August 13, 2010 will be my last day working as the Transportation Advocate at the Center for Disability Rights. I will be moving to Syracuse on August 15th to attend the Syracuse University College of Law. In particular, I will be studying Disability Law. Although I will miss the Center for Disability Rights very much, it was actually CDR that inspired me to go to law school.

I decided to attend law school after working for the CDR for two years because my experiences at CDR exposed me to the many flaws that still exist in our legal system today and to the absurd amount of violations to the Americans with Disabilities Act that go unpunished. Discrimination based on disability is still very prominent today. I want to work to change that.I chose to attend Syracuse University College of Law because I really like the Disability Law and Public Policy program offered. Many other schools offer two or three courses that focus on ADA issues, but Syracuse offered much more than that. As I am already deeply rooted in the disability community and want to continue to help our community progress, the Disability Law and Public Policy program at SUCOL attracted me more than anything any other law school had to offer.

Many people have asked me why I want to be a lawyer, but I have yet to come up with just one solid answer. I want to be a lawyer because I am sick of people with disabilities being told that they cannot enter a public place because it is inaccessible. I want to be a lawyer because I want states to stop violating the Olmstead decision and start enforcing it so that individuals with disabilities can live in the most integrated setting possible. I want to work, and I know other individuals with disabilities want to work too, and as a lawyer, I can help these individuals who are discriminated against by employers. I want to fight to end the sub-minimum wages that some disabled people are being paid. There are so many areas where individuals with disabilities are still facing discrimination, including, but certainly not limited to, housing, transportation, work and public access. I want to be a lawyer because not only do I want to see these things change, I want to be a force in that change.

Two years ago, when I began working for CDR, I did not know how many public places were still inaccessible, I was unaware of the Olmstead decision, I had no idea what subminimum wage was, and I was ignorant to the fact that discrimination based on disability still existed. Working for CDR brought all of these issues to light for me and I became very passionate about changing things. Thank you to all of the consumers, employees and friends of CDR for helping me learn. I will miss you all very much, but I’ll be back!