Melissa's Story

Melissa Lewis is a person with both photosensitive epilepsy and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, which impacts collagen production, and that results in susceptibility to soft tissue tears and slow healing from those injuries. As a result, Melissa is not able to run or move quickly. Melissa has regularly attended the protests as a freelance journalist as part of Cascadian Photog. Melissa sells footage to ABC, Daily Beast, Willamette Weekly, and other local news media.

Like countless others, as a result of her disability and Defendants’ failures to accommodate, Melissa has been subjected to tear gas, flash bang grenades, batons, rubber bullets, pepper balls, and other unnecessary uses of force by Defendants on numerous occasions simply because her disability prevents from her from complying with orders as quickly as demanded by Defendants. Melissa has also been subjected to repeated and intentional use of strobe lights after informing the PPB that strobe lights were a trigger for her epilepsy.