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LSJ/CHID 433, Spring Quarter 2006 |
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Instructors:
Class Meeting Times and Location: Course Description Disability Law, Policy & the Community is an interdisciplinary seminar for upper division undergraduate and graduate students designed for those interested in learning more about the legal rights of people with disabilities, history of disability policy in the United States and the role of community activism and other forces in policy development and systems change. The course provides students with an introduction to the existing social service systems that impact people with disabilities including the Social Security Administration, Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, public education and health care. The course material is presented through lecture, class discussion, and field experience. Students will be evaluated on class preparation and participation as well as the quality of the four assignments. Students with disabilities need not disclose. To request academic accommodations due to disability, please contact Disability Resources for Students (DRS), 448 Schmitz, 206-543-8924 (voice/TTY). Course Goal and Objectives: Grading Policy Grades are based on the following: class participation (20%) NOTE: As a courtesy to the advocacy groups with whom you will be working this quarter, final copies of your analysis paper (without grade or instructor comments) will be sent by the instructors to your contact person. Required Readings Course packets are available at the Odegaard Library Copy Center. |
Class Schedule
Week of 3/27:
Monday: Course Introduction & Introduction to Disability Policy Framework
Read Silverstein, Emerging Disability Policy Framework: A guidepost for analyzing public policy, pgs. 1695-1698 and Appendix 1, pgs. 1761-1771
Wednesday: Disability Policy Framework (continued) & Introduction to Field Work.
Week of 4/3:
Read Silverstein. Statutory Changes in Disability Policy: Types of Legislation, Policies, and Goals (In course pack).
Monday: Psychology of Disability: Influence on Policy
Wednesday: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Week of 4/10:
Read Aleshire, Eye of the Beholder & Kuusisto, Life Without Mozart and The Fircrest Case (distributed in class)
Monday: Employment and Disability Programs
Lynnae M. Ruttledge
Director, Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Wednesday: The Fircrest Case
Week of 4/17:
Read Braddock & Parish, Social Policy Toward Intellectual Disabilities in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Monday: Interface with Life
Wednesday: Field work
Week of 4/24:
Read Luckasson, Terminology and Power
Monday: The Evolution of Employment Policy and Individuals with Developmental Disabilities
Janet Adams
Office Chief, Quality Program and Services
Division of Developmental Disabilities
Wednesday: Field work
Week of 5/1:
Read Rosenthal & Sundram, Recognizing Existing Rights and Crafting New Ones: Tools for Drafting Human Rights Instruments for People with Mental Disabilities
Wednesday: Field Work
Week of 5/8:
Monday: Critical Issues in Special Education
Christie Perkins
Public Policy Chair
Washington State Special Education Coalition
Wednesday: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (tentative date)
Paul Goodwin
Attorney, Seattle Office of Civil Rights U.S.Department of Education
Week of 5/15:
Read Hockenberry, Public Transit
Monday: Existing and Emerging Technologies: Policy Implications for Individuals with Disabilities
Wednesday: Field work
Week of 5/22:
Monday: TBA
Wednesday: Field work
Week of 5/29:
Monday: Holiday
Wednesday: Advocacy Fair (tentative date)
Week of 6/5
Wednesday, June 7: Final assignment due by 10:00 am
Assignments
There are four assignments:
#1: Selecting a disability advocacy group :
The first involves contacting a disability advocacy group in order to determine the advocacy priorities they have established for 2006. You will receive a list of advocacy groups that have agreed to work with students this quarter. You are certainly free to select any group and you are not limited to the groups we will discuss in class; check with one of us if you are not sure whether the group you select is appropriate. You may learn the group's priorities by interviewing a board member, attending a meeting, or—although this is probably unlikely—reading materials prepared by the group. After researching their plan for advancing their priorities—i.e., legislative lobbying, media efforts, community organization, etc—the assignment is to write a 4-5 page paper (double spaced) on the group's priorities and the strategies selected to achieve them. This paper is due to the instructors by April 12.
#2 & #3: Field work and presentation :
The second assignment is an extension of the first: students will conduct 15 hours field work during the quarter. This includes the work you do for your first assignment, selecting and following an advocacy group. Your field work hours may be spent researching policy issues in which you are interested, attending legislative hearings, administrative hearings, group meetings, interviewing key personnel etc, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of policy development at the grass roots level. Keep a written record of how you spend your time (see suggested format) and a running record of your impressions of the experience—i.e., what you have learned. You will turn in the written record of the fieldwork weekly during our regularly scheduled class meeting and you will participate in an Advocacy Fair scheduled during regular class time. Details about the Advocacy Fair will be discussed further in class.
#4: Policy analysis paper
Assignment 4 is a 10 page policy analysis paper (double-spaced) incorporating your field work and the policy issue on which you have focused this quarter. You are expected to meet with one of the instructors as soon as you decide on a topic and no later than the week of May 2nd to discuss your topic. An outline of the paper and preliminary bibliography to supplement your field work notes are due to the instructors by May 16th with the final paper due June 7. The following minimum criteria must be met before a grade will be assigned:
- Use the Protocol for Policy Papers (see class notes, week 1).
- The paper must display correct grammar, syntax, and spelling
- The paper must be turned by the due date posted in the syllabus
- The paper must have a minimum of 5 references; use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition), MLA or Chicago style.
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It is our expectation that all work will be submitted on time. Work that is submitted up to 1 week late (due dates are posted on this class website) will receive 1 full grade point less (e.g., a 4.0 paper will receive a grade of 3.0). Any work submitted more than 1 week late will not receive credit.
Unique circumstances that prevent you from submitting your work by the due date should be discussed with one of the instructors (in person, by phone or by email).
Dates to Remember:
April 12th: Paper about selected disability advocacy group due (assignment #1)
Week of April 17th: Begin field work; submit logs weekly (assignment #2)
Week of May 1st: Meet with 1 of the instructors to discuss policy analysis paper
May 17th: Outline & preliminary bibliography for policy analysis paper due
May 31st: (tentative date) Participate in Advocacy Fair (assignment #3)
June 7th: Policy analysis paper due (assignment #4)