Glossary

Plain language definitions for the terms, roles, and laws that recur on this
site. Each definition is cited to its authoritative source: the statute or regulation, the U.S.
Department of Justice, the institution itself, or the standards body that maintains it.

The laws

ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law prohibiting disability discrimination, passed in 1990. Source: 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.; U.S. Department of Justice, ada.gov.
Title II: The part of the ADA covering state and local government programs, services, and activities. Source: 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131 to 12134; 28 C.F.R. Part 35. Whether it applies to a state bar is discussed here.
Title III: The part of the ADA covering private businesses open to the public. Source: 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181 to 12189; 28 C.F.R. Part 36.
Section 504: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which bars disability discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance. Source: 29 U.S.C. § 794.
Public entity: Under Title II, a state or local government, or a department, agency, or other instrumentality of one. Whether a particular body is a public entity can be disputed, and in this record it was. Source: 42 U.S.C. § 12131(1).
Qualified individual with a disability: A person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person with a record of such an impairment, or a person others regard as having one. Source: U.S. Department of Justice, ada.gov.
Georgia Open Records Act: The Georgia statute giving the public a right to inspect and copy government records. An agency may charge for search and production, but O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(c)(1) bars any charge for the first quarter hour and caps the hourly rate at the lowest paid full-time employee with the necessary skill and training. Source: O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 et seq.; Georgia Attorney General’s Office. What agencies may charge is discussed here.

Access terms

Reasonable accommodation: A change that lets a disabled person take part in a process on equal terms. Source: Americans with Disabilities Act; Department of Justice and EEOC guidance, ada.gov.
Reasonable modification: A change to a policy, practice, or procedure for the same purpose under ADA Title II. This is the term Title II actually uses. Source: 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(b)(7).
Effective communication: The Title II requirement that communication with a person with a disability be as effective as communication with others, which can require accessible formats or alternative methods. Source: 28 C.F.R. Part 35.
ADA Coordinator: The person a covered public entity of a certain size designates to coordinate its ADA compliance, whose contact information is to be made available to interested people. Source: 28 C.F.R. Part 35. What the role is supposed to do is here.
Grievance procedure (ADA): A published written procedure for resolving complaints about disability access with the entity itself. Distinct from a bar grievance about a lawyer. Source: 28 C.F.R. Part 35.
Accessible electronic format: A document a screen reader can read as text. An image-only PDF is not one, because it contains a picture of text rather than text.
Image-only PDF: A PDF containing scanned images with no underlying text layer. Assistive technology cannot read it, and neither can a search engine.
Voice-to-text: Software that converts speech into written text, used by people who cannot type. Every document I have written in this record was produced this way.
WCAG 2.1 Level AA: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines standard that United States courts commonly apply to websites. Source: World Wide Web Consortium. This site’s accessibility statement is here.

Bar and grievance terms

Grievance: A formal complaint, here a complaint to the State Bar about a lawyer’s conduct. Source: State Bar of Georgia, Office of the General Counsel; Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, Bar Rule 4-102 et seq.; gabar.org.
Rebuttal: The complainant’s written reply to the lawyer’s response to a grievance. In the Georgia process this is the only point at which the person who filed gets to answer what the lawyer said. Source: State Bar of Georgia; gabar.org. What happens when a rebuttal is not filed is here.
Reconsideration: A review of a decision after it was issued. Source: State Bar of Georgia grievance process; gabar.org. Discussed here.
Dismissal: A decision to close a grievance without discipline. Records of a dismissal at the State Disciplinary Board stage are destroyed after one year. Source: State Bar of Georgia; gabar.org.
OGC: Office of the General Counsel, the State Bar office that handles grievances. Source: State Bar of Georgia; gabar.org.
CAP: Client Assistance Program, the State Bar function that attempts informal resolution at the screening stage. Source: State Bar of Georgia; gabar.org.
State Disciplinary Board: The volunteer body, appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Bar president and including four nonlawyer members, that investigates grievances that pass screening. Source: State Bar of Georgia; gabar.org.
Special master: A judge appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia to hear a disciplinary case. These proceedings are public. Source: State Bar of Georgia; gabar.org. The full four-stage process is here.
Conflict screen: A check for conflicts of interest before a matter is assigned. Whether one was performed in this record was asked repeatedly and never answered.

Insurance and claims terms

GMA: The Georgia Municipal Association, the statewide association of Georgia cities.
GIRMA: The Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency, the property and liability program run under GMA that covers member cities. The record is here.
Third party claims administrator: A company contracted to handle claims on behalf of an insurer or risk pool. In this record that is Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. The record is here.
Risk pool: An arrangement in which member governments share liability coverage rather than buying it individually.
Claim number: The identifier attached to a claim file. In this record a single matter was assigned seven of them, described by the administrator as “mistakenly set up as new claims.”

Record terms used on this site

Exhibit: A page on this site presenting one source document with its date, sender, recipients, and context.
Read receipt: An automated confirmation that a message was opened. It proves attention was possible, not that anything was considered.
Delivery confirmation: An automated confirmation that a message reached its destination system. Distinct from file placement, which is the act of a person connecting that message to a file. Why the distinction matters is here.
Redaction: Removal of a name or identifying detail from a published document. On this site redactions are marked so that assistive technology announces them rather than passing over them silently.
Correction: A change to the record everyone reads. Distinct from an admission, which is a private communication to one person. An institution can admit an error and leave the record uncorrected, and in this case one did.

Frequently asked questions

What is ADA Title II?

The part of the Americans with Disabilities Act covering state and local government programs, services and activities. Source: 42 U.S.C. sections 12131 to 12134 and 28 C.F.R. Part 35.

What is a reasonable modification under Title II?

A change to a policy, practice or procedure so that a disabled person can take part in a program on equal terms. This is the term Title II actually uses. Source: 28 C.F.R. section 35.130(b)(7).

What is an image-only PDF?

A PDF containing scanned images with no underlying text layer. Assistive technology cannot read it, and neither can a search engine.

What is the difference between an admission and a correction?

An admission is a private communication to one person. A correction changes the record everyone reads. An institution can admit an error and leave the record uncorrected.

What is the difference between delivery confirmation and file placement?

Delivery confirmation says a message reached a destination system. File placement is the act of a person connecting that message to a file. They are different events and only the first is usually confirmed.

Corrections: definitions here are cited to their sources. If a definition is
incomplete or inaccurate, identify the term and the authority, and I will review and correct it.