News

The Southeast ADA Center Will Broadcast the “ADA Live!” Episode 82: History and the Future of Disability Rights: A Conversation with Judy Heumann

Wednesday – June 3, 2020

Join us in a powerful and noteworthy conversation about the history and the future of the disability rights movement in celebration of the Olmstead Decision and the 30th ADA Anniversary.

Judy Heumann is an author, disability rights leader, founder of the World Institute on Disability, former Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSSERS), former Special Advisor on Disability Rights for the U.S. State Department, and subject of the documentary Crip Camp. Judy will be our honored guest for this ADA Live! podcast, and the host will be Peter Blanck, Ph.D., J.D.,and University Professor & Chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University. Continue Reading

The Southeast ADA Center Launches Disability and COVID-19 Portal

The Southeast ADA Center (SEADA), a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University and a member of the ADA National Network, announces the launch of the Disability and COVID-19 Portal.

The Portal, in development since mid-March, began as a way for the Southeast ADA Center to provide timely and relevant information for people with disabilities about the COVID-19 pandemic and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). You can explore the Portal through Alerts, Fast Facts, Virtual Events, and over 250 Resources from known national, federal, state, and organizational sources. Some information is available in Spanish, and American Sign Language. Continue Reading

BBI chairman, Peter Blanck, discusses The Future of Accessibility and Law as a panelist on “Live With Kellye and Ken”

Kellye and Ken“Live with Kellye & Ken” is an online running dialogue about the present and future of legal education. Each month, Deans Emeritus Kellye Testy (LSAC CEO) and Ken Randall (iLaw Founder and President) lead expert panels of law school deans in engaging online discussions of today’s important topics surrounding legal education and leadership.
Topic: The Future of Accessibility and Law
Date: May 19, 2020 at 4:00-5:00 pm ET (3:00-4:00 pm CT; 1:00-2:00 pm PT) Continue Reading

The Southeast ADA Center publishes a list of factual and authoritative resources to help the public understand the Coronavirus

COVID-19, or the Coronavirus, has been the subject of intense media attention for the past several weeks. Along with that attention comes the possibility of misinformation that results in unease and panic. The Southeast ADA Center, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, has put together a list of factual and authoritative resources to help the public understand the Coronavirus. It includes information about how the virus is spread and what you can do to prevent infection. Continue Reading

BBI Distinguished International Fellow and BBI visiting Future Fulbright Scholar Wins National Award

Associate Professor Paul Harpur was appointed as a distinguished international BBI fellow in 2015 and is spending the first part of 2020 in the United States on a Future Fulbright Scholar project: “Universally Designed for Whom? Disability, the Law and Practice of Expanding the “Normal User” On this project he is working with Professor Peter Blanck, chairman of BBI, and Professor Michael Ashley Stein, Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability. Associate Professor Harpur said he was proud to be acknowledged for his leadership in translating disability strategy into a vision of ‘ability equality’ and core university business. “I dream of a university sector that is equally accessible to all students; whether they be able bodied or a student with a disability.”

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Interfaith Dialogue Dinner Series Addresses ‘Faith and Mental Health’ on March 3

Reprinted from Syracuse University News – Campus & Community

The University’s ongoing Interfaith Dialogue Dinner Series, “Common and Diverse Ground: Raising Consciousnesses by Acknowledging the ‘Hidden’ Things that Divide Us,” continues on Tuesday, March 3, with the second dialogue of the Spring 2020 semester. The dialogue will include an in-depth discussion on “Faith and Mental Health” with guest co-facilitator Shanti Das ’93 and student co-facilitator Shaelise Tor, a doctoral candidate. Continue Reading

BBI welcomes Senior Fellow Michal Soffer

Michal Soffer, Ph.D., MSW
Michal SofferMichal Soffer is the head of the Master’s specialization track in social work with people with disabilities at the School of Social Work. She received a Bachelor of Social Work, a Master of Social Work and a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Soffer completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Burton Blatt Institute, College of Law, Syracuse University. She received an Alon scholarship for outstanding young faculty by the Israeli Council for Higher Education. Continue Reading

Winter Issue of Wordgathering, a Digital Open Access Journal of Work From Disabled Writers and Artists, Now Live

Reprinted from: Syracuse University News Arts & Culture 

Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and LiteratureThe winter issue of Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature is now live on Wordgathering’s new website. This is the quarterly journal’s 52nd issue and the first under publication by the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach in Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute (BBI), headquartered in the College of Law, and Syracuse University Libraries. Under the new editor-in-chief, Diane R. Wiener, research professor and associate director of interdisciplinary programs and outreach, the journal is now available via digital open access.

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Peter Blanck, BBI Chairman, addresses Boston U. Law School at 25th Anniversary of Landmark Case Guckenberger v. Boston University, establishing rights of Students with Disabilities

Revisiting Guckenberger: Past, Present, and Future of the ADA
**This event is open to the entire Boston University community, area schools, and the general public**
Time: 1 to 2:30 pm; Date: February 14th; Location: Barristers Hall (First floor @ BU Law)
Disability Access is Love
Event description & details…
Please join BUDLAA and EdLaw for a lunchtime lecture celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Professor Peter Blanck of Syracuse University will speak about the development of the ADA, the law’s present challenges and successes, and where there is still room to grow in the realm of higher education and the legal profession. Accessible and allergy friendly lunch will be served!

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