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 …

Beyond Abortion: Human Genetics And The New Eugenics, John R. Harding Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remissvar: Psykiatrin Och Lagen – Tvångsvård, Straffansvar Och Samhällsskydd (Sou 2012:17), Titti Mattsson, Ulrika Andersson, Sverker Jönsson, Anna Nilsson

Anna Nilsson

Psykiatrilagsutredningens betänkande behandlar grundläggande frågor om vård, tvång, och straffrättslig ansvarsförmåga. Det handlar bl.a. om vem som kan samtycka till vård och behandling, när samhället kan tillgripa tvång för att förhindra någon från att skada sig själv eller annan. Det handlar också om vem som ska anses har förmåga att bära straffrättsligt ansvar för sina handlingar och de rättsliga följderna av (o)tillräknelighet. Samtliga är angelägna frågeställningar. En negativ konsekvens av att centrala straffrättsliga frågor behandlas i relation till personer med psykiska funktionsnedsättningar är emellertid att perspektivet blir alltför snävt i ett socialrättsligt perspektiv. Det saknas principiella överväganden om huruvida och …

Assisted Suicide: A Tough Pill To Swallow, Mary Margaret Penrose

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Advice To The Next President: The Future Of "Obamacare", Wendy Parmet, Michael Dukakis

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

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 …

Mississippi May Become First U.S. State With No Abortion Clinic, Esmé Deprez, Elizabeth Waibel

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Us Judge Rules Netflix Subject To Disability Act, Hiawatha Bray

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Federal Efforts To Achieve Mental Health Parity: A Step In The Right Direction, But Discrimination Remains, Lucas Quass

Legislation and Policy Brief

Prior to the 1970s, many healthcare plans in the U.S. offered benefits without discriminating between mental health and general healthcare coverage. In the 1970s and 1980s, the cost of healthcare increased dramatically and employers eliminated or limited mental health benefits in an attempt to reduce insurance costs. To manage insurance costs, employers began using more cost sharing mechanisms and benefit caps on mental health benefits. However, these limitations were not applied equally to mental health and general health benefits and a coverage disparity was created. Today, insurers often do not provide coverage for mental health on the same terms as …

The Americans With Disabilities Act: Should The Amendments To The Act Help Individuals With Mental Illness?, Abigail J. Schopick

Legislation and Policy Brief

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The ADA was intended to eliminate discrimination against individuals with disabilities by expanding the Rehabilitation Act (Rehab Act) to cover people with disabilities in need of coverage from a non-federal employer or entity. Unfortunately, due to a number of Supreme Court cases narrowing the focus of the ADA, the individuals that were intended by Congress to have full protection under the law were no longer assured adequate coverage. In 2008, in response to the narrowing of the definition of disability and …

Lagstiftningen Om Psykiatrisk Tvångsvård Får Inte Diskriminera, Anna Nilsson, Moa Kindström Dahlin

Anna Nilsson

No abstract provided.

Who Gets To Decide? Right To Legal Capacity For Persons With Intellectual And Psychosocial Disabilities, Anna Nilsson

Anna Nilsson

The right of persons with disabilities to make choices about their lives and enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others is one of the most significant human rights issues in Europe today. Being recognised as someone who can make decisions is instrumental in taking control over one’s life and participating in society with others.

Having legal capacity enables us to choose where and with whom we want to live, to vote for the political party we prefer, to have our health care decisions respected, to control our own financial affairs and to have access to cinemas and other …

Childhood, Interrupted: Encouraging The De-Institutionalization Of Utah's State Hospital, Sara Montoya

Utah OnLaw: The Utah Law Review Online Supplement

While boasting a culture that is rich in family and community values, Utah ought to be leading the way in developing and implementing a comprehensive and efficient system of care that protects children and families by placing tools within the home and the community to strengthen these core units of Utah society. Further, with the Utah State Hospital at the end of its physical lifespan, and a crippled economy requiring more budget pinching than ever, the timing is particularly conducive to taking these crucial steps forward. With these litigation tools, an advocacy group or family might be able to successfully …

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

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.

The London Paralympis Games 'Inspire A Generation' And Spark Abortion Controversy, Emily Hardy

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Persons Affected By Traumatic Brain Injury In The Workplace; Implications For Employee Assistance Programs, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

Employee Assistance Programs often provide behavioral health services to employees. The article discusses issues related to employees affected by traumatic brain injury such as psychosocial challenges that may accompany reentry into the workplace. Strategies that employers may utilize to accommodate such challenges are presented. Implications for practitioners are explored within the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act, disability management, and human resources.

Health Care For The Autistic Child In The U.S.: The Case For Federal Legislative Reform For Aba Therapy, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 169 (2012), Laura Hoffman

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Confine Is Fine: Have The Non-Dangerous Mentally Ill Lost Their Right To Liberty? An Empirical Study To Unravel The Psychiatrist’S Crystal Ball, Donald H. Stone

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article will examine the reverse trend in civil commitment laws in the wake of recent tragedies and discuss the effect of broader civil commitment standards on the care and treatment of the mentally ill. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, and the 2012 Aurora movie theatre shooting have spurred fierce debates about the dangerousness of mentally ill and serve as cautionary tale about what happens when warning signs go unnoticed and opportunities for early intervention missed. This piece will explore the misconception about the role medication and inpatient civil commitments should play in prevention …

The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities: Beginning To Examine The Implications For Canadian Lawyers' Professional Responsiblities, H Archibald Kaiser

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereafter the CRPD or the Convention) should herald a new epoch in the way persons with disabilities are treated throughout the world community. The entire panoply of ramifications of this Convention, the purpose of which is “to promote, protect and ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity”, (Article 1) is as yet unascertainable. However, States Parties must “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination by any person, organization or private enterprise” (Article …

Pregnancy As 'Disability' And The Amended Americans With Disabilities Act, Jeannette Cox

School of Law Faculty Publications

The recent expansion of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) protected class invites reexamination of the assumption that pregnant workers may not use the ADA to obtain workplace accommodations. The ADA’s scope now includes persons with minor temporary physical limitations comparable to pregnancy’s physical effects. Accordingly, the primary remaining justification for concluding that pregnant workers may not obtain ADA accommodations is that pregnancy is a physically healthy condition rather than a physiological defect. Drawing on the social model of disability, this Article challenges the assumption that medical diagnosis of “defect” must be a prerequisite to disability accommodation eligibility. The social …