Disability Law Commons^™

Taking Disability Public, Jasmine E. Harris

All Faculty Scholarship

Anti-discrimination laws enforce the idea that no one should be forced or encouraged to hide their race, gender, sexuality or other characteristics of their identity. So why is disability rights law the glaring exception? Other areas of anti-discrimination law have eschewed forms of enforced privacy about protected classes and, as a result, re-frame privacy norms as problematic, antigenic, and, at times, counter to structural reform goals. In contrast, disability rights law values privacy norms to preempt discrimination; in other words, if you never reveal the information, no one can discriminate against you because of that information. This Article argues that …

Using The Ada's 'Integration Mandate' To Disrupt Mass Incarceration, Robert Dinerstein

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

As a result of the disability rights movement's fight for the development of community-based services, the percentage of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and mental illness living in institutions has significantly decreased over the last few decades. However, in part because of government failure to invest properly in community-based services required for a successful transition from institutions, individuals with disabilities are now dramatically overrepresented in jails and prisons. The Americans with Disabilities Act's (ADA) "integration mandate" -- a principle strengthened by the Supreme Court's 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. decision, entitling individuals with disabilities to receive services in the …

Ending Disparities And Achieving Justice For Individuals With Mental Disabilities, Robert K. Goldman, Sheila Shea

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Section 5: Civil Rights And Liberties, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

The Democratic Life Of The Union: Toward Equal Voting Participation For Europeans With Disabilities, János Fiala-Butora, Michael Ashley Stein, Janet E. Lord

Faculty Publications

This Article puts forward preliminary legal scholarship on equal political participation by persons with disabilities and what international human rights law requires for its attainment. The goal is to provoke an informed dialogue on the neglected but fundamental human right to enfranchisement by persons with disabilities while also acknowledging that a complete and just resolution requires further information and reflection.

The Article argues that the fundamental right to vote cannot be curtailed on the basis of an alleged lack of capacity. Disenfranchisement based on individual assessment unjustly excludes a certain number of voting-capable individuals. Since all those affected are persons …

Race, Sex And Genes At Work: Uncovering The Lessons Of Norman-Bloodsaw, Elizabeth Pendo

All Faculty Scholarship

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (“GINA”) is the first federal, uniform protection against the use of genetic information in both the workplace and health insurance. Signed into law on May 21, 2008, GINA prohibits an employer or health insurer from acquiring or using an individual’s genetic information, with some exceptions. One of the goals of GINA is to eradicate actual, or perceived, discrimination based on genetic information in the workplace and in health insurance. Although the threat of genetic discrimination is often discussed in universal terms - as something that could happen to any of us - the …

Book Review Of Cause Lawyering For People With Disabilites, Michael Ashley Stein, Michael E. Waterstone, David B. Wilkins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Service Learning Project: Disability, Access And Health Care, Elizabeth Pendo

All Faculty Scholarship

Last summer, I was thinking about a public service project for my disability discrimination law course. I teach the course in fall, and try to incorporate a project each year. At the same time, I was working on a project looking at barriers to health care for people with disabilities. Some of the barriers are well known, such as lower average incomes, disproportionate poverty, and issues with insurance coverage, to name just a few. I was looking at barriers of a different type, however: those posed by physically inaccessible facilities and equipment. This was a new area for me. Like …

Restoring The Ada And Beyond: Disability In The 21st Century, Robert L. Burgdorf

Journal Articles

Perhaps it was imprudent for me to agree, in response to the request of the symposium organizers, to address the future of disability law. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Neils Bohr supposedly once said that "[p]rediction is very difficult, especially about the future."' Columnist and author Jim Bishop wrote, "The future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and worried face." 2 Prognosticating is a very tricky and uncertain undertaking. I cannot pretend to have any particular gift for crystal ball gazing in disability matters. When I joined the …

Disability And The Social Contract, Anita Silvers, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Under The Empirical Radar: An Initial Expressive Law Analysis Of The Ada, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990 - Progeny Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964, Robert Dinerstein

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

From Crippled To Disabled: The Legal Empowerment Of Americans With Disabilities, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Equal Members Of The Community": The Public Accommodations Provisions Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Robert Burgdorf

Journal Articles

Nearly three decades ago, four black students sat down at a lunch counter in a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, ordered a cup of coffee, and refused to move until they were served. I Unknown to the four young men at the time, their act of courage would help precipitate a series of sit-in protests and other forms of civil disobedience challenging racial segregation at lunch counters, restaurants, parks, hotels, motels, and other facilities. The desegregation of such places was a principal objective of civil rights protests, lawsuits, and proposals for legislative reform during the early 1960s.2 Equal opportunity …