There are two legal defenses to a charge of discrimination on the basis of disability built into the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. They can be called “undue burden” defenses – undue financial and/or administrative burdens, i.e., the accommodation necessary is financially disproportionate to the defendant’s ability to pay or is so disruptive to the defendant’s operations that it is unreasonable.
Since “reasonableness” is all the “reasonable accommodation” laws require, a defendant’s failure to make legally required accommodations is considered unreasonable.
President Trump is attempting to create another defense. It can be paraphrased as “if making reasonable accommodation cramps your style you don’t have to do it.”
Taking Legal Action
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) sued the Trump Administration to restore American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at press briefings. Trump ceased the practice when he took office. The President and Press Secretary hold press briefings, presumably, because they want the public to hear directly from them.
Americans became used to ASL interpreters at the White House because during the COVID-19 epidemic, NAD had to sue the first Trump Administration to provide interpreter services at COVID press briefings. The organization argued that if these briefings were essential to the American public, which, of course, they were, then they were just as important to deaf Americans too, and ASL interpreter services should be provided.
The Biden Administration provided ASL interpreter services at White House press briefings. The second Trump Administration eliminated them as part of its efforts to root out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Reasonable accommodation is not “woke” behavior or optional. NAD sued again, in May 2025. The President raised a unique defense, one that was bound to fail. His lawyers argued that ASL interpreters intrude on President Trump’s ability to control his image, i.e., it cramps his style.
Federal District Court Judge Amir H. Ali granted an injunction to NAD requiring the White House to provide ASL interpreters at press briefings. The Trump Administration has appealed and is quibbling over things like what constitutes a press briefing (scheduled and/or spontaneous events).
The Administration filed a status report with the lower court when it filed for its appeal. They alleged that captions and transcripts (to be provided after live events) are adequate for some types of events.
Denial of Meaningful Information
NAD contends that when the White House stopped providing qualified ASL interpreters at press briefings it denied deaf and hearing-impaired Americans, whose primary language is ASL, meaningful access to important governmental information. Further, the organization argued, and Judge Ali agreed, many deaf Americans cannot communicate effectively in print so real time captioning would not be nearly as effective as ASL interpreters, with or without White House provided captioning.
Judge Ali rejected the President’s contention that ASL interpreters would constitute an impermissible intrusion on his ability to control his image. The judge specifically mentioned ways of providing real time ASL without an interpreter being on the same platform as the President and without affecting the messaging of President Trump. He stressed that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was about access and providing meaningful communications for people with disabilities, and not about Presidential image preferences.
Is believing that you cannot control your image adequately if you accommodate the deaf an undue burden? Judge Ali and right-thinking Americans agree, it is not. It is likely that the US Court of Appeals will uphold Judge Ali’s decision and ASL will be required for White House press briefings and unlikely that the US Supreme Court will entertain another appeal.
Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Able News at The Viscardi Center and/or The Viscardi Center.