Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium

“The right of access to public accommodations and common carriers is a civil right. It is a basic right indispensable to participation in the community, a substantive right to which all are fully and equally entitled.” Jacobus tenBroek, The Right to Live in the World: The Disabled in the Law of Torts, 54 CAL. L. REV. 841, 858 (1966).

About the Symposium

Jacobus tenBroek founded the National Federation of the Blind in 1940 and served as its president until his death in 1968. He was a constitutional law scholar, a blind professor at Berkeley, and an author of treatises on the Fourteenth Amendment and social welfare. Dr. tenBroek created the concept that civil rights should apply to disabled Americans, and he published extensively regarding the variables involved in the application of the law to those with disabilities. That blind and other disabled people have been able to gain a substantial measure of participation in American life is largely due to Dr. tenBroek's thought and energy.

To carry forward the work of Dr. tenBroek in assuring that all citizens may have the opportunity for full participation in the society in which we live, the National Federation of the Blind is hosting the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium. The 2009 symposium, “New Perspectives on Disability Law: Advancing the Right to Live in the World,” examined the new perspectives on disability law both in the United States, brought about by the election of a new administration and the signing of the ADA Amendments Act, and internationally, as a result of the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The 2009 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium was sponsored by:

Hear an audio recording of the 2009 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium, New Perspectives on Disability Law: Advancing the Right to Live in the World.

Panel I--The Obama Administration’s Perspective on Disability Policy.
Lead Presenter: Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy

Panel II--Perspectives on Enforcement of Disability Law.
Lead Presenter: Maura Healey, Assistant Attorney General and Chief, Civil Rights Division, Office of the Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Commentators:
•  Tim Fox, Principal, Fox & Robertson, P.C.
•  Amy Robertson, Principal, Fox & Robertson, P.C.

2009 Keynote Address
Ari Ne’eman, Founding President
The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network

Panel III--International Impact of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Lead Presenter: Gerard Quinn, Professor of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway
Commentator: Katherine Guernsey, International Lawyer and Adjunct Professor, American University School of International Service

Panel IV--The Future of the ADA: Making it Work Better.
Lead Presenter: Samuel Bagenstos, Visiting Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law; Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School (Fall 2009)
Commentator: Christine Griffin, Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

2009 Closing Remarks and Open Session
Lead Presenter: Peter Blanck, University Professor and Chairman, Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University
Commentator: Scott LaBarre, Principal, LaBarre Law Offices, P.C.; President, National Association of Blind Lawyers

Papers presented at the 2009 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium will be published in the Fall 2009 volume of the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights.

Hear an audio recording of the 2008 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium, Disability Law: From tenBroek to the Twenty-first Century:

Panel I--The State of Disability Law in the United States in 2008: How Full Is the Glass?
Lead Presenter: Robert Dinerstein, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Commentators:
• Mildred Rivera, Esq., U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C.
• Laura Rothstein, Professor and Distinguished University Scholar, University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law

Panel II--The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Right to be in the World.
Lead Presenter: Michael Stein, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Commentators:
• Maria Veronica Reina, Director of International Programs, Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University
• Michael Perlin, Professor of Law, New York Law School

2008 Lunch keynote address
Marc Maurer, President
National Federation of the Blind

Panel III--Looking Past the Definition of Disability: How Effective Are the ADA's Affirmative Requirements in Achieving Equality for People with Disabilities?
Lead Presenter: Chai Feldblum, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Commentators:
• Daniel Goldstein, Partner, Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
• Douglas Kruse, Professor of Human Resource Management/Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations

Panel IV--Restoring the ADA and Beyond: Disability in the Twenty-first Century.
Lead Presenter: Robert Burgdorf, Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law
Commentators:
• John Kemp, Principal, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, P.C.
• Andrew Imparato, President and CEO, American Association of People with Disabilities
Closing Remarks and Open Session
Lead Presenter: Peter Blanck, University Professor and Chairman, Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University

Papers presented at the 2008 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium were published in volume 13:2 of The Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. Copies of the symposium volume may be purchased at http://www.utexas.edu/law/journals/tjclcr/.

The NFB would like to thank our Steering Committee members:

Lou Ann Blake, Law Symposium Coordinator, National Federation of the Blind
Peter Blanck, University Professor and Chairman, Burton Blatt Institute
Charles Brown, Esquire, American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Marc Charmatz, Esquire, National Association of the Deaf
Robert Dinerstein, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Daniel Goldstein, Partner, Brown, Goldstein, & Levy, LLP
Andrew Imparato, President and CEO, American Association of People with Disabilities
Douglas Kruse, Professor of Human Resource Management and Labor Studies, Rutgers University
Scott LaBarre, Principal, LaBarre Law Offices, PC
Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Legal Director, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Marc Maurer, President, National Federation of the Blind
Ed Morman, Director, Jacobus tenBroek Library, National Federation of the Blind
Mark Riccobono, Executive Director, Jernigan Institute, National Federation of the Blind

For questions regarding the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium, please contact:

Lou Ann Blake, Law Symposium Coordinator
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
     at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
Phone: (410) 659-9314, ext. 2221