The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
Students with disabilities who wish to receive accommodations or services must officially register with the University Disability Support Services office (DSS). It is only through a student's voluntary disclosure of a disability and request for accommodation that Catholic Law can support disability needs. To register, the student meets with a DSS adviser, submits the required disability documentation, and formally requests services, including accommodations. Disclosure of disability or request for an accommodation made to a faculty or staff member, other than the staff of DSS, cannot be treated as a request for an accommodation.
Stuart Schept
Assistant Dean for Academic Services and Registrar
Email: [email protected]
Direct Line: 202-319-5003
Front Desk Phone: 202-319-6478
For additional information or questions regarding policies, procedures, and services for students with disabilities, please contact DSS at 202-319-5211, [email protected], or online.
Courses
Legal Rights of People with Disabilities
This course studies federal legislation and court decisions protecting the rights of people with disabilities. All titles of the Americans with Disabilities Act and its regulations are studied, and recent cases arising under this law are discussed. Other federal legislation in the areas of employment, education, and housing rights of people with disabilities are also examined.
Civil Rights Law
Serves as an introduction to various federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, and various other identity statuses. We will explore statutes that have transformed America's modern landscape, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Issues covered will likely include employment, housing, voting, education, policing/criminal justice, affirmative action, hate crimes, and other issues of interest to students. Throughout this course, we will discuss the historical origins and context of these laws, whether they offer adequate protection to various groups of people, and whether they continue to be relevant today. We will also examine the legal standards required to prevail in the enforcement of these laws and prevalent defenses. These laws and issues will be analyzed through constitutional principles, case law, regulations, politics, policy, history, and current events.
Health Services and Wellness
The George Washington University Law School
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
The George Washington University Law School supports equal access to education for law students with disabilities in collaboration with The George Washington University Disability Support Services Office (DSS). The law school and DSS have a bifurcated system to address your requests for accommodation. Reasonable accommodations are defined as those that are consistent with the fundamental nature of the law school’s program of legal education that can be provided without undue financial or administrative burden, and that can be provided while maintaining academic standards. Whether or not a proposed accommodation meets these requirements shall be within the discretion of the law school. If you wish to request an accommodation based on the potential impact of a disability, you must first contact the Disability Support Services Office, located in Rome Hall, Suite 102 to establish eligibility and to coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional information, you may call 202.994.8250, e-mail general inquiries to [email protected], or visit online.
Clinics
This civil litigation clinic focuses on employment law, particularly wage and hour and unemployment compensation cases, but it frequently represents clients in disability, identification, probate and Freedom of Information Act cases. Under Professor Gutman's supervision, students represent low-income clients or non-profit groups in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, D.C. Superior Court, D.C. Court of Appeals, and in administrative courts. We also consider representing clients in other kinds of civil cases which are appropriate for students and are likely to advance the public justice mission of the Clinic. Students' case responsibilities include client interviewing, factual development, legal analysis, drafting of pleadings, motions and briefs, discovery, mediation, and oral advocacy. The classroom component focuses on law and poverty, and on developing a variety of lawyering skills, including client interviewing, case analysis, oral advocacy, litigation document drafting, and negotiations.
Courses
Disability Rights Law
Examination of those areas in which persons with disabilities have traditionally been denied some right or benefit afforded other persons in our society and have resorted to legal action; introduction to statutes and agencies designed to protect people with disabilities.
Health Services and Wellness
Georgetown University Law Center
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
Office of Disability Services
Hotung, Room 3101
[email protected]
The Office of Disability Services works in partnership with Law Center faculty, staff, and students to promote environments that are accessible, sustainable, and inclusive. We implement reasonable accommodations to remove access barriers for students with disabilities in curricular and co-curricular environments.
Courses
Disability Discrimination Law
This course covers the Americans with Disabilities Act, its amendments, regulations, and interpretive guidance as they relate to discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, the programs, services, or activities provided by government entities, and public accommodations. The course will take a pragmatic approach to exploring the rights and responsibilities arising from this law and will focus on such issues as defining disability, the concept of qualified persons with a disability, reasonable accommodations, medical exams and disability-related inquiries, program access, and public accommodations.
A Due Process Hearing Simulation
Protecting The Rights of a Student With a Disability: This interactive skills-based course will put students in the roles of counsel and witness in a simulated due process hearing under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). Due process hearings are similar to bench trials, with opening statements, direct and cross-examination of witnesses and closing arguments, however, they are conducted in front of a hearing officer. The due process hearing in this course involves claims that a public school district has violated the IDEA by: (i) failing to appropriately evaluate and identify a third grade student with a disability; and (ii) failing to provide a “free and appropriate public education” to the student.
Employment Discrimination
This course explores the legal mandate for equal employment opportunity in relation to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability and other traits. The focus is principally upon Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and also includes the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Post Civil War Civil Rights Act, and state analogues to Title VII, such as the District of Columbia Human Rights Act.
Addiction and Mental Health Law and Policy (LL.M. Seminar)
Addiction and mental health have increasingly become an integral part of the broader policy landscape. This shift has been accelerated by the impact of social issues such as the overdose epidemic, suicide and homelessness. This seminar will explore the framework of laws and policies promoting human rights, dignity, and recovery for people with substance use disorders and mental health conditions. It will highlight systemic and community responses to addiction, mental health, and related social issues as well as the use of litigation, legislation, advocacy and financial incentives as tools for reform.
Student Organizations
Disability Law Student Association (DLSA): [email protected]
Health Services and Wellness
Howard University School of Law
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
Office of Disability Support Services
[email protected]
500 Howard Place NW
Health Services and Wellness
University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) is charged with the responsibility of exploring possible coverage and reasonable accommodations for law students for purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. ARC can be reached at [email protected] or (202) 274-6417.
Implementation of Academic Accommodations
The Associate Dean of Students Erica Smith works with students to implement their academic accommodations. Please contact Dean Smith at [email protected], in Suite 448 or at (202) 274-7322.
Courses
Rights of People with Disabilities Seminar
Taught by an original author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Professor Robert L. Burgdorf, Jr. It provides an introduction to the body of law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. After preliminary sessions focusing on types of disabilities, the history of unequal treatment afforded individuals with disabilities, and legal definitions of disability, class sessions examine the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and other federal laws addressing disability discrimination in areas such as employment, education, public accommodations, transportation, housing, residential institutions, and access to medical services. Each student researches a selected topic, produces a legal research paper, and presents the student’s analysis and conclusions to the class.
Social Security Disability Law
This turbo course is designed for those students seeking to explore the world of litigation, starting with non-adversarial hearings. It will discuss relevant Social Security Rulings, regulations, and court decisions as a framework for determining the representative’s role in the administrative hearing process. Students will be provided the opportunity, through class discussion and simulations, to prepare and present testimony. The focus of the testimony is the impact of various medical impairments on the level of the claimant’s daily functioning. The following will be emphasized: non-exertional limitations such as pain, and restrictions caused by mental impairments. The methodology employed in the class consists of lecture, student participation in vignettes, buzz-groups, and a simulated Social Security Disability Hearing.
The Civil Rights and Equality Pathway is designed as a guided curriculum that will prepare you for a career as a civil rights attorney. Civil rights attorneys work in many arenas, including private practice, criminal defense, and representing non-profit organizations and government entities that specialize in protecting the civil rights and equality of under-represented and marginalized groups. Civil rights attorneys have been a key part of the struggle for racial equality, religious freedom, women’s rights, immigrant rights, the rights of LGBTQ communities and the rights of people with disabilities. Many civil rights attorneys are litigators, but they may also be community organizers, policy makers, lobbyists or legislators. By following this Pathway, you will hone core legal analysis, research and writing and trial skills.
Health Services and Wellness