The Disability Frame: Opportunities, Costs, and Constraints in the Broad Stuggle for Inclusion

The Disability Frame: Opportunities, Costs, and Constraints in the Broad Stuggle for Inclusion

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review partnered with Professor Jasmine Harris and Professor Karen Tani to present a symposium entitled "The Disability Frame: Opportunities, Costs, and Constraints in the Broad Struggle for Inclusion" February 18-19, 2022 on Zoom.

At the heart of this syposium is the legal concept of disability. This concept has now been enlisted to address a surprising array of problems: not only disability-based discrimination and exclusion, but also the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools, the subordination of transgender individuals, the casualties of modern capitalism, and the remediation of poverty and environmental harmss, to name just a handful of examples. And yet, there has been scant acknowledgment or discussion of the choice to enlist disability in these myriad ways. This sumposium seeks to initiate much-needed conversation. This symposium also acknowledges that disability is not only a legal concept, but also a social construct, a lived reality, and for many individuals, a chosen identity. It is time for scholars, policymakers, activists, and present and future lawyers to grapple with the complexity of "the disability frame" and think collectively about its implications.