ead author of Disability Civil Rights Law and Policy to testify before congress on disability policy

[Guest guest]

Lead author of Disability Civil Rights Law and Policy to testify before

congress on disability policy News-Medical.Net Wednesday, 23-Jun-2004

Blanck, M. & n Kierscht Professor of Law at the

University of Iowa and director of the Iowa Law, Health Policy and

Disability Center, will testify before Congress this week on the lives

of disabled people in America.

The hearing, " Living with Disabilities in the United States: A

Snapshot, " will be held June 24 before a subcommittee of the U.S. House

of Representatives' Committee on Governmental Reform. The subcommittee

has asked Blanck and several others associated with the National

Organization on Disability (NOD) to testify as to his expertise on

disability policy in the United States, particularly relating to his

experience as director of Iowa's Disability Center.

Blanck said he will testify about " areas of disability policy central to

improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities. " The topics

to be discussed are derived from research at the Iowa disability center

and the recent 2004 NOD/ Survey of Persons with Disabilities. They

include helping disabled people find work, access to assistive

technologies and universally designed products, ability to accumulate

assets, tax incentives and opportunities for home ownership.

Blanck is lead author of Disability Civil Rights Law and Policy, a

recently published authoritative treatise that covers the history,

development and details of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other

disability law and legislation.

The Iowa Law, Health Policy & Disability Center

(http://disability.law.uiowa.edu) is a leader in law, technology,

education and research focused on improving the quality of life for

people with disabilities. Based at the UI College of Law, with offices

in Washington, D.C., Boston and elsewhere, the center concentrates on

public policy and its impact on persons with disabilities, with an

emphasis on economic independence, employment, technology and

self-sufficiency.

Blanck has written more than 100 articles and books on the ADA, received

grants to study disability law and policy, represented clients before

the United States Supreme Court in ADA cases, and testified before

Congress. He was a member of the President's Committee on Employment of

People with Disabilities and has been a Senior Fellow of the Annenberg

Washington Program, a fellow at Princeton University's Woodrow

School, and a Switzer Scholar.