LAW 5046: Disability Law and Policy
Fall 2020 • Section 01 • CRN 31265

Course Description

Students will explore laws designed to protect and assist people with disabilities. The course will look at laws to provide income and health insurance support including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; laws designed to help people with disabilities to enter the workforce and the community, including the ADA and other civil rights laws; and laws designed to protect people with disabilities in the community, including guardianship, criminal justice, and civil commitment laws. The course will focus on how each area of law is shaped by a different conception policy makers have about who people with disabilities are and how the law can help, from the medically impaired definition of Social Security to the social definition of a capable person with a disabling condition that should be accommodated under the ADA. Students will compare these and struggle with the ways people must fit into each definition to get help under the law, perhaps fitting multiple definitions simultaneously. Students will leave with an understanding of disability laws and what must be done to access them effectively.

Book List/Materials