Disability Law Commons^™

Reducing Disparities Through Health Care Reform: Disability And Accessible Medical Equipment, Elizabeth Pendo

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People with disabilities face multiple barriers to adequate health care and report poorer health status than people without disabilities. Although health care institutions, offices, and programs are required to be accessible, people with disabilities are still receiving unequal and in many cases inadequate care. The 2009 report by the National Council on Disability, The Current State of Health Care for People with Disabilities, reaffirmed some of these findings, concluding that people with disabilities experience significant health disparities and barriers to health care; encounter a lack of coverage for necessary services, medications, equipment, and technologies; and are not included in the …

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

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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 …

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

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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 …

The Disabled Lawyers Have Arrived; Have They Been Welcomed With Open Arms Into The Profession? An Empirical Study Of The Disabled Lawyer, Donald H. Stone

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This Article proceeds in seven parts. Part I briefly outlines the ADA's position on reasonable accommodations. Part II addresses how law firms are reacting and responding to the fact that they employ lawyers with mood disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder, attorneys with learning disabilities, and individuals with alcohol or drug addiction. What disabilities are most often represented? Are lawyers with disabilities apt to receive work modifications to accommodate their disability? Are attorneys with mental illness provided with less stressful case assignments? Are lawyers with substance use disorders and alcohol or drug addiction assigned co-counsel to monitor or offer …

You Take My Space, I Take Your Air: An Empirical Study Of Disabled Parking And Motor Vehicle Laws For Persons With Disabilities, Donald H. Stone

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Reserved parking and specialized treatment are necessary to permit individuals with disabilities access to goods, services, and employment opportunities on an equal basis with the general public. Why are disabled drivers entitled to disabled parking spots? What is the procedure for an individual with a disability to receive special disability registration license plates? What is the role of the Medical Advisory Board in reviewing the ability of disabled drivers to get behind the wheel? What, if any, obligation or responsibility does a physician treating a disabled driver have to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles of the patient's condition or …

The Business Of Employing People With Disabilities: Four Case Studies, Alexander A. Boni-Saenz, Allen W. Heinemann, Deborah S. Crown, Linda L. Emanuel

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This exploratory study examines employer attitudes towards people with disabilities in the labor market. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with senior management, human resources staff, directors of diversity, and hiring managers at four corporations, it pinpoints reasons why businesses chose to hire people with disabilities, investigates the perceived benefits and barriers to hiring people with disabilities, and identifies strategies for successfully hiring and retaining workers with disabilities. It fills a gap in examining the attitudes and decision-making processes of U.S. companies that have been leaders in hiring people with disabilities, as well as delving into the special issues of small businesses …

The Game Of Pleasant Diversion: Can We Level The Playing Field For The Disabled Athlete And Maintain The National Pastime, In The Aftermath Of Pga Tour, Inc. V. Martin: An Empirical Study Of The Disabled Athlete, Donald H. Stone

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Kenny Walker, a deaf football player; Jim Abbott, a one-handed professional baseball player; Tom Dempsey, a physically disabled professional football kicker; Brad Doty, a paralyzed auto racer; and Nick Ackerman, a wrestler with amputated legs, have all competed at the highest level of sports. Persons with mental illness, individuals who are blind, and students with hearing impairments are seeking an opportunity to compete in fair competition with their non-disabled competitors. Can this occur in a fair, open, and just manner between competing athletes?

Does the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), the landmark civil rights act protecting an individual …

Coverage Of Reproductive Technologies Under Employer-Sponsored Health Care Plans, Elizabeth Pendo

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Proceedings of the 2004 Annual Meeting, Association of American Law Schools, Sections on Employee Benefits and Employment Discrimination. Panel includes: Professor Colleen E. Medill; Professor Helen Norton; Eve Gartner, Esq.; and Professor Elizabeth Pendo.

The Politics Of Infertility: Recognizing Coverage Exclusions As Discrimination, Elizabeth Pendo

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Infertility affects approximately ten percent of the reproductive-age population in the United States, and strikes people of every race, ethnicity and socio-economic level. It is recognized by the medical community as a disease, one with devastating physical, psychological, and financial effects.

In 1998, the Supreme Court held in Bragdon v. Abbott that reproduction is a major life activity within the meaning of the ADA. Many lawyers, activists and scholars thought that coverage for infertility treatment would follow soon after. In fact, in 2003 in the first major case applying Bragdon to health benefits, Saks v. Franklin Covey, the Second Circuit …

Substantially Limited Justice?: The Possibilities And Limits Of A New Rawlsian Analysis Of Disability-Based Discrimination, Elizabeth Pendo

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In its recent terms, the Supreme Court has increasingly turned its attention toward the Americans with Disabilities Act, and specifically the questions of who should be protected under the ADA, and what such protection requires. In the wake of the Court's decisions, workers have found it increasingly difficult to assert and protect their right to be free of disability-based discrimination in the workplace. Given the widespread influence of John Rawls in contemporary discussions of social, political and economic justice, his recent and final formulation of his theory of distributive justice presents a significant and promising philosophical foundation for evaluation of …

Giving A Voice To The Silent Mentally Ill Client: An Empirical Study Of The Role Of Counsel In The Civil Commitment Hearing, Donald H. Stone

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In the civil commitment arena, where a mentally ill person is allegedly a danger to the life or safety of themselves or of others and in need of in-patient care or treatment, there are two groups assigned to protect the people: one, the hospital presenter, who is responsible for investigating and presenting evidence and testimony at a hearing to secure admission to a psychiatric facility as an involuntary patient, the other, the lawyer, who represents and defends the allegedly mentally ill person from such involuntary civil commitment confinement. These are their stories.

The attorney representing a mentally ill client at …

Disability, Doctors And Dollars: Distinguishing The Three Faces Of Reasonable Accommodation, Elizabeth Pendo

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Despite a decade of litigation, there is no consistent understanding of the reasonable accommodation requirement of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the 'ADA'). Indeed, there are three inconsistent distributive outcomes that appear to comport with the reasonable accommodation requirement: cost-shifting, cost-sharing, and cost-avoidance.

One reason for such inconsistent outcomes is a failure to develop a coherent and consistent theory of disability. Because disability has been and continues to be medicalized, this Article takes a fresh look at the medical literature on health, illness, and disability. It recommends the use of the experiential health model over …

What Law Schools Are Doing To Accommodate Students With Learning Disabilities, Donald H. Stone

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The year 2000 marks the tenth anniversary of the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). It also marks a quarter century since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (“EAHCA”). The EAHCA opened the doors for disabled children to receive a free and appropriate education. As a result of this special education law, many disabled young people were able to succeed and are now knocking at law schools' doors seeking admission.

On July 26, 1990, Congress enacted the ADA, a landmark civil rights bill designed to open up all aspects of American life to …

The Benefits Of Voluntary Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization: Myth Or Reality?, Donald H. Stone

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Throughout the United States, mentally ill persons are confined against their will in psychiatric hospitals as a result of being accused of dangerous behavior. Some are committed involuntarily by a judge after an administrative hearing during which they are afforded legal representation, a right to be present, and important due process protections, including the right to cross-examine witnesses and present one's own witnesses. However, a significant number of individuals, initially confined in psychiatric institutions for allegedly posing a danger to life or safety, never see an impartial judge, lawyer, or even a family member. These mentally ill individuals are not …

The Impact Of The Americans With Disabilities Act On Legal Education And Academic Modifications For Disabled Law Students: An Empirical Study, Donald H. Stone

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Law schools face the challenge of providing disabled students with reasonable accommodations in their academic setting in a fair and equitable manner. Disabled law students continue to demand academic modifications in course examinations by claiming to be persons with mental or physical disabilities. Law schools are also beginning to see requests for extension of time for degree completion, priority in course registration, and authorization to tape record classes, all by virtue of an entitlement under the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Persons with a wide range of disabilities are seeking academic modifications from their law schools. What …