Solomon Center Hosts Panel on Disability and Mental Health Policy

Disability panel

On September 11, 2019, the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School hosted a panel discussion on disability and mental health policy. The panel, “Disability and Mental Health Policy Going into 2020: Regulation, Litigation, and Advocacy,” featured Sam Bagenstos, the Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School; Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Legal Director and Director of Policy & Legal Advocacy at the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; Jasmine Harris, Acting Professor of Law and Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall Research Scholar at the UC Davis School of Law; Ted Kennedy, Jr., Chair of the Board of the American Association of People with Disabilities; and Yair Listokin, the Shibley Family Fund Professor of Law at Yale Law School (moderator).

Each panelist offered unique perspectives on disability and mental health policy, with topics ranging from current issues in disability rights, mental health as a disability rights issue, and disability rights law as an opportunity to view current issues from a new perspective.

Mathis discussed the importance of viewing mental health as a disability rights issue and cited disability rights as “moving in the direction of letting people lead ordinary lives.” Bagenstos also recognized advancements in disability rights but acknowledged that these advancements have not always been met with necessary enforcement.

Harris and Kennedy emphasized the opportunity to leverage disability rights law. Harris urged the audience to view disability rights law as a “perspective” that could be applied to other legal issues. Kennedy presented the American Association of People with Disabilities’ Disability Equality Index, which scores major companies on their disability inclusion policies and practices, as an example of the advancements in disability rights. 

The event was cosponsored by ThinkDifferent, Yale Health Law and Policy Society (YHeLPS), and the Yale Law School Diversity and Inclusion Committee.