Rights of Inclusion: Law and Identity in the Life Stories of Americans with Disabilities / Edition 1

by David M. Engel, Frank W. Munger

Overview

Rights of Inclusion provides an innovative, accessible perspective on how civil rights legislation affects the lives of ordinary Americans. Based on eye-opening and deeply moving interviews with intended beneficiaries of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), David M. Engel and Frank W. Munger argue for a radically new understanding of rights-one that focuses on their role in everyday lives rather than in formal legal claims.

Although all sixty interviewees had experienced discrimination, none had filed a formal protest or lawsuit. Nevertheless, civil rights played a crucial role in their lives. Rights improved their self-image, enhanced their career aspirations, and altered the perceptions and assumptions of their employers and coworkers-in effect producing more inclusive institutional arrangements. Focusing on these long-term life histories, Engel and Munger incisively show how rights and identity affect one another over time and how that interaction ultimately determines the success of laws such as the ADA.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226208336
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	06/15/2003
Series:	Chicago Series in Law and Society
Edition description:	1
Pages:	281
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

David M. Engel is the Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Buffalo, SUNY, and the author, coauthor, or editor of eight books, including Rights of Inclusion: Law and Identity in the Life Stories of Americans with Disabilities, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Frank W. Munger is professor of law at the State University of New York at Buffalo and past president of the Law and Society Association. He is the editor of Laboring below the Line.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
One
Life Story: Sara Lane
Life Story: Jill Golding
Life Stories: Sara Lane and Jill Golding Together
Identity and Rights
Two
Life Story: Raymond Militello
Reinterpreting the Effects of Rights
Three
Life Story: Sid Tegler
Work and Identity
Four
Life Story: Georgia Steeb
Discursive Frameworks and ADA Rights
Five
Life Story: Rosemary Sauter
The Effect of Social Circumstances on Rights and Identity
Six
Life Story: Beth Devon
Gender and Disability Rights
Conclusion
References
Index