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Saturday, March 19, 2016

THE FUTURE OF DISABILITY LAW. My book, just published

THE FUTURE OF DISABILITY LAW
Just published!
David Ferleger, Esq., Editor

This new volume is available from amazon.com.

Among the chapters are:

·      Pathways to Disability Justice
·      Civil Rights Movements and People with Disabilities
·      Access to Courts: A Model Future, Achieved Today
·      U.N. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities
·      Education: The School to Prison Pipeline
·      The Medical Decision Process
·      Accommodations, Technology & the Internet of Things
·      Aging and Disabilities
·      Offenders with Complex Communication Needs
·      Criminal Justice and Disability
·      What We Decide to Do as People with Disabilities
·      Disability, the Law of the Poor and the Future

            In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, nationally recognized disability rights advocates look ahead to the next twenty-five years of disability law.

            From the introductory essay by David Ferleger, Esq.:

            Cultural change is the final pathway to which I commend attention. Many of the essays in this volume see culture change as an essential underpinning to advances for people with disabilities. In my view, seeking such change requires a significantly refined articulation of our goals.  Are we talking about accommodation?  Inclusion?  Assimilation?  Disability justice advocates will need to pay increased attention to defining our direction as the issues and competing solutions become more nuanced.

            The essays in this volume delve into the past, examine the present and anticipate various futures for achieving disability justice. Understandably, some authors are optimistic, and others question the scope or possibility of future progress. A number of authors present their own experiences in earlier civil rights movements as models and inspiration for the work they do now. Some speak to the issues from the perspective of their own experience as people with disabilities.

            One piece of the future appears clear, despite the unknowns, we know now that we are in the midst of changing a system which sent people with disabilities to separate places, to enter at the back door, to the end of the line.[1] As a distinguished jurist, who happens to be blind, has said, the demand today is for “front door justice.”

            What is the future of disability justice? We cannot count on the past, even past successes, as harbingers of the future. Those successes might block our visions of the future.  Only our imagination and creativity, and our actions, will unlock the future






[1] A cautionary note is appropriate regarding “deinstitutionalization” which ought to go hand in hand with development of “most integrated” (the phrase is from Olmstead) community homes for people. Sometimes, the community has replicated undesirable features of the institution.

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