Disability Law Commons^™

Moving Towards Autonomy And Equality: An Analysis Of The New Mental Health Care Bill 2012, Dharmendra Chatur, Jayna Kothari

Dharmendra Chatur

The new Mental Health Care Bill 2012 marks a complete shift from the existing Mental Health Act 1987 from viewing persons with mental disabilities as persons requiring institutionalisation, to persons with autonomy, equal recognition of their rights and full legal capacity. This shift has been in view of India’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006 (“UNCRPD”). In this paper, we analyse the provisions of the Bill specifically in the context of the changes in mental health care law that it proposes, keeping in mind the rights to autonomy and equality of persons with …

Bridging The Barriers: Public Health Strategies For Expanding Drug Treatment In Communities, Ellen M. Weber

Ellen M. Weber

States around the country have begun to adopt programs to divert drug offenders from jails and prisons to community-based drug treatment services. For this strategy to succeed, local officials will need to expand the availability of outpatient and residential treatment programs and address the barriers to siting treatment services, the most significant of which are community opposition and government zoning policies that facilitate community resistance. Civil rights laws, including the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA), prohibit zoning discrimination against persons with histories of alcoholism and drug dependence and provide a solid legal foundation for …

Preface, Paul A. Lombardo

Paul A. Lombardo

Introduction to a volume chronicling the 20th Century North Carolina eugenic sterilization program and the investigative journalism that prompted the state to apologize for it

Disabled Students' Rights Of Access To Charter Schools Under The Idea, Section 504 And The Ada, Robert A. Garda Jr.

Robert A. Garda

Charter schools are under increasing attack for denying admission to disabled students. But traditional schools also turn away disabled students, often preventing them from attending schools in their neighborhood or within their district. This Article discusses when a school is permitted under federal disability law to deny admission to a disabled student. After nearly four decades of special education jurisprudence and regulatory guidance, the circumstances under which a student with a disability may be denied admission to a particular school are still remarkably unclear. This Article first discusses the "zero-reject" principle underlying the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and concludes …

Aging In The United States: Rethinking Justice, Equality, And Identity Across The Lifespan, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

Our current aging policies and procedures raise profound questions of individual liberty, autonomy, and equality. Guardianship regimes require the state to balance the interests of vulnerable adults with their right to self-determination. The proliferation of age-specific laws designed to protect elders may actually compromise the civil rights of older individuals by denying their autonomy based solely on their age. The regulation of intimacy in long-term care settings infringes on a core liberty interest essential to human dignity. This essay introduces a new body of work that specifically addresses the civil rights aspects of aging. In many ways, aging represents the …

Equal Rights For Disabled People In Employment Law – A Critical Assessment (Hebrew), Sagit Mor

Sagit Mor

This article presents a pioneering research project, which seeks to explore whether and to what extent the Equal Rights for People with Disability Law, 1998, had an impact on courts' rulings on matters related to disability employment discrimination. In particular, it seeks to examine (1) whether a consistent and instructive legal doctrine has evolved, one that reflects the principles that guided the framers of the legislation, and (2) whether the legal discourse on disability has changed. The article presents the emerging theory of disability legal studies and its unique and original contribution to legal scholarship. Disability legal studies seeks to …

Quality Of Healthcare And The Role Of Relationships: Bridging The Medico-Legal Divide, Sagit Mor, Orna Rabinovich-Einy

Sagit Mor

This article focuses on an often overlooked barrier to efforts to enhance the quality of health care: the relationship crisis that currently exists between physicians and patients. This state of affairs has resulted from the divide between the medical and legal worlds. The medical arena has understandably tended to view the doctor-patient relationship as a purely medical issue, ignoring the law’s impact in generating and sustaining problematic relationship patterns. The legal world has yet to fully recognize this state of affairs, and the law’s role in its evolution and persistence. We offer a relational approach to healthcare law as a …

Arctic Justice: Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This article recommends enhanced governance of persistent organic pollutants through incentives to develop environmentally sound, climate friendly technologies as well as caution in developing the Arctic. It highlights the toxicity challenges presented by POPs to Arctic people and ecosystems.

Polar Law And Good Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This chapter will assess the Antarctic Treaty System, ask what polar lessons can be learned regarding common pool resources, and analyze law of the sea and related measures. It will consider such substantive areas as Arctic and Antarctic natural resource management and procedural opportunities as inclusive governance structures. Enhancing good governance can occur through trust building forums that bring together stakeholders, share information, and make environmentally sound decisions regarding sustainable development.

Canines On Campus: Companion Animals At Postsecondary Educational Institutions, Rebecca J. Huss

Rebecca J. Huss

This Article focuses on the issues that arise when students wish to attend a postsecondary institution accompanied by an animal. The Article begins by analyzing the federal law applicable to students bringing service and assistance animals to campus. The use of animal-assisted activities on campus is also explored. The Article continues with an examination of policies allowing students to have companion animals in campus housing. Concerns raised by administrators about allowing animals on campus are then considered. Finally, the Article sets forth the measures an educational institution should implement to ensure compliance with the law and proposes actions that can …

Common-Law Interpretation Of Appropriate Education: The Road Not Taken In Rowley, Mark C. Weber

Mark C. Weber

Thirty years old in 2012, Board of Education v. Rowley is the case that established a some-benefit or floor-of-opportunity standard for the services public school districts must provide to children who have disabilities. But the some-benefit approach is by no means the only one the Court could have adopted. It could have endorsed the view of the lower courts that each child with a disability must be given the opportunity to achieve his or her potential commensurate with the opportunity offered other children. Or it could have adopted a standard based on achievement of the child’s full potential or the …

When Good Enough Is No Longer Good Enough: How The High Stakes Nature Of The No Child Left Behind Act Supplanted The Rowley Definition Of A Free Appropriate Public Education, Evan D. Blewett, Andrea Kayne Kaufman

Evan Blewett

This Article asks the basic question whether the good enough education standard required by the Rowley Court is still good enough in the high-stakes context of the No Child Left Behind Act. In Hendrick Hudson School District v. Rowley, the Supreme Court provided a framework to determine whether students with disabilities are provided with a "free and appropriate public education" in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"). The Rowley Court interpreted IDEA as focusing more on students with disabilities accessing some educational benefits, rather than on assessing and maximizing their educational performance.

Changing Voices In A Familiar Conversation About Rules Vs. Standards: Veterans Law At The Federal Circuit In 2011, James Ridgway

James D. Ridgway

This review of the Federal Circuit's veterans benefits case law in 2011 suggests that a familiar struggle between rules and standards lurks under the surface of some of the more familiar debates in veterans law. In particular, it suggests that the struggle between Chevron deference and Gardner’s rule of resolving ambiguity in favor of the veteran can be framed this way. It also suggests that the rules-versus-standards framing can be used to better understand the debate about what it means for the benefits system to be veteran friendly. In addition, this article addresses the changing dynamics surrounding veterans law and …

Culture Clash: Special Education In Charter Schools, Robert A. Garda Jr.

Robert A. Garda

Charter schools and special education for disabled students are based on conflicting education reforms and agency oversight principles. Charter schools operate in a culture of regulatory freedom and flexibility. They arose out of the modern era of accountability reform, in which student outcomes are the primary measure of school success and the driving engine of agency oversight. In stark contrast, special education laws were conceived in the civil rights era of education reform, which emphasized process and paid little attention to outcomes. The education of disabled students is steeped in a culture of regulatory oversight focused on rigid compliance with …

Estate Planning For Individuals With Disabilities, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons