Deaf immigrant jailed 6 weeks with no access to interpreter

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WASHINGTON (AP) — He knew he was in jail, but he didn't know why.

Eventually, Abreham Zemedagegehu learned that he'd been accused of stealing an iPad — an iPad whose owner later found it. He spent the next six weeks in jail, unable to communicate with his jailers because he is deaf. He described a frightening, isolated experience in which medical procedures were performed without his consent and he feared for his safety.

Zemedagegehu sued the Arlington County sheriff last month in federal court, saying his treatment failed to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"I felt like I was losing my mind," Zemedagegehu said through an interpreter in an interview at his lawyer's office. "I thought Virginia would give me an interpreter and they said no. That's why I felt lost."

Zemedagegehu, who is homeless, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia. He grew up using Ethiopian Sign Language. He has learned American Sign Language, but he has never learned more than rudimentary written English.

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Turns out he won an immigration lottery in 2001 and is a legal American citizen. He is happy to be here because America provides far more opportunities to Deaf people than Ethiopia does. Here he is allowed to drive, there are far more (and far better) job opportunities, and our interpreting services are much better than in Ethiopia.

He lived shortly in Minnesota before moving to the DC area, which has a large Ethiopian population, as well as a large Deaf population thanks to the local Deaf college Gallaudet University where he took classes to learn ASL. He had both a home and stable job working for FedEx, where he injured his back 4 years ago, but continued working until he lost his job for unlisted reasons 2 years ago.

He was, at the time of the article, receiving job training through a state vocational rehabilitation program and working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to find a place to live. His Disability benefits (about $800/month at the time) were not enough to afford a place to live, so he slept on the street, sometimes sheltering in a local restaurant during bad storms.

In 2013 an organization supported by the NY Times (the publisher of this article) called the Community Service Society donated roughly $1,300 to purchase Mr. Zemedagegehu some warm clothing, an iPad, and accessories, so he could communicate through a relay interpreter. He takes very good care of this gift, always repacking it into the original box when he is finished.

He displays a positive outlook on life, telling how he wishes to fly home and visit friends and family, to share the lessons he has learned through his struggles in homelessness, to possibly give a sermon on the topic at his church back home. His orthodox faith keeps him positive, reminding him that Jesus taught to live a modest life, and even slept on the streets himself. He prays over his water to make it holy before consumption, reads his bible regularly to uplift his spirits, and counts a wooden crucifix necklace as one of his few but treasured possessions.

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