American Council of the Blind of Metropolitan Chicago vs. City of Chicago

Scroll to case documents Date Filed: 09/23/2019 Status:

In September 2019, DRA and Proskauer Rose LLP, on behalf of the American Council of the Blind of Metropolitan Chicago and three individual plaintiffs, filed a landmark class action lawsuit against the City of Chicago. The lawsuit alleged that Chicago ignores blind pedestrians in its pedestrian planning, ignoring their safety needs and sometimes actively making it harder for them to cross streets safely and independently, all in violation of federal law. 

In particular, Chicago has neglected to install accessible pedestrian signals (APS), devices that convey street crossing information to blind pedestrians through audio and vibro-tactile means. At the time the case was filed, less than one half of one percent of Chicago’s 2,800+ signalized intersections were equipped with APS.

The federal Department of Justice joined the suit shortly after it was filed following its own investigation into the City’s policies and practices.

In March 2022, a federal judge certified a class comprising all blind or low-vision pedestrians who use the City of Chicago’s signalized pedestrian intersections. 

In April 2023 a federal court ruled that Chicago’s systemic, decades-long failure to incorporate APS at intersections constitutes discrimination toward blind and low vision pedestrians under federal disability rights laws.

In March 2025, the court issued a proposed remedial plan order and invited the parties to proposed revisions. The court entered the final remedial order in May 2025. Read the Court’s Remedial Order.

Under the Court’s order, Chicago must equip at least 71% of its signalized intersections with pedestrian signals with APS in the next 10 years. Chicago will then have another 5 years to install APS at all remaining signalized intersections, unless it can show that blind pedestrians already have meaningful access to the pedestrian grid. The Court’s order establishes benchmarks for the minimum number of APS that can be installed annually, a process for community members to request APS at specific intersections, and a requirement to prioritize APS installation at the most dangerous intersections.

The City must also establish an effective APS compliance program to ensure it installs APS correctly, repairs maintenance issues promptly, and solicits and analyzes complaints and repair requests. The Court will also appoint an Independent Monitor to oversee Chicago’s compliance.

The order also calls for the City to work with the blind community. The City must establish an APS Community Advisory Committee comprised of members from Chicago’s blind community and organizations that serve the community, and engage with a Certified Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist to provide expertise on APS installation and maintenance.

Having APS installed at these intersections means that Plaintiffs and class members who for years have resorted to taking circuitous routes to avoid particularly unsafe intersections, or who have avoided walking altogether, will have newfound security accessing a fundamental part of Chicago civic life: walking city streets.

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