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ATLANTA - After years of surgeries to repair detached retinas, Daffanie Todd became totally blind in June 2013. She told FOX 5's Portia Bruner she cannot safely walk her three children back and forth to school because she cannot get home safely on her own.
“It's been hard on me as a single mother,” she told Federal Judge William Duffy Thursday during her first court hearing.
Last week, Atlanta Legal Aid filed suit on behalf of the Todd family. Her attorneys are asking a judge to intervene and force Atlanta Public Schools to change a bus route to include her home off Hogan Road as a bus stop. Her children have already missed nine weeks of school.
APS officials say they have offered alternatives (escorts, special training to learn how to walk with a cane, etc.), but insist her disability doesn't extend to her children, and therefore; does not require APS to pick up her children. Her attorneys insist this is a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I am not asking for sympathy. I just need a little help so my children can get to school and grow up to be something. I hate that they've missed 9 weeks already,” said Todd.
Judge William Duffy did not issue a ruling in the case, but said he would carefully review the ADA guidelines before he rules on the matter. He tersely advised APS attorneys to come to a quick resolution in the matter.
“Stop acting like attorneys and just use some common sense,” he said. “I believe you are entitled to help," the judge told Todd Thursday. “The issue is where that help should come from.”