Disability Law Commons^™

Classifying Obesity As A Disability Under The Americans With Disabilities Act: How Seff V. Broward County Is Incongruent With Recent Ada Litigation, Maura Flaherty Mccoy

Catholic University Law Review

This Note discusses how employer wellness programs are potential breeding grounds for Americans with Disabilities Act discrimination claims in light of recent ADA cases relating to obesity and how courts’ treatment of the safe harbor provision of the ADA is incongruent with the broadening of ADA claims. It looks at the provisions of the ADA and how courts have traditionally defined “disability” in obesity cases, describes the ADA safe harbor provision, and discusses the advent of corporate wellness programs. This Note then analyzes Seff v. Broward County, the most notable wellness program case to-date, and how the court’s decision …

Discrimination Cases In The 2001 Term Of The Supreme Court, Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Increasing Community Engagement For Individuals With Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, Jennifer Bose, Jennifer Sulewski

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

These three projects highlight various aspects of the Institute for Community Inclusion's efforts to increase community engagement of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, both locally and nationally. The Transitions to Work project, for which ICI provides evaluation assistance, partners with Boston-area employers to increase engagement of adults with disabilities in the regional workforce. The Community Life Engagement initiative complements the employment focus by looking at other aspects of community life, such as volunteerism and participation in community events and resources. On the national level, Real People Real Jobs is a website and publication series highlighting the employment successes of …

National & International Disability Inclusion In Employment, Debrittany Mitchell, Heike Boeltzig-Brown, Quinn Barbour

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Through research, technical assistance, training and collaboration the Institute for Community Inclusion strives to improve employment outcomes for individuals both nationally and internationally. The following highlights some of the work currently in progress in the United States and Japan.

The Limits Of Federal Disability Law: State Educational Voucher Programs, Wendy Hensel

Faculty Publications By Year

The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating the state of Wisconsin with respect to its administration of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), which provides low-income students with public money to attend private schools. Faced with complaints of disability discrimination by private schools accepting voucher students, DOJ has ordered Wisconsin to oversee and police these schools to ensure compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which applies to states and their agencies, and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which applies to recipients of federal funding. Although conditioning its directive on the state's coverage under these …

The Disability-Employability Divide: Bottlenecks To Equal Opprotunity, Bradley A. Areheart, Michael Ashley Stein

Michigan Law Review

Equal opportunity might appear to comprise a relatively simple question: Do similarly situated persons have an equal chance to attain a particular goal, or do obstacles irrelevant to their qualifications or to the desired goal preclude achievement? But equal opportunity is complicated.1 There are descriptive and prescriptive dimensions to this question. Nuances exist when determining who is similarly situated, whether those individuals have the same opportunity, what goals we care about equalizing, and whether the ultimate aspiration is equality of opportunity or equality of outcome. Moreover, what means should we employ to remove obstacles, are these means likely to be …

Problem Gambling Is Funny, David M. Ranscht

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Failure To Rehabilitate: Leaving Disability Insurance Out Of The Mental Health Parity Debate, Christopher R. Wilson

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Utility And Limits Of Self-Exclusion Programs, Keith C. Miller

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mutual Marginalization: Individuals With Disabilities And Workers With Caregiving Responsibilities, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Florida Law Review

This Article explores the marginalization of two groups of employees—individuals with disabilities and workers with caregiving responsibilities. One might argue that these two groups have little in common. However, while these groups are not perfectly aligned, they do have much in common in the workplace. First, these employees are unable to consistently meet their employers’ expectations of an “ideal worker.” Thus, they often must seek adjustments or modifications in the workplace to accommodate for their failure to conform to the ideal-worker norm. The need for accommodation causes both groups of employees to suffer from “special-treatment stigma,” which manifests itself in …

Working Inclusiveness Into Society, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Treating the disabled as no different from able-bodied folks and holding them to the same standards are key

Mi Casa Es Su Casa: The Benefits Of A Hud Mediation Program For Resolving Housing Accommodation Or Modification Disputes Between Landlords And Tenants With Disabilities, Adam Knobler

Pepperdine Law Review

After first providing a background on federal housing laws that prohibit discrimination based on disability, this article then proceeds to describe and analyze the remedies available to tenants who have experienced disability discrimination. The article concludes that, not only are such remedies as filing a complaint or pursuing litigation difficult and time-consuming, they could also damage the long-term relationship between the parties and preclude the possibility of creative remedies that satisfy the needs of both parties. The article finishes by proposing that HUD develop an agency-wide mediation program based on the model of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mediation …

Future Harm As A Current Disability: Insurance Coverage For A Risk Of Substance Abuse Relapse Under Erisa, Jonah Kind

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Imaging Brains, Changing Minds: How Pain Neuroimaging Can Inform The Law, Amanda C. Pustilnik

Faculty Scholarship

What would the law do differently if it could see into the black box of the mind? One of the most valuable things it might do is reform the ways it deals with pain. Pain is ubiquitous in law, from tort to torture, from ERISA to expert evidence. Yet legal doctrines grapple with pain poorly, embodying concepts that are generations out of date and that cast suspicion on pain sufferers as having a problem that is “all in their heads.”

Now, brain-imaging technologies are allowing scientists to see the brain in pain—and to reconceive of many types of pain as …

Retaliation And The Reasonable Person, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

When a worker complains about discrimination, federal law is supposed to protect that worker from later retaliation. Recent scholarly attention focuses on how courts limit retaliation claims by narrowly framing the causation inquiry. A larger threat to retaliation law is developing in the lower courts. Courts are declaring a wide swath of conduct as insufficiently serious to constitute retaliation.

Many courts hold that it is legal for an employer to threaten to fire a worker, to place the worker on administrative leave, or to negatively evaluate the worker because she complained about discriminatory conduct. Even if the worker has evidence …

The Strained Dynamic Of The Least Restrictive Environment Concept In The Idea, Bonnie Spiro Schinagle, Marilyn J. Bartlett

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Around The World: America Ahead Of The Curve With Discussion Around Least Restrictive Environment: Education Rights For Children With Disabilities Around The World, Elise Harmening

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Accidentally On Purpose: Intent In Disability Discrimination Law, Mark Weber

College of Law Faculty

American disability discrimination laws contain few intent requirements. Yet courts frequently demand showings of intent in disability discrimination lawsuits. Intent requirements arose almost by accident: through a false statutory analogy; by repetition of obsolete judicial language; and by doctrine developed to avoid a nonexistent conflict with another law. Demanding that section 504 and Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) claimants show intent imposes a burden not found in those statutes or their interpretive regulations. This Article provides reasons not to impose intent requirements for liability or monetary relief in section 504 and ADA cases concerning reasonable accommodations. It demonstrates that no …

Numerical Goals For Employment Of People With Disabilities By Federal Agencies And Contractors, Mark Weber

College of Law Faculty

This essay discusses recent developments concerning numerical goals for employing workers with disabilities by federal agencies and federal contractors. On May 15, 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asking for comments about, among other things, placing on federal agencies numerical employment goals for individuals with disabilities. On September 24, 2013, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs adopted a Final Rule that imposed on federal contractors a numerical utilization goal for employees with disabilities, a regulation that the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld against challenge in 2014. A …

Health Justice: A Framework (And Calll To Action) For The Elimination Of Health Inequity And Social Injustice, Emily A. Benfer

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.