Disability Law Commons^™

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Primer On Disability Discrimination In Higher Education, Laura Rothstein

Brandeis School of Law Faculty Scholarship

This article provides an overview of key issues and a focus on some of the most significant and important recent developments that should be given a high priority by university attorneys and higher education administrators and policymakers. It emphasizes the role that administrators responsible for facilitating or coordinating disability services on campus can play in ensuring that faculty members, staff members, and other administrators have the knowledge and tools to ensure access and also to avoid liability to the institution. Major changes in the Trump administration and Congress may signal changes that could affect disability discrimination issues on campus. These …

Advocating For Children With Disabilities In Child Protection Cases, Joshua B. Kay

Articles

Children with disabilities are maltreated at a higher rate than other children and overrepresented in child protection matters, yet most social service caseworkers, judges, child advocates, and other professionals involved in these cases receive little to no training about evaluating and addressing their needs. Child protection case outcomes for children with disabilities tend to differ from those of nondisabled children, with more disabled children experiencing a termination of their parents' rights and fewer being reunified with their parents or placed with kin. They also tend to experience longer waits for adoption. Furthermore, the poor outcomes that plague youth who age …

For Him Who Shall Have Borne The Battle: How The Presumption Of Competence Undermines Veterans’ Disability Law, Chase Cobb

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

When the Veterans Administration denies a veteran’s claim for disability benefits it often does so based on the opinion of an expert medical examiner—usually a doctor or a nurse. But under a recent federal rule, the VA carries no burden of laying a foundation for the expert medical examiner’s opinion—no burden of establishing the quality of the expert’s education or the depth of her experience; no burden of establishing the scope of the expert’s training or the soundness of her reasoning. Instead, the VA may simply presume the qualifications of its own expert examiner and throw the burden on the …

Limited Choices: How The School-Choice Paradigm Subverts Equal Education For Students With Disabilities, Amanda S. Sen

Maryland Law Review

While there is no absolute right to education in the Constitution of the United States, legislation and litigation have created and elucidated specific rights of children to, at a minimum, equal opportunity in education. For students with disabilities, the right to equality in educational opportunity can be found in both federal statutes and under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Rapidly developing education policy currently promotes increasing options for parents to use federal and state funds to send their children to schools other than their neighborhood public schools (“school choice”). However, the specific rights of students with disabilities have been …

Impartial Hearings Under The Idea: Legal Issues And Answers, Perry A. Zirkel

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Considering The Costs: Adopting A Judicial Test For The Least Restrictive Environment Mandate Of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Edmund J. Rooney

Journal of Legislation

No abstract provided.

A Reasonable Solution For Working Parents: Expanding Reasonable Accommodation Under The Americans With Disabilities Act To Parents Of Children With Disabilities, Katherine Lease

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

There is a growing intersection between a woman’s child-rearing and work responsibilities, but federal law inadequately addresses this issue. For mothers who have a child with a disability, they face increased parenting demands, which often lead to detrimental changes in their employment status and negative perceptions of their work ability and commitment. Many women face expectations to simultaneously be the perfect mother and the ideal worker, but this is largely unattainable when faced with the demands of raising a child with a disability.

This Note will explore the development and inadequacy of the current protection against association discrimination, that is, …

Disabling Ada Retaliation Claims, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Barriers To Job Satisfaction Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Employees: Implications For Creating Deaf-Friendly Work Environments, Yunhe Bai

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Employment has long been a serious, far-reaching social problem within the deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) population. To unearth potential issues that contribute to such a problem, I conducted an honors capstone research on barriers to job satisfaction of D/HH employees, in which job satisfaction is a direct evaluation method of the relationship between nature of organizational structures and expectations that employees have of their work. Using a qualitative design with a review of existing literature, semi-structured interviews of 11 participants, a data transcription of American Sign Language interviews into English, and an interpretive analysis of interview discoveries, I …

The Challenges Of The Itinerant Teacher Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing: The Inside Story, Hannah Rae Neild

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Over the course of the history of the United States history, there has been a drastic shift from an exclusive education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to a more inclusive approach. Through the change to an inclusive setting, students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing often have an Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Itinerant TODHH) that works as their advocate and support system throughout their mainstream experiences. The role of the Itinerant TODHH is constantly evolving and adapting which led to this study to investigate the perspectives of Itinerant TODHH on the challenges …

“There’S Voices In The Night Trying To Be Heard”: The Potential Impact Of The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities On Domestic Mental Disability Law, Michael L. Perlin, Naomi M. Weinstein

Brooklyn Law Review

This article carefully examines, through a therapeutic jurisprudence framework, the likely impact of the United States’ ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on U.S. society’s sanist attitudes towards persons with mental disabilities. Although the United Nations ratified the CRPD—the most significant historical development in the recognition of the human rights of persons with mental disabilities— in 2008, the United States has yet to ratify it. In this article, we consider whether the CRPD, if ratified, is likely to finally extinguish the toxic stench of sanism that permeates all levels of society. We …

Mandatory Reassignment As A Reasonable Accommodation Under The Americans With Disabilities Act Turns “Nondiscrimination Into Discrimination”, Christina M. Loguidice

Brooklyn Law Review

This note directly addresses one of the most pertinent and core civil rights issues—employment rights of individuals with disabilities—and proposes a unique contribution to current scholarship. The problem lies in the interpretation of the Americans With Disabilities Act’s provision that suggests that reassignment “may” be a reasonable accommodation, which is defined as any accommodation required for an employee with a disability to equalize success and opportunity in the workplace. The word “may” in the provision creates confusion over whether reassignment is always reasonable. Hence, circuit courts are divided on the issue of whether mandatory reassignment is always a reasonable accommodation …

Selective Hearing: Communication Barriers In The Court System For Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Victims Of Rape Or Sexual Assault, Lauren Oberheim

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Private School Placement For The Twice Exceptional Child Under The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Matthew Alessandri

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Americans With Disabilities Act: Legal And Practical Applications In Child Protection Proceedings, Joshua B. Kay

Articles

Parents with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual disability and/or mental illness, are disproportionately represented in the child protection system.1 Once involved in the system, they are far more likely than parents without disabilities to have their children removed and their parental rights terminated. The reasons for this are many. Parents with disabilities are relatively likely to experience other challenges that are themselves risk factors for child protection involvement. In addition, child protection agencies, attorneys, courts, and related professionals often lack knowledge and harbor biases about parents with disabilities, increasing the likelihood of more intrusive involvement in the family. Yet research …

"[Secretary Shulkin], Tear Down This Wall!" Tearing Down The Wall Between Veterans Suffering From Ptsd Due To Military Sexual Trauma And Compensation Benefits, Alexandra Yacyshyn

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Section I of this Note discusses the prevalence of sexual assault in the military and why so many victims do not report their assault. It draws on the link between underreporting and a lack of corroborative evidence. However, for those assaults that are reported, Section I briefly describes the two types of reports and the advantages and disadvantages of each. It draws on statistics, studies, and personal narratives to determine the most common causes for a victim’s decision not to report his or her assault. This part briefly touches on how this problem is gender-neutral and not exclusive to …

Classifying Wcag 2.0 Guidelines As The Legal Standard For Websites Under Title Iii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Toni Cannady

Catholic University Law Review

Over the last two decades, technological advancements have driven significant changes in society that have led to more productivity, more convenience, and more accessibility. In particular, websites serve as a platform for consumers to engage in commerce. Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public accommodations are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of disability. Nonetheless, to date, the law “has failed to keep pace with these technological advances” creating profound effects for individuals with disabilities and businesses alike. However, in the absence of clearly defined standards, lawsuits by plaintiffs have fueled a new body of judicially made …

Reforming Competence Restoration Statutes: An Outpatient Model, Susan A. Mcmahon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Defendants who suffer from mental illness and are found incompetent to stand trial are often ordered committed to an inpatient mental health facility to restore their competence, even if outpatient care may be the better treatment option. Inpatient facilities are overcrowded and place the defendants on long waiting lists. Some defendants then spend weeks, months, or even years in their jail cell, waiting for a transfer to a hospital bed.

Outpatient competence restoration programs promise to relieve this pressure. But even if every state suddenly opened a robust outpatient competence restoration program, an obstacle looms: the statutes governing competence restoration, …

Inaccessible Websites Are Discriminating Against The Blind: Why Courts, Websites, And The Blind Are Looking To The Department Of Justice For Guidance, Elizabeth Sheerin

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note argues that Title III of the ADA should extend to websites and mobile applications as “places of public accommodation” and suggests a framework to determine which accommodations should be adopted to make websites accessible to people with visual disabilities. Specifically, it calls on Congress and the DOJ to fix this hole in the law and ensure the Act protects all persons with disabilities, as it was intended to. Part I will introduce the ADA, including its legislative history and amendments, and then will describe the standards private agencies have developed to make the Internet accessible to those …