The largest and oldest nationwide group advocating for the rights of blind people was sued Friday for allegedly failing to protect its students, including minors, from known sexual abusers employed by the organization in a culture the lawsuit claims enabled the abuse to continue for years.
The lawsuit against the National Federation of the Blind was filed by attorneys representing Alyssa Mendez, 20, who is legally blind and says she was repeatedly sexually assaulted when she was 16 by her instructor, Michael Ausbun, while attending a training program in 2018 at an NFB-affiliated center in Louisiana.
Ausbun was 22 years old at the time he is accused of first sexually assaulting Mendez. Ausbun denies the allegations, his lawyer told CNN.
The NFB, founded in 1940 and headquartered in Baltimore, consists of affiliates, chapters and divisions in all 50 states and coordinates “programs, services, and resources to defend the rights of blind Americans,” according to its website.
The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, is seeking damages from the NFB on four counts, including battery; negligence; negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention; and violation of requirements to report suspected abuse of a child under Maryland law.
In the lawsuit, Mendez said her mother told the NFB’s leadership about Ausbun sexually assaulting her daughter, but even afterward, the lawsuit alleges, the NFB “still failed to exact any punishment.”
The NFB has “long known that sexual predators worked within its organizations to take advantage of the blind,” the lawsuit claims. There had been three complaints about Ausbun before the NFB launched the investigation, the lawsuit contends.
The NFB declined to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit due to the pending litigation, Chris Danielsen, director of public relations, told CNN in a phone call Friday.
In December 2020, after Mendez and others shared their alleged stories of abuse publicly, the NFB’s president acknowledged “some” people had been “abused or violated” by an NFB member, “and/or made to feel like no one else was listening.”
After looking into the allegations against Ausbun, the organization suspended him in 2020 with the possibility of returning as a member after five years, the lawsuit says.
In June 2021, Ausbun was arrested for allegedly molesting a minor – Mendez – and was then indicted after Mendez testified before a grand jury in Ruston, Louisiana, according to her attorneys.
Eric Johnson, a lawyer representing Ausbun, said in a statement to CNN his client denies the allegations. Ausbun formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charges against him.
“Since the case is pending, Mr. Ausbun maintains his complete innocence of any and all allegations or charges made by the alleged victim,” Johnson told CNN in a phone call Friday, speaking about the allegations in the lawsuit against his client.
Lack of urgency, initially, lawsuit claims
After the NFB suspended Ausbun, Mendez said she was frustrated with what she perceived to be his light punishment, according to the lawsuit. Mendez decided in December 2020 to give a public account on social media detailing the sexual assault she says she suffered at the hands of Ausbun, which she says then prompted several others in the blind community to share similar experiences of misconduct while involved in NFB programs.
As more alleged victims came forward, NFB President Mark Riccobono released an “open letter of apology” for what he described as the organization’s failure “if a survivor was left feeling the situation went unaddressed.”
Hundreds of victims, survivors and witnesses of sexual misconduct in NFB programs, and their allies and supporters, signed an open letter demanding the organization take action to “reduce and eliminate the widespread instances” of abuse within NFB agencies. The open letter was published on the same day as Riccobono’s public apology letter, according to Mendez’s lawyers.
