People with disabilities in the United States have historically been and continue to be denied their right to make their own decisions about core aspects of their lives, including where to live, who to spend time with, what health care to access, and whether and how to form families. In the past, state and local governments institutionalized and forcibly sterilized disabled people, and often banned their presence in the community through “ugly laws.” Today, disabled people still experience pervasive obstacles to self-determination through restrictive guardianships, forced mental health treatment, barriers and bans preventing access to reproductive and other critical healthcare, insurmountable penalties to marriage, and punitive governmental interventions into the lives of disabled parents. When disabled people and their supporters seek legal services to navigate these problems, they may encounter additional access barriers and lack of disability competencies. Using a panel discussion format with three DREDF lawyers, we will identify the common barriers that prevent disabled people from making self-determined decisions about their bodies and futures. We will review the work of DREDF and its partners to dismantle these barriers through advocacy and public policy. We will discuss how legal aid lawyers and their law firm partners can offer readily accessible legal services that support and advance the bodily and decisional rights of indigent disabled people.
