Disability Law in the News

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The University of Miami School of Law Joins the ABA's Disability Honor Roll

The University of Miami School of Law is proud to join top national law firms and law schools as a supporter of the American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law, promoting "Disability Diversity in the Legal Profession: A Pledge for Change." The one-page Pledge affirms the signatory's commitment to diversity, specifically disability diversity, and recognizes that diversity is in the best interest of the profession, those the profession serves, as well as the organization making the commitment.

Workforce Recruitment Program

Do you need highly qualified candidates for jobs at your office? The Workforce Recruitment Program can help! The WRP is a recruitment and referral program that connects federal and private sector employers nationwide with highly motivated college students and recent graduates with disabilities who are eager to prove their abilities in the workplace through summer or permanent jobs.

Handbook provides the know-how to assist lawyers in representing the deaf

On billboards and in the Yellow Pages, an attorney advertises a free consultation. But when a deaf person comes knocking, all of a sudden that attorney is not willing to meet.

Broward judge's disability has never held him back

Stanton Kaplan’s first job out of law school was at a Ft. Lauderdale firm with bathrooms impossible to use. Useless to Kaplan, that is, because he had been getting around with a wheelchair since he was 14 after being struck by polio in 1950.

ABA Journal: Former Child Actor, Now Blind, Will Begin Stint as O'Connor Law Clerk

A former child actor who played the nerdy Weasel on the TV show Saved By the Bell: The New Class will become a U.S. Supreme Court clerk this July for retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The New York Times: The Vision Thing

When David Paterson takes the oath of office in Albany on Monday, he will not only become the third African-American governor since Reconstruction, he will also be only the second legally blind chief state executive (the first being Bob Cowley Riley, who was governor of Arkansas for 11 days in 1975). I think it’s a safe bet that Governor Paterson’s visual impairment will be harder for the public to understand than his race.

The Florida Bar News: Rule Would Provide Better Court Access to the Disabled

The art of compromise paid off for Matt Dietz, who honed a new rule to make it easier for persons with disabilities to attend court proceedings.

Disability Independence Group and Florida Bar reports on survey of lawyers with disabilities

The Florida Bar's objective is to foster an inclusive environment in which lawyers, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability are motivated to succeed professionally and contribute to the goals of their profession.

UM spotlight on the Academic Resource Center (ARC)

Before entering the hospital for a minor sinus procedure in 2003, Joanna Slochowski had never heard of the University’s Academic Resource Center (ARC). That was the point at which her life became divided into befores and afters.

The Florida Bar News: Disability Advocates Seek Rule Change to Promote Consistency

Even though he is deaf, when Scott Harrison was an assistant public defender in Pensacola, he successfully defended clients at trial, thanks to accommodating judges and courtrooms wired for real-time court reporting.

NPR: Surviving Deafness and Deprivation in Remote Africa

As a deaf child growing up in Manhattan, Josh Swiller would often take out his frustration with the hearing world on his little brother. But when he traveled to Zambia to work for the Peace Corps in the mid-1990s, his combative style got him in trouble — ultimately threatening his life. In Zambia he also found a world where his deafness wasn't central to his identity.