ABA asks lawyers with disabilities to 'put themselves on the map’ and #BeCounted
To celebrate Disability Pride Month, the ABA Commission on Disability Rights has launched the #BeCounted campaign.
The new initiative, which will run beyond July, calls on lawyers to share their city, state and disabilities in an anonymous survey. The information will then be added to a map and highlighted online to increase awareness that lawyers with disabilities do exist, says Sarah Katz, a program associate at the Commission on Disability Rights.
“It’s important for disabled lawyers to put themselves on the map,” says Katz, who notes that the commission is not asking for any personally identifying information. “It’s also really important for prospective lawyers, law students, recent graduates to see others like them in the profession because so few self-identify.”
According to the ABA’s 2021 Model Diversity Survey, which collected data from more than 100,000 attorneys nationwide, lawyers with disabilities are “generally underreported and/or underrepresented at every level and are significantly more likely to work in the ‘Other Attorney’ role compared to all other groups within law firms.”
Many organizations have been slow to gather information on lawyers with disabilities, for a complicated set of reasons, explains Robert Dinerstein, the chair of the Commission on Disability Rights. People who don’t have obvious disabilities haven’t always felt comfortable disclosing that part of their identity, he adds.
“Stigma is still very much evident, and people are often concerned that if that information is disclosed, it will be used to their disadvantage whether it is in the workplace or educational institution or otherwise,” Dinerstein says. “Whether that is true or not, the perception is a very powerful one.”
Disability Pride Month
Along with increasing the visibility of lawyers with disabilities, Dinerstein adds that the commission hopes to bring more awareness to Disability Pride Month. July is the month the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990.
ABA President Mary Smith celebrated Disability Pride Month in a statement calling the ADA “a seminal piece of civil rights legislation that fundamentally redefined the landscape of accessibility and inclusion in America.”
Smith pointed out that Disability Pride Month also challenges lawyers “to confront deep-seated prejudices that undermine the value of individuals with disabilities, while also highlighting the substantial barriers that persist towards achieving true equality.” She called on the legal community to both celebrate the contributions of those with disabilities and to engage on the issues that continue to face them today.
“Join us in championing the #BeCounted campaign, which encourages individuals to map their presence as a bold statement of pride and a call for greater awareness and amplified visibility, and to cultivate a culture of respect and understanding,” Smith said.
Visit the #BeCounted campaign page for more information on how to participate.
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