough respect to come out and talk with us about our concerns."