Course | Columbia Law School

This course examines disability law and theory. The emphasis is on US statutory law, with a particular focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA Amendments Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Material from psychology, philosophy, economics, and literature supplements the legal readings. Topics include the following: the challenge of defining disability; the social and medical models of disability; the continuities and discontinuities among different kinds of disabilities, including physical and mental, psychiatric and cognitive; the nature and causes of disability discrimination; the proper scope of legal regulation; the costs and benefits of accommodation; the overlapping and distinctive features of regulating discrimination in different domains such as employment, education, and public accommodations; what disability law and theory can teach antidiscrimination law more generally; and the role of extra-legal knowledge in the legal project of responding to disability discrimination. The course has no prerequisites and is open to LLMs and non-law students as well as to JD candidates. Grades will be based on class participation, response papers, and performance on a final take-home exam.