ADA Matters Because All People Matter

A DISABLED DAD’S ADA MATTERS
Georgia on My Mind
STATE BAR OF GEORGIA • CITY OF BROOKHAVEN • GIRMA, GMA, AND GALLAGHER BASSETT • GEORGIA POST • STATE ADA COORDINATOR’S OFFICE

Bar Dismissed the Grievance on John J. Shiptenko and Copied Shiptenko

As of October 17, 2026. Times are Eastern.

The State Bar of Georgia told me every ADA request on every pending grievance went “exclusively” to John J. Shiptenko. When I filed a grievance against Shiptenko, Shiptenko acknowledged it. Twelve days later the dismissal arrived from a no reply address, with Shiptenko copied.

The Bar dismissed a grievance against its own ADA contact and copied the ADA contact. The fox got the mail.

On May 19, 2026, at 4:32 PM, an unsigned email from the State Bar of Georgia’s Response@gabar.org mailbox set the rule for me: “Should you have any requests for ADA accommodations, as you have previously been informed, those requests should be directed exclusively to John Shiptenko for these three grievances as well as any other grievance currently pending before the State Bar of Georgia.”

Exclusively. Every pending grievance. That made John J. Shiptenko the only door for a disabled complainant’s access needs.

On June 16, 2026, Shiptenko told me how to file a grievance without a CAPTCHA or a phone call: “email it to Ms. Nash.” On June 17, at 7:19 PM, I filed a grievance against Shiptenko. I sent it to Shiptenko and to Adrienne D. Nash, the person Shiptenko had named, with fifteen more copied.

Shiptenko’s route said Ms. Nash. Putting Shiptenko on the To line was my choice, so no one could say Shiptenko did not have it. But the Bar had already said ADA requests on any pending grievance went “exclusively” to Shiptenko, and on May 7 Shiptenko wrote, “Ms. Nash usually handles ADA requests for the grievance process, and I assist her as needed.” Either way, the access route for a grievance against the Bar’s ADA contact ran through the Bar’s ADA contact. I asked, in that same email, for “the conflict screened process for filing and deciding a grievance about a Bar official.” No one ever named one in any email I hold.

At 8:05 AM on June 18, Shiptenko acknowledged the grievance against Shiptenko: “Received.”

At 4:23 PM on June 30, 2026, the answer arrived. It came from a mailbox named Dismissal, at OGCNoReply@gabar.org, under the words “DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. THIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT MONITORED.” The attached letter was signed by Jeffrey W. DeLoach, Chair of the State Disciplinary Board. One paragraph. It said DeLoach found “no basis for this grievance to be forwarded to the State Bar Disciplinary Board for investigation”. It ended: “As a result, this grievance is dismissed.”

The Cc line of that email read: John Shiptenko.

It was the first of six decision letters the Bar emailed me between 4:23 PM and 4:35 PM that afternoon. Every one of the six copied the lawyer it was about.

What I Allege:

  1. One door. I allege that on May 19, 2026 the Bar wrote that ADA requests “should be directed exclusively to John Shiptenko” for “any other grievance currently pending before the State Bar of Georgia.”
  2. The route ran through the respondent. I allege that on June 17, 2026, at 7:19 PM, I filed a grievance against John J. Shiptenko by email to Adrienne D. Nash, the route Shiptenko offered on June 16 (“email it to Ms. Nash”), and that I also addressed it to Shiptenko.
  3. No screen. I allege that in the filing email I asked for “the conflict screened process for filing and deciding a grievance about a Bar official,” and that as of 2026-10-17 no email I hold from the Bar identifies one.
  4. The respondent acknowledged it. I allege that at 8:05 AM on June 18, 2026 Shiptenko answered, “Received.”
  5. A rubber stamp. I allege that on June 30, 2026, at 4:23 PM, the Bar dismissed the grievance in a one paragraph letter signed by Jeffrey W. DeLoach that ended, “As a result, this grievance is dismissed.”
  6. Copied to the subject. I allege that the email carrying that dismissal was copied to John Shiptenko.
  7. A pattern that afternoon. I allege that the Bar emailed me six decision letters between 4:23 PM and 4:35 PM on June 30, 2026, and that each of the six was copied to the lawyer it concerned.
  8. It appears to me that, from filing to dismissal, the person a grievance was about stood at every step of it.

What It Did to Me:

I asked the Bar one plain thing on June 17: “Tell me how the Bar handles a complaint about its own.” The answer was a no reply email, copied to the lawyer I complained about.

Is this how they would treat their own family or friends that were disabled?

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