Disability Law Commons^™

“Corrective Surgery” And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Jeannette Cox

School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article challenges the assumption that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires persons with disabilities to undergo corrective surgery as a precondition to membership in the ADA's protected class. This issue is ripe for discussion because current efforts to amend the ADA, although not focused on the corrective surgery issue, will unsettle the current doctrine underpinning many courts' conclusions that an individual's decision to forgo available medical technology bars her from relief under the ADA. The article aims to make two contributions. First, it argues that the ADA's focus on reshaping cultural responses to disability suggests that individuals need …

Mining The Intersections: Advancing The Rights Of Women And Children With Disabilities Within An Interrelated Web Of Human Rights, Rangita De Silva De Alwis

Washington International Law Journal

This article argues that disability rights are a powerful lens through which to address the multiple forms of discrimination and subordination that women and children with disabilities face. A shift in the human rights paradigm that enables the different human rights treaties affecting women and children with disabilities to be implemented together, within an interlocking web of the human rights framework, will provide the necessary safeguards against multiple and cross cutting forms of discrimination against women and children with disabilities. At the same time, different social movements must come together at these points of intersection in order to create a …

Keynote Address: Expanding Human Rights To Persons With Disabilities: Laying The Groundwork For A Twenty-First Century Movement, Yanghee Lee

Washington International Law Journal

Dr. Lee’s keynote speech provides a brief history of disability rights as provided for by international human rights treaties. The speech focuses in particular on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”) and the recently enacted Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”). The CRC was the first treaty to include a specific provision dealing with the rights of children with disabilities. In this speech, Dr. Lee takes the position that although the CRPD does not create new rights for persons with disabilities, it still represents an important step forward. Dr. Lee emphasizes that the CRPD establishes …

Disability Rights In Cambodia: Using The Convention On The Rights Of People With Disabilities To Expose Human Rights Violations, Ulrike Buschbacher Connelly

Washington International Law Journal

In Cambodia, the percentage of the population living with disabilities is one of the highest in the world. At least 650,000 Cambodians live with a disability, and the exact count may be as high as 1.4 million. The incidence of disability is also expected to increase in the future. Despite the fact that many Cambodians have at least one disability, the country does not have adequate legal provisions to protect the human rights of people with disabilities. There are no comprehensive laws that address disability issues. The few existing laws provide only implicit protections and some directly discriminate against people …

Is It Cheating To Use Cheetahs?: The Implications Of Technologically Innovative Prostheses For Sports Values And Rules, Patricia J. Zettler

Faculty Publications By Year

This Article uses the case of Oscar Pistorius – the South African runner and amputee who competed with blade-like, lower-leg prostheses – to analyze how the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF), the world governing body of track and field, should regulate elite athletes’ use of innovative prostheses. The Article argues that the Court of Arbitration of Sport correctly decided that Pistorius should be permitted to compete in able-bodied competitions, but that the IAAF rule on which the decision was based failed to account for the full range of sports values implicated by the use innovative prostheses. The Article proposes …

A Call To Action For The Legal Academy, Wendy F. Hensel

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

A Disability By Any Other Name Is Still A Disability: Log Cabin, The Disability Spectrum, And The Ada (Aa), Gabrielle L. Goodwin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In EEOC v. Lee's Log Cabin, the Seventh Circuit followed the Supreme Court precedent of the last decade that has increasingly narrowed the determination of what constitutes a disabled individual under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2008, Congress passed the ADA Amendments Act in an attempt to restore the ADA to its original purpose and the original vision of the ADA's drafters and supporters. Whether these amendments will produce dramatic changes in the way the administrative agencies and courts apply the ADA remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the only way the ADA or its amendments will successfully protect against …

Data Note: Postsecondary Education And Employment Outcomes For Youth With Intellectual Disabilities, Alberto Migliore, John Butterworth

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Completion of postsecondary education is commonly associated with better employment outcomes for the general population. There is increasing interest in postsecondary education as an opportunity for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). One role that vocational rehabilitation (VR) serves is to support postsecondary education in accordance with their Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE).

Tools For Inclusion: Disclosure Of Disability Information At A One-Stop Career Center: Tips And Guidelines, David Hoff

Tools for Inclusion Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

One-Stops Career Centers (One-Stops) were established under the federal Workforce Investment Act to provide a full range of job seeker assistance under one roof. One-Stops are located at a variety of locations in each state, with more than 3,200 centers across the country. More than 13 million people per year use the One-Stop system. Many of these are people with disabilities.

Reconceptualizing Competence: An Appeal, Mae C. Quinn

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Social Rights And The Relational Value Of The Rights To Participate In Sport, Recreation, And Play,, Janet E. Lord, Michael Ashley Stein

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Change For The Better: The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008, Jason Lewis

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Making The Cut: Jobs, Programs And Services For Individuals With Disabilities Eliminated By 2010 Budget In Illinois, Ellen Westley

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

A Time Out Or A Knock Out: Has The Use Of Restraint Against Students With Disabilities Become A Form Of Corporal Punishment?, Susie Bucaro

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

The Handicapping Effect Of Judicial Opinions In Reproductive Tort Cases: Correcting The Legal Perception Of Persons With Disabilities, Kerry T. Cooperman

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

The Witness Who Saw, He Left Little Doubt: A Comparative Consideration Of Expert Testimony In Mental Disability Law Cases, Michael L. Perlin, Astrid Birgden, Kris Gledhill

Articles & Chapters

The question of how courts assess expert evidence - especially when mental disability is an issue - raises the corollary question of whether courts adequately evaluate the content of the expert testimony or whether judicial decision making may be influenced by teleology (‘cherry picking’ evidence), pretextuality (accepting experts who distort evidence to achieve socially desirable aims), and/or sanism (allowing prejudicial and stereotyped evidence). Such threats occur despite professional standards in forensic psychology and other mental health disciplines that require ethical expert testimony. The result is expert testimony that, in many instances, is at best incompetent and at worst biased. The …

His Brain Has Been Mismanaged With Great Skill: How Will Jurors Respond To Neuroimaging Testimony In Insanity Defense Cases, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

The robust debate over neuroimaging has highlighted a series of law-and-policy questions dealing primarily with reliability, admissibility and availability. When we consider the topic that I will be addressing in this paper - the impact of this evidence on juror decision-making in insanity defense cases - we need to recalibrate our focus so as to incorporate other questions that are as essential (most likely, more essential) to the resolution of the underlying dilemma: (1) to what extent will such evidence - apparently, less inherently easy to falsify - have on jurors whose inherent suspicion of mental state opinion testimony is …

Super Bowl Hero To Bank Account Zero, Scott Hollander

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pregnancy Discrimination And Social Change: Evolving Consciousness About A Worker's Right To Job-Protected, Paid Leave, Patricia Shiu, Stephanie Wildman

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the change over the past few decades in U.S. law and societal attitudes concerning a worker's right to job-protected, paid leave. Though common around the world, job-protected, paid leave eludes the U.S. workforce. The authors begin by considering the concept of work, its relation to identity, and the construction of safety nets for workers when they need income replacement. The Article considers the movement to establish job-protected, paid leave that encompasses and values a worker's work, family, and personal life.

The modern movement originated with pregnant workers' need for time away from work during pregnancy. Women who …

Introduction: Challenging The School-To-Prison Pipeline, Deborah N. Archer

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

A Change Is Gonna Come: The Implications Of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities For The Domestic Practice Of Constitutional Mental Disability Law, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

As recently as fifteen years ago, disability was not broadly acknowledged as a human rights issue. Although there were prior cases decided in the United States and in Europe that, retrospectively, had been litigated from a human rights perspective1 the characterization of "disability rights" (especially the rights of persons with mental disabilities) was not discussed in a global public, political or legal debate until the early 1990s. Instead, disability was seen only as a medical problem of the individual requiring a treatment or cure. By contrast, viewing disability as a human rights issue requires us to recognize the inherent equality …

Tennessee V. Lane, Martha A. Field, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Equality, I Spoke That Word/ As If A Wedding Vow: Mental Disability Law And How We Treat Marginalized Persons, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

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

All Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Yougberg V. Romeo, Michael Ashley Stein, William P. Alford

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Systemic Compliance Complaints: Making Idea's Enforcement Provisions A Reality, Monica Costello

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Since the passage of what is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") in 1975, this country has recognized the importance of providing appropriate educational services to students with disabilities. When a school district fails to provide these services, an organization can file a compliance complaint with the state's designated education agency to investigate the violation. This Note uses California as a case study and argues that state education agencies should be required to investigate systemic violations, even when the names of affected students are not provided. To effectively protect the rights of students with disabilities and …

Introducing The New And Improved Americans With Disabilities Act: Assessing The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008, Alex B. Long

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

The Domestic Incorporation Of Human Rights Law And The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities, Janet E. Lord, Michael Ashley Stein

Washington Law Review

This Article reviews the processes by which domestic-level transposition of international human rights norms may occur as a consequence of human rights treaty ratification, or other means of incorporation. Specifically, we consider the transformative vision of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or Convention) as a vehicle for fostering national-level disability law and policy changes. In doing so, we outline the challenges and opportunities presented by this new phase in disability rights advocacy, and we draw conclusions that bear generally upon human rights practice and scholarship. We contend that the role of human rights in domestic …

Disability, Vulnerability, And The Limits Of Antidiscrimination, Ani B. Satz

Washington Law Review

Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), disabled Americans face substantial barriers to entry into the workplace, lack material supports including health care and transportation, and may not receive reasonable accommodation that best supports their functioning. In addition, individuals with impairments have difficulty qualifying as disabled for disability protections. In light of these problems, some commentators suggest that a civil rights or antidiscrimination approach to disability discrimination—an approach for which activists fought for twenty years prior to the enactment of the ADA—may not adequately address disability discrimination. Some critics advocate a return to the social …

Data Note: Tracking Employment And Day Support Participation And Outcomes In State Intellectual Disability And Developmental Disability Agencies, Samita Bhattarai, Jean E. Winsor

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

As a part of the FY2007 National Survey of Day and Employment Programs data was requested from state Intellectual Disabilities and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) agencies regarding the sources of information used to report the total number of individuals served in the following services categories: integrated employment, facility-based work, community-based non work, and facility-based non work. Data on sources is an important factor to note when comparing each state’s service outcomes over time. Collecting information on the source of the data can help to explain unexpected trends in state service distribution when the state has not implemented changes in policy or …