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I'm asking this question in hopes that it'll help other blind people in the future, not just me, so I hope that this question is on topic.

I, being blind, have frequently been faced by denials from property managers in helping me complete inaccessible and hardcopy applications that require handwritten responses. Given that I am not the only blind person facing this issue in the United States, I joined a couple of disability support groups to help with this problem.

One person said that it's often a liability for someone who is working for the company to help prospective tenants in filling out paperwork. I figured that anyone who is onboarded to becoming a property manager must be given strict instructions to not help anyone with the application, no matter what, but because blind people are such a minority, they're not often given additional training on how to deal with that situation, other than requesting that said blind person have a friend, family member, or caregiver help them out. But what if they don't have anyone available to help them? What if they're already a tenant and they need to fill out a maintenance work order, and they have no one who's available to help them?

Another person in the group told me that there is an authorisation to assist form that can be used, but it only appears to be available in Colorado, so I don't know if this law varies by state.

Well, that person came back to us in the group and said that evidently that form wasn't enough, for the property manager now required them to file a reasonable accommodation that had to be both medically and legally approved before they could continue helping them fill out paperwork on their behalf.

I worry that as a blind person, that we have to face so many obstacles that makes the whole process unfair. Now, I'm fortunate that I have LegalShield, and that I've gotten assistance from an attorney to demand that my manager make a reasonable accommodation by providing me with a qualified reader/writer, but I know not every blind person can afford legal services, or the services that are provided pro-bono are often of such poor quality that it seems pointless to fight back other than by filing a DOJ or HUD complaint.

Anyhow, feel free to edit this question if y'all feel that it could potentially benefit other blind individuals.

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  • "don't know if this law varies by state." Despite the harmonizing effects of the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal Fair Housing Laws, there is almost always going to be significant variation from state to state, in anything related to real estate or to the scope of what constitutes the practice of law (which is part of the issue).
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Apr 30 at 20:59
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    Why would it be the property manager's responsibility to provide this assistance? Do these forms have any specific relationship to their role? Do they assist other people with these forms, and they're discriminating against the blind people?
    – Barmar
    Commented Apr 30 at 21:32
  • E.g. if you're buying a condo, I wouldn't expect the property manager to be involved in filling out the mortgage paperwork, even if you're blind.
    – Barmar
    Commented Apr 30 at 21:34
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    Ultimately, if you end up in court with your landlord/property manager/property owner, the dispute is going to center in some way on paperwork you filled out. The rental agreement says this/doesn't say this. At the move-in inspection you acknowledged this/didn't acknowledge this. Your work orders were filed on time/late and the response to them was delayed/timely. Given that clear conflict of interest, if they or their agent fill out forms for you, anyone looking at it later has good reason to think they were cheating.
    – Cadence
    Commented May 1 at 6:48
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    This is a reason for online or at least PDF-fillable forms. It's better for accessibility as people can use screen readers, zoom, etc. Often these forms are standardized by the state real estate board, so they just need to know where to find it. The problem then becomes people who don't know how to use computers.
    – user71659
    Commented May 3 at 17:07

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