News

A Groundbreaking Study on Increasing Opportunity and Reducing Bias in the Legal Profession

August 13, 2018

Source: Syracuse Law Yearbook 2018

Burton Blatt Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Ynesse Abdul-Malak

During 2017-2018, the College of Law’s Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) continued its important collaboration with the American Bar Association (ABA). BBI is directing a first-ofits-kind nationwide study with the ABA to examine challenges encountered by legal professionals, with an initial focus on lawyers with disabilities and lawyers who identify as LGBTQ+, to develop evidence-based strategies to reduce bias prejudice and increase opportunities in the profession.  Continue Reading

Blanck & Abdul-Malak Speak at Lavender Law Conference on Breaking Down LGBTQ Bias in Legal Profession

August 7, 2018

BBI Chairman Peter Blanck & BBI Researcher Ynesse Abdul-Malak to Speak at National LGBT Bar Association Lavender Law Conference on Breaking Down LGBTQ Bias in Legal Profession: Lessons from National ABA/BBI Project

The National LGBT Bar Association Presents: 30th Annual Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair

Too often, the LGBTQ community and those with disabilities are not included in efforts to expand career and professional diversity, especially in the legal profession. To address this issue, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) recently launched a first-of-its-kind nationwide study, conducted by the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University (“BBI”). Continue Reading

BBI’s Peter Blanck and Larry Logue Pen “PTSD and Suicide” OpEd for Stars and Stripes

July 20, 2018

OPINION: Vets, PTSD and suicide: An age-old problem?

Special to Stars and Stripes By Larry M. Logue and Peter Blanck

July observances are more about patriotism and independence than soldiering, but the two are never far apart. This past Independence Day, you may have seen the two concepts dovetail on yard signs notifying revelers that “A COMBAT VETERAN LIVES HERE — PLEASE BE COURTEOUS WITH FIREWORKS.” Continue Reading

Logue and Blanck Analyze Military Veterans’ Psychological Wounds Through Civil War Lens

July 16, 2018

In Their New Book, Larry Logue and Peter Blanck Analyze Military Veterans’ Psychological Wounds Through a Civil War Lens

Syracuse University News, by Martin Walls

The psychological after effects of war are not just a modern-day plight. For instance, following the U.S. Civil War, numerous soldiers returned with damaged bodies and damaged minds, but compassion was often lacking in their treatment. Continue Reading

BBI Hires Leading Disability Advocate Bruce Sexton

June 6, 2018

Bruce Sexton, J.D., Syracuse University College of Law 2018, will join BBI as a research associate working on projects that advance the economic, social, and civic lives of people with disabilities. While studying at the College of Law, Bruce served as President of the Disability Law Society, Member of the University’s Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee, and as a National Federation of the Blind (“NFB”) Student Board Member for New York. Continue Reading

Sally Z. Weiss Retires from BBI’s Southeast ADA Center

May 29, 2018

Sally Weiss smiling at the camera wearing a shirt the text disability rights are civil rights
Sally Weiss

Sally Z. Weiss Retires from Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) – Southeast ADA Center

Sally Weiss, a pioneer and tireless advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, retired in March 2018 from Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute (BBI).

In an amazing career spanning four decades, Sally’s work began in the classroom in Rockville, MD, continued as an editor with the American Enterprise Institute, and then on to the United Cerebral Palsy where she served in multiple roles including Information/Publications Coordinator, Project Director, and National Projects Coordinator. Continue Reading

Peter Blanck Comments to Financial Times on Disabilities & the Workplace

May 9, 2018
Source: SU College of Law News

Companies grapple with growing legal obligations to disabled people

Peter Blanck
Peter Blanck, BBI Chairman

(Financial Times | May 9, 2018) Unite, the UK union, helped win a legal victory in March that expanded safeguards against discrimination in the workplace established under the 2010 Equality Act to those with “pre-cancer”.

The ruling added to the range of workplace protections for disabled people in the UK. However, a challenge remains in knowing when the law should be applied, particularly in the case of mental health disabilities.

“It can be very difficult to work out whether someone is suffering from a particular impairment,” says Simon Kerr-Davis, a lawyer in the London employment practice at Linklaters. “But once that’s established, most employers are pretty clear as to what their obligations should be.” The scope of employer obligations has expanded in recent decades. In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990. In the EU, provisions on disabilities were included in the Employment Equality Directive, adopted by member states in 2000. Continue Reading

BBI Co-Sponsors Professor Stephen Kuusisto’s Book Release

April 30, 2018

Have Dog Will TravelBBI is proud to co-sponsor the launch of Stephen Kuusisto’s newest memoir, Have Dog, Will Travel. It is a part of “Disabilities as Ways of Knowing: A Series of Creative Writing Conversations”. Professor Kuusisto will be hosting a reading at 7:30PM in Watson Theater at Syracuse University on Monday, March 19, 2018.

Have Dog, Will Travel is the story of how Professor Kuusisto bonded with his first guide dog, Corky, and is “A celebration of Corky and guide dogs everywhere” according to Library Journal. Continue Reading