Disability Law Commons^™

Book Review Of Cause Lawyering For People With Disabilites, Michael Ashley Stein, Michael E. Waterstone, David B. Wilkins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Regression By Progression Unleveling The Classroom Playing Field Through Cosmetic Neurology, Helia Garrido Hull

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Enfeebling The Ada: The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008, Jeffrey D. Jones

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ten Federal Circuit Cases From 2009 That Veterans Benefits Attorneys Should Know, Paul R. Gugliuzza, Miguel F. Eaton, Sumon Dantiki

UF Law Faculty Publications

The Federal Circuit is the highest court to which veterans can appeal by right for benefits. In 2009, the Federal Circuit decided eighty-seven veterans cases (twelve percent of its overall docket). Twenty-six of those decisions were precedential opinions. There are approximately 23.4 million veterans in the United States, more than three million of whom receive disability compensation. And with two ongoing wars, plans to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps, and recent legislation impacting the veterans claims process, the Federal Circuit will likely see an increase in veterans cases in the coming years.

Part I of this …

Vouchers For Students With Disabilities: The Future Of Special Education?, Wendy F. Hensel

Faculty Publications By Year

Many voices over the last decade have called for reform in special education in American public schools. As the number of those receiving services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) has grown, scholars and pundits have increasingly argued that the system not only is failing to meet the needs of many children with disabilities, but in some cases is actively causing harm to those it is intended to serve.

Over the last several years, an increasing number of state legislatures have proposed or have passed laws that give children with disabilities public money to attend a private school. …

Virtually Enabled: How Title Iii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Might Be Applied To Online Virtual Worlds, Joshua Newton

Federal Communications Law Journal

The rise and popularity of online virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft and Second Life, holds significant promise for people with disabilities. For people who are unable to easily leave home or travel, virtual worlds provide a public venue, wherein people may interact freely without the social stigma that accompanies disability. However, access to these virtual worlds may be inhibited by physical, visual, or aural impairments, and virtual-world developers can be hostile to modifying their products to mitigate these difficulties. Thus, some disability advocates have turned to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing that places of …

Spreading A Positive Message About Work, Earnings And Benefits Through Peer Networking: Findings From The Peer Employment Benefits Network, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Rick Kugler, John Kramer

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Misunderstanding and fears about the impact of earnings on benefits represent a significant barrier in the return-to-work efforts of people with disabilities. This pilot project evaluated an approach to spreading a positive message about work and dispelling myths about the effects of work on Social Security benefits through outreach and networking in the disability community. A peer leadership project was developed by enlisting 33 people with disabilities, mainly through disability advocacy organizations, who had experience with disability benefits. They received several days of basic training about work incentives, networking strategies, and community resources that support employment. These peer leaders then …

Why Context Matters: Defining Service Animals Under Federal Law, Rebecca J. Huss

Law Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes the differing definitions of service animals under federal law as interpreted by three separate agencies. The regulations and case law interpreting the issue under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Air Carrier Access Act illustrate the need for further clarification in order to ensure that individuals with disabilities are granted the full protection of the law.

Note from Author: After the publication of this article, in July 2010, final regulations for the ADA were released. These final regulations can be found at 75 Fed. Reg. 56164 (Sept. 15, 2010) (applying to state …

Rethinking Guardianship (Again): Substituted Decision Making As A Violation Of The Integration Mandate Of Title Ii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Leslie Salzman

University of Colorado Law Review

In every state, when an adult has a diminished capacity to make decisions about personal affairs or property management, a court may transfer the individual's right to make decisions to a guardian. This Article argues that, in most cases, it would be preferable to support decision making rather than supplant it through guardianship, and then seeks to locate a right to receive such support as a less restrictive alternative to the substituted decision making that characterizes guardianship. Building on the reasoning in Olmstead v. L.C. and subsequent decisions interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act's integration mandate, this Article argues that …

Disability-Inclusive Disaster Preparedness And Response: Challenges And Opportunities For Reconstruction In Haiti,, Janet E. Lord

Articles

Hurricanes Rita and Katrina poignantly demonstrated the failure of U.S. federal-level disaster preparedness to respond effectively to the needs of disabled beneficiaries. Similarly, the 2004 Asian tsunami revealed major shortcomings in humanitarian assistance operations conducted by international agencies to address the needs of affected persons with disabilities. The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)' in 2006 highlights disability inclusion as a human rights issue in humanitarian emergencies. It is within this context that the Haitian earthquake on January 12,2010, presents a major challenge, but also an opportunity to address disability inclusion and apply lessons …

The Law And Politics Of Us Participation In The Un Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities, Professor Michael Stein, Janet E. Lord, Penelope J.S. Stein

Articles

No abstract provided.

Monitoring The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities: Innovations, Lost Opportunities, And Future Potential, Professor Michael Stein, Janet E. Lord

Articles

As the first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) protects some 650 million persons with disabilities. The CRPD also has an opportunity to progressively reconfigure the structure and process of human rights oversight. While the overall framework for monitoring and implementing the CRPD resembles existing core human rights instruments, it has some notable features. The CPRD Committee is endowed with several innovations of significant potential, especially in the breadth of reporting and investigative procedures, thereby offering prospects for other treaty bodies and the human rights system more …

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

Articles

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 …

How The Biological/Social Divide Limits Disability And Equality, Martha T. Mccluskey

Journal Articles

What is disability - a biological or social condition? In the conventional equality frameworks, the division between biology and social identity puts disability at the bottom of the formal equality hierarchy, but at the top of the substantive equality hierarchy. Compared with race and then gender, disability deserves the least protection against formal discrimination, on the theory that disadvantages are based on real and relevant functional differences more than on suspect social judgments. But turning to substantive equality, disability’s supposed greater biological basis justifies affirmative accommodation of difference, compared to the social differences of race, with gender in the middle …

Decriminalizing Students With Disabilities, Dean Hill Rivkin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Weight Discrimination: Disability Litigation And Public Policy, Tessa Jania

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Shutting Off The School-To-Prison Pipeline For Status Offenders With Education-Related Disabilities, Joseph B. Tulman, Douglas M. Weck

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property's Need For A Disability Perspective, Eric E. Johnson

Faculty Articles

This Article approaches intellectual property law from a critical-disability theory perspective. It argues that, in specific instances, courts have gotten the law wrong because of a failure to take into account the perspective of persons with disabilities. In the context of law, and intellectual property law in particular, confronting those differences means taking into account a disability perspective even where all the parties in a given case are not disabled and where the dispute does not directly implicate issues of disability. This sua sponte accounting is necessary because intellectual property cases have the effect of defining rights that extend far …

Taking It To The Streets: A Public Right-Of-Way Project For Disability Law, Elizabeth Pendo

Articles

I teach a course in Disability Discrimination Law, which is designed as a civil rights course focused on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When the ADA was passed in 1990, it was celebrated by many as one of the most significant civil-rights victories of this century. The ADA was enacted to "provide clear, strong, consistent, [and] enforceable standards [for] addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities" and prohibits discrimination in employment, public services and transportation, privatelyowned places of public accommodations, and telecommunications. Although the ADA is not the first federal law addressing disability, its passage made clear that the continued …

Giving Voice In Court: Cushioning Adversarialism For Witnesses With Intellectual Disabilities, Prianka Nair

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.