Disability Law Commons^™

Mitigation And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Jill Elaine Hasday

Michigan Law Review

It is an open question whether the prohibition on employment discrimination in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects plaintiffs who have not attempted to mitigate the effect of their disability on their ability to work. Suppose, for example, that a job applicant has severely impaired vision because of a corneal disease. He can have corneal transplant surgery that his doctors recommend and expect will allow him to see much more clearly, but he does not want to have the surgery because of the complications sometimes associated with the operation and the possibility that the surgery will not work. He …

Three Steps And You're Out: The Misuse Of The Sequential Evaluation Process In Child Ssi Disability Determinations, Frank S. Bloch

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash benefits to financially needy persons who are 65 years of age or older, blind, or disabled. It also provides cash benefits to children with disabilities under the age of 18. This Article examines three sets of regulatory efforts to implement special disability standards for children, based first on the original SSI legislation, then on a seminal Supreme Court decision, and finally on amendments to the Social Security Act overruling the Court's decision, and shows how the "sequential evaluation process," which has been useful for adjudicating adult disability claims, has been a …

Crazy (Mental Illness Under The Ada), Jane Byeff Korn

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines how people with mental disabilities and mental illnesses have been treated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part I addresses the history of mental illness. It argues that while beliefs about the causes and content of mental illness have vacillated over time, the mentally ill have received consistently poor treatment throughout human history. Part II addresses present problems with the definition of mental illness, including how mental illness and mental disability are defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Part III discusses the problems faced by people with mental illness today. The author argues the current state …

Safe, But Not Sound: Limiting Safe Harbor Immunity For Health And Disability Insurers And Self-Insured Employers Under The Americans With Disabilities Act, Rachel Schneller Ziegler

Michigan Law Review

When Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") on July 26, 1990, supporters heralded the Act as a full-scale victory for the 43 million disabled Americans. The Act's protections went far beyond those of its predecessor, the Rehabilitation Act of 1974, which only prohibited discrimination against individuals with disabilities by entities receiving federal funding. The new act was intended to prevent discrimination by private and public employers, public services, and public accommodations. In a bill signing ceremony at the White House, in front of more than two thousand advocates for the disabled, then President George Bush likened the ADA …

Envisioning A Future For Age And Disability Discrimination Claims, Alison Barnes

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article considers the reasons for reinterpretations of age and disability and examines the fundamental reasons for changes in the implementation of both the ADA and ADEA. Part I presents the basic structure and relevant requirements of the two statutes and comments on the reasons their legislative purposes are not often seen as overlapping. Part II discusses the recent Supreme Court decisions that have undermined the purposes and implementation of both the ADA and ADEA and chilled causes of action based on the ADA and ADEA. Part III projects the current problems with anti-discrimination causes into the future, when older …

The Imperial Sovereign: Sovereign Immunity & The Ada, Judith Olans Brown, Wendy E. Parmet

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Professors Brown and Parmet examine the impact of the Supreme Court's resurrection of state sovereign immunity on the rights of individuals protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act in light of the recent decision, Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett. Placing Garrett within the context of the Rehnquist Court's evolving reallocation of state and federal authority, they argue that the Court has relied upon a mythic and dangerous notion of sovereignty that is foreign to the Framers' understanding. Brown and Parmet go on to show that, by determining that federalism compels constraining congressional power to …

"What's Good Is Bad, What's Bad Is Good, You'll Find Out When You Reach The Top, You're On The Bottom": Are The Americans With Disabilities Act (And Olmstead V. L. C.) Anything More Than "Idiot Wind?", Michael L. Perlin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Mental disability law is contaminated by "sanism, " an irrational prejudice similar to such other irrational prejudices as racism and sexism. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-a statute that focused specifically on questions of stereotyping and stigma-appeared at first to offer an opportunity to deal frontally with sanist attitudes and, optimally, to restructure the way that citizens with mental disabilities were dealt with by the remainder of society. However, in its first decade, the ADA did not prove to be a panacea for such persons. The Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. - ruling that …

Preface, Journal Of Law Reform

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A preface to a University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform symposium entitled The Americans With Disabilities Act: Directions for Reform.

Constitutional Doctrine As Paring Tool: The Struggle For "Relevant" Evidence In University Of Alabama V. Garrett, Pamela Brandwein

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the difficulties involved in translating the social model of disability into the idiom of constitutional law. The immediate focus is University of Alabama v. Garrett. Both parts of this Article consider how disability rights claims collide with a discourse of legitimacy in constitutional law. Part I focuses on the arguments presented in several major Briefs filed in support of Garrett. Constitutional doctrines are conceived as paring tools and it is shown how the Court used these doctrines to easily pare down the body of evidence Garrett's lawyers sought to claim as relevant in justifying the ADA …

Disability, Equal Protection, And The Supreme Court: Standing At The Crossroads Of Progressive And Retrogressive Logic In Constitutional Classification, Anita Silvers, Michael Ashley Stein

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article compares current disability jurisprudence with the development of sex equality jurisprudence in the area of discrimination. It demonstrates that current disability law resembles the abandoned, sexist framework for determining sex equality and argues that disability equality cases should receive similar analysis as the more progressive, current sex equality standard. As such, the Article attempts to synthesize case law (14th Amendment Equal Protection jurisprudence) and statutory law (Title VII and the ADA) into a comprehensive overview of the state of current disability law viewed within the context of discrimination law in general.

Civil War Pension Attorneys And Disability Politics, Peter Blanck, Chen Song

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Professor Blanck and Dr. Song provide a detailed examination of the pension disability program established after the Civil War for Union Army Veterans. They use many original sources and perform several statistical analyses as the basis for their summary. They draw parallels between this disability program and the ADA, and they point out that current ADA plaintiffs encounter many of the same social, political and even scientific issues that Union Army veterans dealt with when applying for their disability pensions. The Article demonstrates that history can help predict the trends within, and evolution of the ADA--essentially leading to a better …

The Death Of Section 504, Ruth Colker

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the passage of the ADA had an unexpected consequence, namely the narrowing of the rights that were understood to exist under Section 504. Section 504 covered two broad areas of the law: the law of employment for individuals employed by entities receiving federal financial assistance and the law of education for students attending primary, secondary or higher education. The effect on the law of employment, which I will discuss in Part II, has been immediate and dramatic. The effect on the law of education, discussed in Part III, cannot yet be fully documented. Recent decisions, however, …

Reforming Disability Nondiscrimination Laws: A Comparative Perspective, Stanley S. Herr

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Comparing the law and policies of other countries concerning disability rights to ours can help us understand how we may strengthen those rights and heighten compliance with nondiscrimination laws. Since it took effect in 1992, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been a leading example of such comprehensive legislation on behalf of people with disabilities. Along with the United Nations Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, the ADA has inspired many countries to develop their own disability nondiscrimination laws and remedial agencies. This process must work in both directions, however, and laws and agencies from …

Reducing The Overburden: The Doris Coal Presumption And Administrative Efficiency Under The Black Lung Benefits Act, Eric R. Olson

Michigan Law Review

Coal dust build-up prevents many coal miners' lungs from functioning properly. This condition, commonly referred to as black lung or pneumoconiosis, can make common activities nearly impossible. The Black Lung Benefits Act covers the cost of medical treatment for many affected miners, though procedural impediments often prevent miners from receiving care. The miner's current or former employer, when identifiable, must pay for medical care relating to the miner's black lung. Most disputes over miners' claims for medical care arise when the miner has a history of cigarette smoking and the need for medical care could arise from either coal dust …

Deference And Disability Discrimination, Rebecca Hanner White

Michigan Law Review

For thirty-five years, the civil rights community has paid scant attention to administrative law principles. Those interested in advancing on-the-job equality for this country's working men and women (or in preserving employer autonomy vis-a-vis federal encroachment) have all but ignored what many consider the arcane technicalities of administrative law. This state of affairs is strange when one considers that administration and enforcement of each of our major federal laws outlawing employment discrimination have been confided to an administrative agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). The EEOC, however, has historically been given short shrift by litigants and by the judiciary. …

Winning The Battle, Losing The War?: Judicial Scrutiny Of Prisoners' Statutory Claims Under The Americans With Disabilities Act, Christopher J. Burke

Michigan Law Review

When he was convicted in 1994 of drunken driving, escape, and resisting arrest, Ronald Yeskey was sentenced to serve 18 to 36 months in a Pennsylvania prison. In addition, the judge recommended that Yeskey be sent to a motivational boot camp operated by the state. Upon successful completion of the boot camp program, Yeskey's sentence would then be reduced to six months. Although he eagerly wanted to participate, the prison refused him entrance into the boot camp program because of his history of hypertension, and also denied him admission into an alternative program for the disabled. As a result, he …

Which Queue?, Robert J. Sternberg, Elena L. Grigorenko

Michigan Law Review

It is annoying when one is in a long line - at a ticket counter, at a supermarket, at a bank - and someone "jumps the queue," taking a position in line ahead of other people who lined up first. The title of Mark Kelman and Gillian Lester's book, Jumping the Queue, gives the reader advance warning of the authors' position on people who edge ahead in line. But the topic of their book is not ticket, supermarket, or bank lines, but rather the line to enjoy the benefits of society. And the focus of the analysis of queue-jumpers is …

Is Hiv "Extraordinary"?, Jordan B. Hansell

Michigan Law Review

The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (the "Act") attempts to reduce inconsistencies in the sentences of defendants convicted of comparable crimes. The Act created a Sentencing Commission (the "Commission") and authorized it to promulgate a set of sentencing guidelines to steer judicial decisionmaking. To fulfill this mandate, the Commission drafted the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (the "Guidelines"), which Congress enacted in 1987. Although Congress wanted to eliminate sentencing disparities, it also wanted to allow some degree of individualized sentencing. To achieve the correct balance, the Commission created three categories of characteristics: those a court must consider in sentencing each defendant; those …

Evaluating Purely Reproductive Disorders Under The Americans With Disabilities Act, Todd Lebowitz

Michigan Law Review

Approximately 2.8 million American couples suffer from infertility, a condition generally defined by the medical community as the failure to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse. During the past thirty years, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for treating infertility have improved drastically, enabling many previously infertile couples to bear children. These techniques, however, involve considerable expense and inconvenience, frequently requiring patients to take time off from work. Disputes with employers may follow, sometimes resulting in the infertile employee's termination. Some terminated employees, claiming that infertility constitutes a disability, then sue their former employers under the Americans with Disabilities Act of …

The Impact Of The Americans With Disabilities Act On State Bar Examiner's Inquiries Into The Psychological History Of Bar Applicants, Carol J. Banta

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the use of any questions based upon an applicant's psychological history in the state bar application process violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part I demonstrates that Title II of the ADA applies to state boards of bar examiners, and that the ADA definition of a person with a disability includes a person who has sought or received psychological counseling. Part II applies the ADA and accompanying regulations to the psychological history inquiries currently used by state bar examiners and argues that such inquiries violate the ADA because they inquire specifically about disabled status. Part III …

No Pity: People With Disabilities Forging A New Civil Rights Movements, Cheryl A. Leighty

Michigan Law Review

A Review of No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement by Joseph P. Shapiro

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: A Parent's Perspective And Proposal For Change, Martin A. Kotler

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

For two years, beginning in the fall of 1991, I was involved in an ongoing legal battle with the Delaware County, Pennsylvania Intermediate Unit No. 25 regarding the "appropriateness" of preschool programming for my son. To a large degree, the following Article has its origin in that battle.

Nevertheless, the point of this Article is neither to get even for wrongs, real or imagined, nor to utilize these pages to supplement the already extensive briefs and formal arguments made in that case. Rather, I believe that my position as a law professor, lawyer, litigant, and parent of a disabled child …

Defining "Disability": The Approach To Follow, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

The definition of "disability" has once again become a central issue in workers' compensation law. I am partly responsible. A decade ago I served as the Governor's Special Counselor on Workers' Compensation. In my Reportto the Cabinet Council on Jobs and Economic Development, I stated: "If I could write on a clean slate, I would prefer to see the Michigan definition brought even closer into the mainstream of American law by declaring that 'disability' means a 'limitation of an employee's wage earning capacity in work suitable to his or her qualifications and training resulting from a personal injury or work …

Family Support Of The Disabled: A Legislative Proposal To Create Incentives To Support Disabled Family Members, Judith G. Mcmullen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Several authorities in the field of estate planning have examined in great detail the options currently available to the parents of disabled children. The options are limited. Ideally, laws should address the concerns of the families of disabled children while providing those families with the incentive to help bear the financial costs of providing for their children. New legislation is needed to achieve this dual objective. This legislation must establish a method by which parents can improve meaningfully the quality of a surviving disabled child's life without substantially increasing the social cost of supporting that disabled child. This Article proposes …

Aids And Government: A Plan Of Action?, Taunya Lovell Banks

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Report of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic by Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office

A Response To "Two Puzzles", Carl E. Schneider

Book Chapters

In his stimulating paper, Professor Mnookin suggests that the legal issue of neonatal euthanasia may be seen in terms of two puzzles: First, what accounts for the ''striking dichotomy between the law on the books, which apparently outlaws such conduct, and the law in action, which apparently permits it"? Second, why has "the treatment of severely handicapped newborns . . . evoked such a violent storm in the last few years"? Professor Mnookin resolves the first puzzle by suggesting that the ''dichotomy between the law on the books and the law in action may serve as a pragmatic, although not …

Improving Handicappers' Civil Rights In Michigan--Preventing Discrimination Through Accommodation, Aldebaran Bouse Enloe

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Note explains the development of· the current state of handicappers' civil rights law in Michigan, beginning with legislative initiatives and progressing to administrative and judicial decisions. Part II analyzes traditional antidiscrimination theory and suggests how that theory can be adapted to handicappers. By examining hypothetical situations, Part III exposes the disparity between the current state of the law in Michigan and the proposed theoretical analysis and suggests amendments to the MHCRA to reconcile this disparity.

Selective Nontreatment Of Handicapped Newborns, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns by Robert Weir

Employee Selection Base On Susceptibility To Occupational Illness, Mark A. Rothstein

Michigan Law Review

This Article attempts to compile the latest information available concerning this difficult problem. Part I reviews the scientific literature, explaining the biological basis of increased risk of occupational disease. Part II explores the efforts of various employers to incorporate this research into their personnel practices. Part III surveys the legal response to these practices. Employees may challenge medical screening on a variety of theories, most of which were not designed to deal with the problem of susceptibility to occupational disease. Not surprisingly, none of the approaches offers an entirely satisfactory response to the problem. This Article offers no clear answers. …

Employment Problems Of The Handicapped: Would Title Vii Remedies Be Appropriate And Effective?, Cornelius J. Peck

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the employment problems of the handicapped are not well-suited for treatment under a statutory discrimination model. Underlying this argument is the belief that the concept of discrimination is not adaptable to the problems of the handicapped, and efforts to apply it will only worsen existing problems. Part I begins by defining the meaning of discrimination, and then explores the similarities and differences between discrimination against the handicapped, and discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and national origin. The purpose of this discussion is to provide a basic framework for understanding claims that the handicapped should be …