Deaf Americans Sue President Trump over Press Briefing Access

A civil rights organization for deaf Americans is suing President Donald Trump over access to White House press briefings.

The National Association of the Deaf’s (NAD) lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday seeks to push the White House to resume providing American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters during the briefings, the organization announced.

NAD explained it has sued the White House before and detailed its claims in the recent legal action:

In September 2020, the NAD obtained a landmark court ruling ordering the White House to provide interpreters for all coronavirus-related briefings. The lawsuit was resolved when the White House implemented a policy to provide ASL interpreters for all press briefings conducted by the President, Vice President, First Lady, Second Gentleman, or the White House Press Secretary.

Since that settlement, the White House provided ASL interpreters, including Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDIs), for all public briefings, press conferences, and related events by the President, the Vice President, and the White House Press Secretary. These interpreters were visible on the White House’s official communication channels, including WH.gov/live, Facebook, Twitter/X, and YouTube. The White House’s press briefings were thus fully accessible for deaf and hard of hearing people. However, this practice abruptly ended in January 2025. The White House has not provided any ASL interpreters for any press briefings since that time, despite the NAD’s repeated requests.

There are two deaf men involved in the lawsuit and they are identified as Derrick Ford of Anderson, Indiana, and Matthew Bonn of Germantown, Maryland, per NPR.

The outlet quoted the lawsuit when referring to Ford, whose primary language is ASL. Ford is reportedly concerned about missing information regarding the president’s executive orders, diversity equity, and inclusion (DEI), social security, Medicare, and the economy.

Bonn struggles with closed captions and the complaint said he would like information about the economy, Medicare and Medicaid, and executive orders regarding gender issues.

“The complaint alleges that the White House is in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which mandates meaningful access for people with disabilities to all White House communications, and in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which mandates freedom of exchange of information,” the NAD announcement read.

During President Joe Biden’s (D) tenure in the White House, one ASL interpreter who appeared during a press briefing was reportedly a Trump supporter, Inside Edition reported at the time:

The interpreter, Heather Meshaw, ran a conservative group called “Hands of Liberty.” One clip the outlet showed was Meshaw interpreting the song YMCA that Trump played at his rallies:

It is important to note that Trump has been fighting lawsuits from left-leaning NPR, Harvard University, and a George Soros funded group.

Despite those attacks, a recent poll found Trump’s job approval rating surged to 55 percent approval, Breitbart News reported on May 20.