Introduction to US Disability Law

Catalog description

This seminar examines U.S. disability civil rights law and policy, primarily under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as amended, or ¿ADA,¿ with a focus on lawsuits brought in federal court. U.S. disability law and policy, and related ADA civil rights, is a fast-evolving area, further complicated by the COVID-19 epidemic. Disability law and policy, including the law of the ADA, has evolved dramatically over the past thirty plus years in the U.S. and internationally. By some estimates there are sixty million Americans (almost one in five Americans) with disabilities, and more than one billion individuals (one in seven people) with disabilities around the world. Yet people with disabilities still are disproportionately excluded from the labor market and other economic, social, and civic opportunities. My ambition is to help seminar participants appreciate the expansive impact of U.S. disability law and policy on the lives of persons with disabilities.