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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Common Law Of Disability Discrimination, Mark C. Weber
The Common Law Of Disability Discrimination, Mark C. Weber
Mark C. Weber
In many cases alleging race and sex discrimination, plaintiffs append common law claims to cases asserting federal or state statutory causes of action. In other race and sex cases, plaintiffs put forward these common law claims without making any federal or state statutory claims. Less frequent, and much less frequently discussed by scholars, are common law claims for conduct constituting disability discrimination. Nevertheless, there are sound theoretical and practical reasons to develop a common law of disability discrimination. On the theoretical side of the discussion, federal statutory disability discrimination claims are not exclusive, and the common law can both draw …
Disability Rights, Welfare Law, Mark C. Weber
Disability Rights, Welfare Law, Mark C. Weber
Mark C. Weber
This article asks how disability rights ideas can be reconciled with—and might transform—the law of public assistance. The social model of disability forms the basis of most disability rights thinking. This model recognizes that impairments do not by themselves disable, but disability instead arises from a dynamic between a person’s physical and mental conditions and society’s environmental and attitudinal barriers: Paraplegia does not cause disability but for stairs, curbs, and human attitudes that limit accessibility. The social model focuses on changing the environment; its close corollary, the civil rights approach to disability, looks to anti-discrimination law to remove limits on …