Richard Wolf, an advocate for the disabled, has filed suit aagainst the city of Elkhart banning him from the city Facebook page. He's picture here on July 31, 2015, with the Lerner Theatre in the background. He has pushed form more handicapped-accessible parking around the theater. Staff photo by Tim Vandenack
ELKHART — The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has filed a lawsuit against the city of Elkhart, alleging it violated the First Amendment rights of a local advocate for disabled people by blocking him from the city's Facebook page.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in South Bend on behalf of Richard Wolf, a local advocate for people with disabilities, and alleges that the city's "censorship" of Wolf is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Court documents allege that the city blocked Wolf a year ago because of comments he made criticizing the city's lack of Americans With Disabilities Act compliance, particularly at the Lerner Theatre.
"On multiple occasions the city removed Wolf's comments because those comments were critical of the city and in 2015, without notice, he was completely blocked from posting comments," court documents say.
The city has never given Wolf a reason for being blocked from the city's Facebook page and court documents note that many other comments were not deleted that support the Lerner.
"Wolf believes the Lerner is not ADA compliant and over the years has urged the city to make various changes," court documents say.
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