The University of Miami School of Law’s Psychology, Public Policy & Law Journal will host a symposium on “Overcoming the Stigma of Disability” on January 23, 2009. The event, to be held from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in room 352 at the Law School, will feature three noted law professors/scholars – UM Law Professor Bruce J. Winick, Professor Elyn R. Saks from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and Professor Stephen Wizner from Yale Law School. Sharing personal accounts of their struggles with disability, Professors Winick and Saks will discuss their experiences in revealing their disabilities and its impact on their professional lives. 

Professor Winick, who has a cogenital visual disability, is a Professor of Law and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University, where he has taught since 1974. Professor Winick co-founded the school of social enquiry known as therapeutic jurisprudence and has authored several publications in the area including Civil Commitment: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Model, published by the Carolina Academic Press in 2005.

Professor Saks, who has schizophrenia and acute psychosis, recently published The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, a memoir about her struggles and successes with schizophrenia and acute psychosis. Professor Saks is the Associate Dean and Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at USC’s School of Law.

Professor Wizner is the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he has taught since 1970. Professor Wizner has taught and supervised students in Yale Law’s clinical program, and has taught non-clinical courses in Trial Practice, Evidence, and Ethics. When Professor Saks was a student at Yale, Professor Wizner supervised her work in the mental health law clinic.

The Psychology, Public Policy & Law Journal is an inter-disciplinary law journal that is published quarterly by the American Psychological Association. Every spring semester, PPP&L along with other University of Miami organizations, sponsors a symposium on a particular issue facing psychology and law. For more information on how one can participate, visit their website or call (305) 284-2339.

For more information on the event or the speakers, click here.

posted 20-January-2009