Standing up to the Adirondack Mountain Club's Discrimination Against the Developmentally Disabled

Covid as a cover for discrimination???

Dustin Sweeney and I have become pretty good hikers over the years. In 2020, we were shut out of the State of Maine due to Covid restrictions. At the time, it was reasonable as 2020 was full of confusion. As a result, we made our first trip to Lake Placid, NY, and we loved the town of Lake Placid and the Adirondack Mountains. People were surprisingly calm in Lake Placid about Covid as they viewed it as more of a “city problem”, at least in 2020:

The Adirondack Mountain Club is one of the advocacy groups up there, and in February 2023, I decided to take Dustin Sweeney to one of their “Skills Workshops”. In February 2023, they still had a vaccination requirement and I requested an accommodation for Dustin because of his history with vaccines.

I went through a few layers of people, and I finally got a very nasty response from Michael Barrett, the Executive Director:

Michael Barrett - Executive Director of AMC

Katie Sweeney has been a pioneer for the Developmentally Disabled on Broadway for years. I can understand some of those Broadway issues as you are talking about small theaters with lots of people. The AMC’s decision made no sense, especially in 2023. We are literally talking about some the most rural areas in NY State. The hiking community seems accommodating, but this was anything but accommodating.

On March 17, 2023, I filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Today is May 24, 2023, and I checked the website of Adirondack Mountain Club and there is no mention of any vaccine requirements. In fact, there is no mention of Covid, anywhere on AMC’s website? Here is the former linked Covid page:

I will double check my spam folder for the apology letter from Michael Barrett to Dustin Sweeney. Moral of the story, stand up to bullies, especially when they are bullying the Developmentally Disabled.

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Here is a copy of the complaint:

New York State Division of Human Rights Complaint Form

Individual filing the complaint

Please provide the information requested below. First Name

W

Middle Intial

Last Name

Sweeney

Street Address

1619 Third Avenue, 21K

City

New York

State

NY

Zip

10128

Are you completing this form for someone else?

Yes

Please provide the name of that person: First Name

Dustin

Last Name

Sweeney

Your relationship to this person:

Parent/Guardian

What is their date of birth?

09/20/1997

Your complaint

Jurisdiction

Place of Public Accommodation

Public Accommodations

Acts of alleged discrimination:

Denied reasonable accommodation for disability

Basis

Basis of alleged discrimination in a place of public accommodation:
Disability (a physical or mental condition; includes denial of reasonable accommodation)

Please specify disability:

Autism

You are filing a complaint against

Entity that discriminated against you:

Name of entity

Adirondack Mountain Club

Street Address

1002 Adirondack Loj Rd

City

Lake Placid

State

NY

Zip

12804

In what county or borough did the violation take place?

Essex

Phone Number

5733556030

Email address

Michael@adk.org

Fax Number

Company Website

www.adk.org

Please provide the name, last name, and title of individual people who discriminated against you.

Michael Barrett
ADK, Executive Director

Please provide the email addresses of individual people who discriminated against you.

Michael@adk.org

Date of the most recent act of alleged discrimination

03/01/2023

Description of discrimination

Tell us more about each act of discrimination that you experienced. Please include dates, names of people involved, and other details. You must explain why you think these acts were discriminatory and how these acts are connected to the protected class (race, color, sex, disability, etc.) you selected previously.

I wanted to attend their "Wilderness First Aid" course with my 25 year old son with Autism, Dustin Sweeney. Dustin Sweeney is vaccine injured and I pointed 3-4 of their staff to my son and my family background on his vaccine injury:

https://outsidein51.substack.com/p/pro-vaccine-safety-in-2023-where

"As soon as Covid hit, the subject of vaccines came up resurrecting our concerns, particularly when it came to Dustin. There was no way we were going to introduce anything into Dusty's body that would illicit an immune response when his body is perpetually in a hyper state of inflammation. And we were wary at the 'warp speed' that this new vaccine modality to combat SARS-CoV-2 was developed and introduced."

ADK's vaccine policy is dated from October 1, 2022, and this is ancient in the Covid policies being implemented in many/most NYC and NY State Not for Profits. Here is the current link on their website - https://adk.org/covid-19- guidelines/

As of March 1, 2023, it is clear that there is no longer any public health benefit as the vaccine does not prevent transmission, has limited efficacy, provides very short-lived immunity, and the original series is 'vaccinating' against a strain no longer in circulation. The risks at this point far out-weigh the benefits. The cumulative and long term affect of the spike protein produced through this experimental gene therapy is unknown and make not be known for years. COVID's IFR was minute to begin with, and has become even more so with each less virulent variant.

When I reached out to the ADK management team to ask for an accommodation, I received hostility from their Executive Director Michael Barrett. He stated, "Your response to her was quite unwelcome, added nothing, and was demonstrably petulant."

Definition of Petulant - "of a person or their manner childishly sulky or bad-tempered."

Declaration

Based on the information contained in this form, I charge the herein named respondent(s) with an unlawful discriminatory practice, in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law.

I have not filed any other civil action, nor do I have an action pending before any administrative agency, under any state or local law, based upon this same unlawful discriminatory practice. (If you have another action pending and still wish to file, please contact our office to discuss.)

Please initial:

MWS

I affirm under penalties of perjury, that I am the complainant herein; that I have read (or had read to me) the foregoing complaint and know the content thereof; that the same is true of my own knowledge except as to the matters therein stated on information and belief; and that as to those matters, I believe the same to be true.

Michael William Sweeney

Enter today's date.

03/17/2023