ADA MATTERS BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

A DISABLED DAD’S ADA MATTERS
Georgia on My Mind
STATE BAR OF GEORGIA • CITY OF BROOKHAVEN • GIRMA / GALLAGHER BASSETT

May 13, 2026: A dense single day

State Bar of Georgia · ADA Access Diary · Day 9 of 25

A dense single day. NeSmith (7:34 AM) retracted the meeting, saying it "was meant for a colleague of mine and was sent to you in error." Shiptenko (12:08 PM) confirmed an approved accommodation and a reconsideration postponement to June 15. NeSmith (12:41 PM) partially restored cc but again stripped the State ADA Coordinator; NeSmith (1:29 PM) said he had a doctor's appointment and would respond "tomorrow." The Georgia State ADA Coordinator's Office replied on the full list, treating the concerns as legitimate. I sent a detailed reply documenting the solo-email pattern.

What had to be true

For NeSmith's denial and Shiptenko's grant to coexist, two Bar officials had to be holding opposite institutional positions on the same day about the same person. For the "tomorrow" promise to matter, a self-imposed Bar deadline had to exist and then pass.

What I argued

  • The retraction proved the need for one point of contact: "The last twelve hours proved exactly why a single point of contact was the focus of my requests."
  • Documented the solo-email pattern as escalating: "One solo email can be a mistake. Two is careless. Three is a pattern. Four is a choice. Five, after five documented requests to stop, is not confusion. It is harassment."
  • Framed the rebuild cost as a prohibited surcharge: every solo email "forces me to reconstruct the distribution," and "That cost, imposed on me because of my disability and after written notice, is the surcharge prohibited by 28 C.F.R. Section 35.130(f)."
  • "Silence is not a written determination" under 28 C.F.R. Section 35.164.
  • The 15 clarification questions, the 11 institutional confirmation questions, and the preservation demand "remain operative and unanswered."

What the Bar said

NeSmith (7:34 AM): "The 11:30 time was meant for a colleague of mine and was sent to you in error… there is no meeting between you and I at 11:30." Shiptenko (12:08 PM): "The State Bar has approved your accommodation request," with Nash to "hold off on issuing a decision… until June 15, 2026." NeSmith (1:29 PM): "I won't be able to respond to your two emails until tomorrow." The Georgia State ADA Coordinator's Office replied on the full list confirming the Bar's obligations for "programs, services, and activities" and treating the matter as legitimate.

What it cost

I had reorganized my schedule for a meeting that was then declared never my. I noted the cancellation arrived during a family medical event, and that I was again forced to rebuild the stripped distribution, paying for the assistive technology that lets me do so.

The documents from this day

Read the full story on the State Bar page. See the record in the document room.

Disabled Dad