The Disability Law and Policy Program (DLPP) houses the nation’s first Joint Degree Program in Law and Disability Studies, a Curricular Program in Disability Law and Policy, and the Disability Rights Clinic as well as disability-related summer and semester-long externships in New York and Washington, DC.
Led by Professor Arlene Kanter, DLPP is the most extensive disability-related law school program in the United States. Students who participate in this program often go on to jobs in the areas of disability, education, special education, children’s rights, civil rights, labor, employment, trusts and estates, and international human rights law. Graduates now work for federal and state government agencies, private law firms, domestic and international NGOs, public interest law offices, legal services offices, school districts, policy organizations, think tanks, and some students have started their own law practices or pursued LLM or PhD degrees.
Syracuse University College of Law’s Disability Law and Policy Program (DLPP) has won an international award for its innovative disability-related academic program at the Zero Project Conference, held at the United Nations Offices in Vienna, Austria, on Feb. 20, 2020. The Prize for Innovative Practices was awarded to the DLPP by the Zero Project, an initiative of the Essl Foundation, whose mission is to create a world without barriers, as envisioned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Says Professor Arlene Kanter, who worked with the UN on drafting CRPD, “DLPP is the most extensive disability-related law school program in the United States, and perhaps the world.” DLPP houses the nation’s first joint degree program in Law and Disability Studies and a Curricular Program in Disability Law and Policy.
DLPP students also work in the College of Law’s Disability Rights Clinic, take disability-related courses, and work as interns and externs in disability related placements in New York City, Washington, DC, and other cities in the US and throughout the world.
Experts across the globe peer-reviewed more than 500 Zero Project-nominated projects, which this year focused on the topic of inclusive education. Of the nominees, 75 innovative practices and 11 innovative policies from 54 countries were selected. The DLPP was one of only three awarded programs in the United States and the only US based university program.
Professor Kanter and Assistant Dean Andrew Horsfall in Beijing after a lecture by Professor Kanter at Peking University Law School.
Image description: Pictured are 7 people standing of various heights in front of a screen that shows a PowerPoint slide that reads “The Development of Disability Law Around the World.”
