In the midst of violence that seems targeted at our civic life and a pandemic imposing “social distancing,” I find myself thinking a lot about community. As I have previously reflected, “community integration” is a legal phrase about the ADA’s requirement to provide services to people with disabilities in small, community-based settings rather than in… Continue reading Independence Does Not Mean Isolation
Thirty years ago, people in the United States on both sides of the aisle came to a clear agreement: we need to build houses and apartments that are accessible to people with disabilities, including people who use wheelchairs. Laws and regulations were passed to require that accessible home design and construction. Thirty years later, these rules… Continue reading Housing Accessibility
On this Veterans Day, with a deeply divided country, I find myself reflecting on another divide: military service and our civil society. When I was in college, this divide prompted me to join the Navy, exploring how to bridge the chasm between my liberal, ivy-league world and the military that many people I knew looked… Continue reading Why Civil Rights Lawyers Should Honor Veterans
It is, of course, illegal to discriminate against an employee because they have a disability—to fire someone because the employer learns they have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, for example. But what about when the disability causes conduct that might otherwise be a legitimate basis for an action like firing? What if, for example, that schizophrenia… Continue reading Does the ADA Require More Flexible Employee “Misconduct” Rules?
The EEOC recently posted updated guidance about employers’ obligations related to COVID, What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws. Like the EEOC, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people trying to understand how to navigate work in these times. Here are some common questions… Continue reading COVID and Workplace Rights: 4 Common Questions
The recent failure of the criminal justice system to hold anyone accountable for the death of Breonna Taylor is a devastating reminder of that system’s failures. As police misconduct attorney and author Andrea Ritchie told the New York Times, “The system that killed Breonna Taylor is not set up to provide justice or reparations for… Continue reading Rethinking Demands for Law Enforcement Training in ADA Lawsuits
Accessible public transportation is a cornerstone of the ADA. Cities must provide "comparable" paratransit service to people who can't take public buses or subways. All too often, these services are nowhere near comparable.
When I talk about my cases with friends, one of the most common questions is whether old buildings are "grandfathered" from the ADA. They aren't. Tellingly, this phrase comes from racially exclusive voting laws of the Jim Crow era.
According to the CDC, we must fight stigma during this COVID pandemic—against people who have, or have recovered from COVID, and against ethnic groups wrongly blamed for or seen as carriers of the virus. Three kinds of law can help.
Redesigning streets and parks just for bicycles can create problems for people with disabilities. Upgrades need to include ADA access--to be an improvement for everyone.
