Disability Law Commons^™

Infected Judgment: Legal Responses To Physician Bias, Mary Crossley

Articles

Substantial evidence indicates that clinically irrelevant patient characteristics, including race and gender, may at times influence a physician's choice of treatment. Less clear, however, is whether a patient who is the victim of a biased medical decision has any effective legal recourse. Heedful of the difficulties of designing research to establish conclusively the role of physician bias, this article surveys published evidence suggesting the operation of physician bias in clinical decision making. The article then examines potential legal responses to biased medical judgments. A patient who is the subject of a biased decision may sue her doctor for violating his …

The Interaction Of The Ada, The Fmla, And Workers' Compensation: Why Can't We Be Friends?, S. Elizabeth Malloy

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Article addresses some of the issues that arise when an employee injured at work qualifies for leave under the ADA, the FMLA and workers' compensation statutes. Part II of the Article provides a brief overview of these
three statutory schemes, focusing on the provisions, which define employee and employer qualification and the rights and responsibilities surrounding leave due to a work-related injury. Part III examines how the courts have resolved some of the overlapping and conflicting provisions contained in these statutes. This section particularly focuses on how the courts address employer obligations under all three statutes when an employee …

Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Why Disability Law Claims Are Different, S. Elizabeth Malloy

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Described as one of the century's most significant pieces of civil rights legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990' has been widely hailed as establishing a new foundation for disability policy Senator Harkin, the primary sponsor of the law, called it "the 20th century Emancipation Proclamation for all persons with disabilities." President Bush predicted that the Act would "open up all aspects of American life to individuals with disabilities" and end the "unjustified segregation and exclusion of persons with disabilities from the mainstream of American life."

Congress enacted the ADA to ensure "equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living …

Accommodating The Learning Disabled Student On Campus, Oren R. Griffin

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

Each year nearly 19 million persons matriculate at American colleges and universities as undergraduate or graduate students. A substantial segment of these students are disabled. For disabled students matriculating through American higher education institutions, a tremendous battle is being waged as to the educational experience afforded those students with learning disabilities." Lawyers, educators and students are embroiled in a complex tug-of war that will have a lasting impact on higher education. This article examines some of the legal issues that will undoubtedly challenge those seeking to strike a balance between hard-line advocates for disabled students and educational professionals required to …

Current Issues Regarding The Americans With Disabilities Act, John-Paul Motley

Vanderbilt Law Review

President George Bush, noting that "statistics consistently demonstrate that disabled people are the poorest, least educated, and largest minority in America," signed the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") into law in 1990. The ADA prohibits private employers from discriminating against a "qualified individual with a disability" in employment decisions. The Act defines a disability in one of three ways: (1) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) a record of such an impairment; or (3) being regarded by others as having such an impairment. The ADA also prohibits employers from inquiring into …

Rights, Remembrance And The Reconciliation Of Difference, David Engel, Frank W. Munger

Articles & Chapters

Rights in American society present a paradox-critics increasingly assert that proliferation of rights is undermining Americans' sense of community, yet scholars continue to document Americans' reluctance to assert formal legal rights. We explore the meaning of rights in American society by describing the intersection between the evolving civil rights of a previously excluded minority, culminating in the, and the personal histories of two individuals who might potentially invoke or benefit from such rights. Tracing the life stories of "Sara Lane" and 'Jill Golding" from childhood through adolescence to adulthood and employment, we relate the everyday relevance or irrelevance of law …

Hospitalized Patients And The Right To Sexual Interaction: Beyond The Last Frontier, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Americans With Disabilities Act: Analysis And Implications Of A Second-Generation Civil Rights Statute, Robert L. Burgdorf Jr.

Journal Articles

Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote that our nation's civil rights laws were a "sparse and insufficient collection of statutes ... barely a naked framework."' On their faces, many federal civil rights statutes constitute little more than broad directives that "Thou shalt not discriminate." Broadly worded statements outlawing discrimination were the optimal approach to statutory draftsmanship in light of the controversial nature of the civil rights laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s. The drafters of these statutes needed to craft language that would be palatable to a majority of the members of Congress while still having a meaningful impact …