On May 29, 2025, Relman Colfax, alongside Disability Rights Advocates and The Washington Lawyers’ Committee, filed a class action lawsuit in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the DC Council of the Blind (DCCB) and five named plaintiffs, to address systemic failures that jeopardize the safety of blind and low vision pedestrians. The complaint alleges that these violations deny blind pedestrians equal access to safe and navigable city streets and ultimately exclude blind pedestrians from accessing services, work, events, and all aspects of life in the District.
As outlined in the complaint, the District has installed visual pedestrian signals at more than 1,600 intersections to ensure the safety of sighted pedestrians, yet only a fraction of those intersections have devices with auditory, tactile and vibrotactile cues—Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS)—to make them accessible to blind pedestrians. Moreover, the modest number of signals equipped with APS are plagued by installation and maintenance issues.
In the absence of functional APS devices, tens of thousands of blind pedestrians who live in, work in, or visit the District are left to guess whether it is safe to cross the street. Heavy traffic and high tourist volume increase the need for effective APS coverage throughout the District, which is rated as one of the country’s most walkable cities.
The class action litigation seeks to enforce the rights of individuals with disabilities to live independently and access their communities without barriers. Plaintiffs provide first-hand accounts in the complaint concerning the difficulty of navigating the city and participating in daily life outside their homes. They explain how the lack of APS compromises their ability to travel through the District safely and independently, isolating them from work, education, recreation, religious services, cultural events, and shopping. As shared in a joint release, blind pedestrians must spend extra time or money to navigate the District without functional APS, paying a “blindness tax” to participate fully in daily activities.
The lawsuit highlights significant violations of federal and local laws, including Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the District of Columbia Human Rights Act. The plaintiffs seek an injunction requiring the District to install and maintain APS devices at all signalized intersections.
Immediately after it was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the case captured the attention of major media outlets in the District. In-depth interviews and features in The Washington Post, WTOP, FOX 5 DC, Washington Hispanic, ABC 7 DC, and DC News Now have showcased the importance of the issue.
The Relman Colfax litigation team includes Michael Allen, Jennifer Klar, and Robert Hunter, with paralegal assistance from Sarah Ogundare. Our co-counsel are Disability Rights Advocates and Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.