Disability Law Commons^™

A Love Letter To The Leaders: Why Recognizing And Discussing Secondary Trauma In Legal Work Will Benefit Your Staff, Your Clients, And Most Importantly, The Work, Isabel Corngold, Elizabeth Cole

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

When you work in a client-facing, client-centered section of the law like criminal law, and specifically wrongful convictions, you encounter trauma. Many organizations, including innocence organizations, do not do a sufficient job to recognize and address the impact of that trauma on their staff. This piece seeks to explain the potential impact of this trauma by, one, defining the terms burnout; secondary and vicarious trauma; empathetic distress; countertransference; and compassion fatigue, and, two, listing out signs and symptoms that can be caused by experiencing any of these emotions. Drawing from the authors’ experiences in innocence organizations, this piece addresses leaders …

Forewords To The Inaugural Issue, Njaj Editorial Board, Richard Moberly, Stefanie S. Pearlman, Kala Mueller, Danielle Jefferis, Brooklyn Terrill

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

No abstract provided.

2024-25 Masthead, Njaj Editorial Board

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Re-Imagining Tomorrow: A Technology, Innovation Law, And Ethics Symposium On Addictive Technology And Children, Margaret Chon

Seattle University Law Review

In this Foreword, Professor Margaret Chon introduces Seattle University's Technology, Innovation Law, and Ethics (TILE) program, the 2024 TILE Symposium, and Dr. Gaia Bernstein’s Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies.

Keynote Address: The Movement To Protect Kids From Addictive Technologies, Gaia Bernstein

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, I describe my personal journey starting with a school outreach program I created in 2017 to address technology overuse among kids. While I initially advocated for self-help methods, I grew to recognize that the tech industry bore responsibility. This realization led me to write Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, which focused on collective action to pressure the tech industry to redesign its addictive products.

I then describe the movement to control addictive technologies and protect kids, which has gained momentum since the end of the pandemic. This movement combines grassroots parent activism with legal-political action. …

Moral Panic Or Public Health Crisis? Lessons From Drugs And Gambling For “Addictive” Design, Matthew B. Lawrence, Haomin (Kevin) Yan

Seattle University Law Review

Alcohol, automobiles, guns, lottery, loot boxes, meat, music, opioid painkillers, processed foods, prop bets, slot machines, television, tobacco, violent video games. Over the last century each of these has been subject to concerns—some might even say “moral panics”—from parents and policymakers about avoidable harms to kids and adults. In some cases we look back with the benefit of hindsight and dismiss those concerns as naïve or moralistic. In others we look back at them as justified or as having come too late to check an expanding industry before it did unfathomable harm while growing so powerful that it became all …

Responding To Digital Addiction, Ned Snow

Seattle University Law Review

In Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, Professor Gaia Bernstein calls our attention to the growing problem of digital addiction. Digital addiction may sound like something out of a science-fiction novel or something that does not raise the same sort of real-life practical concerns as are present in a physical health crisis or an economic decline. But as Bernstein presents the evidence, we learn that the consequences of digital addiction can be just as harmful as a serious disease or a financial depression. Cognitive development disorders, anxiety, emotional depression, social isolation, and other mental health ills can be debilitating—as much …

The Ai Doppelgänger Dilemma: Cloned Voices In The Music Industry, Elizabeth Shields

Seattle University Law Review

With the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), there has been an influx of “voice clones”—deep-learning algorithms that create synthetic speech to realistically mimic human voices. Celebrities and, in particular, music artists, have been subjected to the proliferation of AI voice clones on social media platforms like TikTok and streaming platforms such as Spotify. Despite music utilizing AI voice clones having amassed much popularity, this technology can be harmful and highly invasive to musicians whose livelihoods often depend on their distinct voices. While legal scholars have attempted to articulate various rights that could protect a person’s voice, individuals are largely …

Let The Sunshine In: Crafting Constitutional Transparency Regulations For Content Moderation, Caitlin Ring Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

In response to public concern about the impact of social media, legislators in some U.S. states have developed laws to regulate the process of content moderation. Many include mandatory transparency and disclosure requirements, some of which courts have already deemed an unconstitutional infringement on social media platforms’ right to free expression. This article explores the parameters for crafting constitutional social media transparency regulations using existing U.S. media policy and insights from recent legal challenges. The resulting analysis identifies content neutral transparency requirements that mandate the disclosure of purely factual, non-controversial information as those most likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. Specifically, …

This Is Not A Game: The Addictive Allure Of Digital Companions, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Karni Chagal-Feferkorn

Seattle University Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents have become an inescapable part of modern childhood, reshaping education, leisure activities, entertainment, and social interaction. From AI-powered tutors that adapt to individual learning styles to emotionally responsive chatbots that simulate human companionship, these systems promise unprecedented personalization, cognitive stimulation, and social support. However, these benefits mask significant risks that remain unregulated and inadequately addressed.

Although adults are also susceptible to forming deep emotional bonds with AI companions—often trusting them as if they possessed genuine understanding and empathy—children are particularly vulnerable. Their misplaced trust can more severely distort social development, weaken critical thinking, and foster unhealthy …

Lawyering As A Public Health Tool: Enforcing Title Ii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act With Preventative Litigation, Elena Cohen

Fordham Law Review

A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that plaintiffs cannot bring a claim alleging a risk of unnecessary institutionalization under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This directly contradicts the holdings of six other circuit courts and guidance issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ)—all of which maintain that Title II of the ADA (Title II), the integration mandate, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel. Zimring permit these claims. This Note explores how the circuit courts have evaluated risk of unnecessary institutionalization claims, including …

Reforming The Medical Expense Income Tax Deduction To Better Reflect "Crip Time", Diane Kemker

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Extraordinary medical expenses— whether due to a one-time occurrence or a chronic condition— happen on their own time. These expenses, their causes, and their consequences (medical, personal, financial, or all of these) can rarely be neatly cabined into a single calendar year. Treatment requiring an expensive prescription medication or complex surgery not covered by insurance may address a condition that arose over years. That condition may have interfered with a taxpayer’s ability to work in prior years, the current year, and perhaps for years to come, even for the rest of the taxpayer’s earning life. The medical condition of a …

Integrating The Workforce: A Proposed Expansion Of The Lane V. Kitzhaber Rule, Dean Farmer

Michigan Law Review

Sheltered workshops are workplaces that employ, and may legally pay subminimum wages to, individuals with disabilities. Though these workshops have historically been a large part of disability employment services in the United States, many policymakers have advocated for a shift from sheltered workshops to integrated disability employment services, in which individuals with disabilities work alongside other workers for an equal wage that meets or exceeds the minimum wage. In Lane v. Kitzhaber, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon applied Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to sheltered workshop programs, holding that states must …

The Dim Prospects Of A Child Find: Journal Entries Of An Academic, Engineer, And Mother Navigating Special Education Services, Idalis Villanueva Alarcon

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This provocation is a journaling exercise to uncover the author’s experiences of navigating child find, a process to identify specific learning disability needs for my oldest child. While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides provisions to protect and support children with special needs, private schools do not operate equally. When considering how these inequities in the educational system overlap with precollege engineering education, there is a large gap the literature, positioning a dire need to move disability studies into the precollege engineering education space. The critical authoethnographic journal sheds light on the inequities and educational gaps that are present …

Guardianship And Its Alternatives: A Handbook On Maryland Law, Joan O'Sullivan, Ellen A. Callegary, Rebecca Hall, James F. Silver

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Disability Rights And Inclusion: A Multidisciplinary Conference, Samuel J. Levine

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vulnerability In The Law, Sara Aziz, Aisli Ali, Casey Williams, Lindsey Nye, Saya Khandhar, Sofia Bazdekis

Human Rights Brief

On Monday, February 24, 2025, the Human Rights Brief (“the Brief”) at American University Washington College of Law (“WCL”) held its annual spring symposium with the theme of “Vulnerability in the Law.” This year’s theme aimed to highlight areas where legal systems fall short in protecting vulnerable populations, as well as highlighting where the law itself is vulnerable. The symposium was organized by Symposium and Education Editor Sara Aziz, in collaboration with the Junior Symposium Staff: Asli Ali, Casey Williams, Lindsey Nye, Saya Khandhar, and Sofia Bazdekis. The team worked relentlessly to coordinate panels on legal issues, including technology, environmental …

The Witchcraft Act And The Cost Of Inaction: Afchpr On The Persecution Of Persons With Albinism, Aly Orvis

Human Rights Brief

On February 5, 2025, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“AfCHPR”) issued a landmark ruling in Centre for Human Rights and Others v. United Republic of Tanzania, holding that Tanzania had violated the rights of persons with albinism (“PWA”) by failing to protect them from systematic discrimination, violence, and ritual killings. The applicants, a human rights organization advocating for PWA, argued that the Tanzanian government’s inaction and weak legal framework fostered an environment of impunity for attacks against PWA, including violations of Article 2, the right to non-discrimination, of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“ACHPR”). …

Through A Glass Darkly: How Securities Disclosures Give A Distorted View Of The Economy, Gerald F. Davis

Seattle University Law Review

Our understanding of the American economy often relies on stylized facts derived from mandatory disclosures by listed corporations. Data vendors like Standard & Poor’s vacuum up 10Ks and proxy statements into databases, and scholars distill these into tentative maps. This may have been adequate for a postwar economy centered on asset-heavy manufacturers, but it is increasingly out of step with an information-based economy. Companies listed on the stock market are fewer in number and less representative than they were, light in tangible assets and people, and heavy on IP. Basic facts such as what industry they are in are increasingly …