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
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
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
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
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
Continue Reading Rethinking Demands for Law Enforcement Training in ADA Lawsuits
Advocates in wheelchairs who flew to Washington, DC to press for disability civil rights in the 1970s rode to lobbying meetings in the back of a moving truck. There was no accessible public transit.[1] Brand new buses were
Continue Reading Public Transportation for All – Paratransit 30 Years After the ADA
When I talk about my cases with friends, one of the most common questions is whether old buildings are exempt from ADA requirements. Many lawyers—including me—used to call this idea a “Grandfather Clause.” I stopped using that phrase
Continue Reading Can Barriers to Wheelchair Access Be “Grandfathered In”?
“I call it COVID shaming… It’s a real thing that happens. It happened to me for weeks after my healing.The Rev. Shane Harris, president of the People’s Alliance for Justice
According to the CDC, we must fight stigma during
Continue Reading Laws to Fight COVID Stigma
I’m an avid bicyclist. I’ve ridden the NYC Century, the full 100-mile tour of four New York City boroughs. I pedal the 13 miles to my office in Brooklyn regularly. And I love the protected bike lanes that help
Continue Reading Bike Lanes Can Create Disability Barriers
It has been a month of reflections about the ADA, signed into law 30 years ago last Sunday by President George H.W. Bush. Taking in the many perspectives on what the law has and has not done, I found
Continue Reading What the ADA Means to Lawyers
