The mission of the Disability Rights Project is to support legal work that empowers and strengthens the rights of individuals with disabilities. By engaging our students through legal research and writing, as well as educational outreach work, DRP hopes to provide them with diverse opportunities to learn about the different areas of disability rights law and its intersectionality with other important issues, ranging from mental health advocacy to housing justice.
Students will work with supervising attorneys from Disability Rights California (DRC), Disability Rights Oregon (DRO), Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), or Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal).
Students working with Disability Rights California’s Mental Health Practice Group will contribute to the development of a self-advocacy toolkit for incarcerated individuals subjected to solitary confinement in California county jails. Over the course of the year, students can expect to spend approximately 8–10 hours per semester on activities such as reviewing background materials, conducting legal research, identifying and evaluating existing resources, spotting gaps in currently available materials, and adapting content into plain language. These resources are intended not only for incarcerated individuals but may also be useful for their families and other impacted communities. Students will also assist with drafting and refining toolkit content and participate in substantive trainings focused on disability law and its intersection with mental health.
Disability Rights Oregon is looking for law students to research and write pocket briefs related to our Rights Under Guardianship Program. In January 2024, Oregon was the first state to appoint an attorney to people with disabilities who seek to challenge an existing or new guardianship. We call it Civil Gideon in action! This is an emerging area of the law where preferences from gender identity to forced mental health treatment are being contested under the guise of “incapacity.” Having access to briefs on some of these emerging topics will allow our attorneys and advocates to push for more equitable and just court orders with an ultimate aim of promoting choice and supported decision-making.
Students working with DREDF attorneys will provide support for an investigation of Oakland’s treatment of unhoused people with disabilities. Project tasks may include: organizing and summarizing documents that come in through Public Records Act; interviewing unhoused people and unhoused advocates about their experience with encampment sweeps; potentially drafting declarations for witnesses. This project, including presentations and training from DREDF staff, would take up to 40 hours total per person over two semesters.
Students working with BayLegal will have the opportunity to work with the Supplemental Security Income/Disability Benefits Team, conducting legal research and potentially performing direct client services surrounding consultative examinations and disability benefits applications.
All students will have an opportunity to discuss their projects and learn from one another.
Supervision: Students will work with supervising attorneys from Disability Rights California (DRC), Disability Rights Oregon (DRO), the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), or Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal).
Time Commitment: About 10-20 hours a semester. All DRP students meet monthly on Mondays, 1-2 PM.
- DRC: 8-10 hours a semester with biweekly meetings on Monday (1-2pm)
- DRO: 15 hours a semester with biweekly meetings (day/time TBD)
- DREDF: 20 hours a semester with biweekly meetings on Tuesday (1-2pm)
- BayLegal students meet bi-weekly on [TBD}.
For more information, please contact drp@berkeley.edu.