[Blindtlk] National Federation of the Blind to Present Second Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium

[Freeh, Jessica]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org




National Federation of the Blind to Present
Second Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium




Kareem Dale, President Obama's Special Assistant for Disability Policy,
to Address Gathering and Field Questions



Baltimore, Maryland (April 15, 2009): The National Federation of the 
Blind (NFB) will present the second Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law 
Symposium on April 17, 2009, at the NFB Jernigan Institute in 
Baltimore.  The symposium, entitled "New Perspectives on Disability 
Law: Advancing the Right to Live in the World" and named for NFB 
founder and pioneering legal scholar Dr. Jacobus tenBroek 
(1911-1968), will gather public officials, legal scholars, and 
disability rights advocates for a full-day seminar on the state of 
disability law in the United States and the world and will discuss 
how disability rights may be advanced in the future.  Kareem Dale, 
special assistant for disability policy to United States President 
Barack Obama, will make a presentation to the gathering.  Mr. Dale 
will speak on the Obama administration's policies on disability 
issues for approximately thirty minutes followed by a forty-five 
minute question and answer session.



"Our first Jacobus tenBroek symposium was a stunning success, and we 
are looking forward to once again hosting leading players and 
thinkers in the disability community," said Dr. Marc Maurer, an 
attorney and President of the National Federation of the 
Blind.   "Disability law is rapidly changing at the national and 
international level, and this forum will provide an opportunity for 
everyone to assess developments and plan strategies in this dynamic 
and critically important field."



Other presenters at the 2009 symposium include Professor Gerard 
Quinn, National University of Ireland, Galway; Assistant Attorney 
General Maura Healey, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Professor Samuel 
Bagenstos, UCLA School of Law; and Professor Peter Blanck, Burton 
Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.



Dr. Jacobus tenBroek was a constitutional law scholar, a blind 
professor at Berkeley, and an author of treatises on the Fourteenth 
Amendment and social welfare.  Dr. tenBroek created the concept that 
civil rights should apply to disabled Americans, and he published 
extensively on the application of the law to those with 
disabilities.  His efforts to advance civil rights for the blind and 
others with disabilities included drafting the Model White Cane Law, 
which has had a profound influence on the development of civil rights 
laws for the disabled throughout the United States, and publishing 
authoritative articles like "The Right to Live in the World: The 
Disabled in the Law of Torts."



For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, 
please visit <http://www.nfb.org/>www.nfb.org.



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