Disability and Civil Rights Clinic Panel Discussion: Ensuring Equal Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities Post-Incarceration
Brooklyn Law School’s Disability and Civil Rights Clinic and Center for Health, Science and Public Policy invite you to a series of panel discussions taking place on Monday, April 1 and Monday, April 8 from 4 to 6 p.m. (ET) virtually on Zoom. There will be ample opportunity for audience questions.
Individuals with disabilities, legal advocates, family members, community organizations, and government entities are encouraged to attend. Both events are free and open to the public. Please register for one or both of these events using the rsvp button.
Monday, April 1, 2024
How the Public Education System Punishes and Disciplines Disability: Bringing Awareness and Potential Solutions
4 to 6 p.m. ET (Virtual via Zoom)
This panel will highlight the disproportionate level of disciplinary actions that children with disabilities experience throughout the public education system. The panel will focus on children of all ages and will highlight the discipline process to which children with disabilities are subject and the negative consequences thereof. The panel will also discuss possible solutions and steps to ensure children with disabilities are on an equal playing field with their peers.
Pamela Jackson, Substance Abuse Counselor and Mental Health Worker (Retired)
Nelson Mar, Senior Staff Attorney, Bronx Legal Services
Dorothy Summers, Staff Attorney, Youth Represent
Sophie Thackray, Supervising Staff Attorney, School Justice Project
Jesi Zinn, Special Education Teacher, NYC DOE
Monday, April 8, 2024
Ensuring Equal Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities Post-Incarceration
4 to 6 p.m. ET (Virtual via Zoom)
People returning to their communities after a term of imprisonment face a number of barriers to success, including housing insecurity, inability to access health care, food insecurity, and barriers to education and employment. These barriers are often exacerbated for individuals with disabilities, particularly those living with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorder, who are already overrepresented in our nation’s jails and prisons due to decades of mass incarceration and overcriminalization. This panel event will highlight steps attorneys and advocates can take to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities throughout the criminal justice system, with a focus on how reentry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals can better meet the needs of participants with disabilities.
Elia Johnson, Director of Social Work, Appellate Advocates
Diane Johnston, Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Action Center
Keesha Middlemass, Governance Studies Fellow at Brookings; Associate Professor of American Politics and Public Policy, Howard University
Helen “Skip” Skipper, Executive Director, NYC Justice Peer Initiative
Alex Starbuck ’23, Staff Attorney, Disability Rights New York
Registration
Individuals with disabilities, legal advocates, family members, community organizations, and government entities are encouraged to attend. Both events are free and open to the public. Please register for one or both of these events using the RSVP button.
Please register by March 27 for the April 1 event and April 5 for the April 8 event.
More Information
For general inquiries regarding this event, please contact the Brooklyn Law School Office of Events at events@brooklaw.edu or (718) 780-0321.
Requests for a reasonable accommodation based on a disability to attend this event should be made to Louise Cohen, Director of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Coordinator, at louise.cohen@brooklaw.edu. Please make your request at least ten days before the event. We will do our best to address accommodation requests made after the ten days.