A note to public servants.

Thank you for taking the time to look. The person holding this sign is engaged in a quiet act of civic education.

01I am standing in front of the Historic Chester County Courthouse — a place long used for public speeches, demonstrations, and civic gatherings — and I am taking care not to block anyone’s way.

02I bear no ill will toward anyone, and I have no intent other than to share the record.

03I have chosen to remain silent while I stand here. Please do not take my silence as disrespect; it is simply my choice to let the sign speak.

04I welcome questions in writing, and I will answer them in writing: CulturalContrarian@protonmail.com.

05I live with a disability that affects spoken communication, and I communicate most reliably in writing. If I am asked to move, I will ask — as a reasonable accommodation for effective communication¹ — that the request and its reason be put in writing, and I will make a record of it.

About the record

The archive this sign points to is a records-based account of one citizen’s engagement with public institutions since 2022. It relies on court dockets, public-records productions, and correspondence. People appear by the roles they held, not as targets. Nothing in it asks you to accept a characterization of anyone’s conduct or motives.

If your role appears in the record You are invited to review it, and to say so in writing if anything is inaccurate. Correction matters more than the error. Everyone — including the person who built this archive — is more than their worst documented moment.

What is this? · The Registry

1 Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act provides that no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity. 42 U.S.C. § 12132.

Its regulation on communication requires that a public entity shall take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with applicants, participants, members of the public, and companions with disabilities are as effective as communications with others, 28 C.F.R. § 35.160(a)(1), and that, in determining what aids or services are necessary, a public entity shall give primary consideration to the requests of individuals with disabilities. 28 C.F.R. § 35.160(b)(2).

A request that an instruction and its reason be put in writing is offered in that spirit: as a request for effective communication, not as a condition or a refusal. ↩

Truth must remain examinable. That is all this sign asks.

Administrative Literacy Series · CulturalContrarianPMA.org