A spring lecture series at the Syracuse University College of Law focusing on disability laws and policies will be open to the public beginning Feb. 22.

Originally set to begin on Feb. 2, the series’ first speaker, Sue Swenson, was forced to reschedule due to illness, said Daniel Van Sant, a joint degree student in law and disability studies. Swenson was first rescheduled to Feb. 9 and then rescheduled again for Feb. 22.

Swenson is a deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for the United States Department of Education. She will kick off the series in a lecture entitled “Making Progress Toward Inclusion in Education.”

Swenson’s will be one of six lectures spanning the spring 2016 semester, each in the Fallon Lecture Hall and each focusing on national and international issues regarding the community of people with disabilities.

The 2015-16 academic year marks the 10th anniversary of the program at SU, the 40th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the 25th anniversary for the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Arlene Kanter, director of the disability law and policy program, said she selected especially prominent figures to commemorate these important accomplishments in the history of national and international disability rights.

“Like other groups who suffer discrimination and are marginalized, people with disabilities are, too,” Kanter said.

Presentations in the series will incorporate Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) services. These services include a stenographer who will translate a speaker’s words live onto a screen so it can be read by someone who has a hearing disability, or by someone who is not a native English speaker, according to an SU News release.

“It’s a kind of technology that makes sure these events are accessible for anybody who wants to attend,” said Van Sant, who is also president of SU’s Disability Law Society.

Van Sant said that when the Disability Law Society applies for funding for CART services or sign language interpreters, the applications are often ironically met with hesitation and uncertainty.

“People want to know if we’re certain that someone coming ‘needs it’ or not,” Van Sant said. “People think that it’s more expensive or it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

But Van Sant said the inclusion of important accessibility features is a statement for the disabled in and of itself.

“You can have things in a physically accessible room … have an interpreter, and see how it works … and how much more dynamic of a presentation is makes,” Van Sant said. “That alone sends a message of how easy it is and how easily these things can be incorporated.”

The lecture series is not exclusively geared toward law students, Van Sant said. Students and faculty members from the entire SU community are encouraged to attend for their own enrichment.

Both Kanter and Van Sant said increased awareness allows students and faculty from every discipline to have the potential to bring about change in their fields.

“We’re really welcoming and excited to have people from any background,” Van Sant said. “That’s what makes things like this successful: when you get those different perspectives.”

Other speakers for the series include Eric Rosenthal, executive director of Disability Rights International; Michael Waterstone, professor at Loyola Law School; Stephanie Ortoleva, president of Women Enabled International; Samuel Bagenstos, professor at the University of Michigan Law School; and Sagit Mor, teaching fellow at the University of Washington and assistant professor at the University of Haifa.

Published on February 9, 2016 at 10:52 pm

Contact Bridget: blmcalli@syr.edu