How ADA Matters Builds Its Record

ADA Matters is a documentary record kept by the Disabled Dad. Every claim here stands on a dated writing, and each evidence page says what kind of record you are reading. This page explains how I handle originals, quotations, dates, sources, private details and corrections.

Start with the original

A published email, letter, public filing or dated government record is the starting point. A summary is not the original document. A typed reproduction of an email is not a screenshot of the original. Each evidence page says what kind of record you are reading and links to the accessible transcript or public filing where available.

What the badge on an evidence page means

What the label on a sentence means

A short label sits beside some sentences and rows on this site. Here is what each one means.

Labels never appear inside a reproduced email or an original document. Badges tell you what kind of document you are reading. Labels tell you whose words, or whose interpretation, a sentence presents. Not every sentence carries a label.

Keep the words as written

When I quote an official, I reproduce the official’s words, punctuation and date. I name the writer, the writer’s official role and the institution. A passage cut for privacy or length is marked as a cut, in brackets. Commentary stays outside reproductions of messages, so readers can tell who said what.

Keep the dates straight

A document has its own date. A page on this site also has a publication date and may have a later modified date. I do not treat those as interchangeable. The Timeline records dated acts. A running day count shows its as of date, and a historical number stays tied to the date on which it was recorded.

Name the source and the limits

A read receipt records what a mailbox returned. It does not establish who personally read a message or why someone did not reply. A request is different from a decision. A party’s allegation or a lawyer’s court argument is not a judge’s finding. Where a source is missing or a detail has not been verified, I say so instead of filling the gap with a guess.

Protect what does not belong in public

I name public officials when their official work is part of a dated record. I remove private contact details and personal information that is not part of that record. When a published copy leaves out protected information, the source page says it is redacted.

Explain changes and corrections

I correct factual errors and log each correction with its date. A later event can change a current status without changing what an official wrote earlier. Readers can report an error by naming the page, the sentence and the dated document that supports a correction. Read the Corrections log for every correction so far, or use the Contact page.

Read the evidence behind the story

The Five Minute Story is the guided introduction. The Receipts is the library of supporting records. The Timeline orders recorded events, and Questions Still Open keeps the written question record. Each institution page links to its detailed child pages.

What this site does not do

ADA Matters reports the institutional record. It does not speak for an institution, represent a party in litigation or offer legal advice. A document appearing here is not a legal finding. Readers can compare the documented statements and draw their own conclusions.