Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) Senior Fellow Kat Macfarlane is featured in Syracuse University News Stories. Today, as Syracuse University’s director of the Disability Law and Policy Program (DLPP), Macfarlane is shaping the next generation of disability law scholars and fostering a more inclusive environment for students and academics with disabilities. Read her entire story
In the summer of 2023, Macfarlane joined Syracuse University’s College of Law as an associate professor and the director of the DLPP.
“It’s been freeing to use my lived experience in my work,” Macfarlane says. “At the college, we attract students with disabilities, and for the first time in my life, I’m in a community where there are other disabled people.”
In addition to teaching civil rights litigation, constitutional law and disability law, Macfarlane has worked to bring guest scholars with disabilities to campus to share their lived experiences. She has created a disability law-focused student scholarship symposium where students present research and connect on a range of disability topics. Macfarlane is also working on a mentorship program to guide students and showcase possibilities within disability law, civil rights and constitutional law, both in academia and in practice.
“You absolutely belong,” Macfarlane tells prospective lawyers with disabilities. “We need people with disabilities working in corporate law and Big Law, not just in disability or civil rights fields. We need people with disabilities on the Supreme Court.”