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Sunday, December 25, 2005

ADA Watch, Wrightslaw, and Ohio's own Ruth Colker

Here is the National Coalition for Disabilities Watch group that we all need to look at once a month ... http://www.adawatch.org/protect.asp


Also, don't forget Wrightslaw, the famous "Nick and Nora" of the new millenium ...


The search engine on our site is extremely fast and comprehensive.

If you haven't visited for a while, check the News page.http://www.wrightslaw.com/news.htm
If you are looking for information about advocacy, visit the Advocacy Libraries. The most popular articles are in this Library. http://www.wrightslaw.com/articles.htm
If you are looking for the statutes, cases, and other legal information, visit the Law Libraries.
To find information by subject, visit the Topics page.http://www.wrightslaw.com/topics.htm
If you cannot find the information you need, use the Search box at the top of each page.

Please subscribe to The Special Ed Advocate, our online newsletter about special education advocacy and legal issues - it's free. You can subscribe from any page.FOR PARENTSWe receive dozens of requests for help every day. Usually the answer to your question is in an article on the site or in one (or both) of our books.We wrote the books to meet the needs of parents, especially parents in crisis. Please use the search engine to find information about your issues.If you wrote to request advice about your child's situation, please understand that we cannot answer specific questions or provide legal advice online. In most cases, the presenting problem is not the most important issue that needs to be addressed.

If you are dealing with a school problem, it is difficult to step back and get a fresh perspective on the problems and possible solutions. Yet this is what you need to do. Many parents say that after they read the articles on the site, read our books, and organized their child's file, they were able to identify the important issues and knew what to do. They did not need an attorney - they needed a plan.You can get accurate information about your legal rights and responsibilities on the Wrightslaw site and from our books. You can also learn how to use tactics and strategies to get better services for your child. When parents use tactics and strategies, they can often get better services for their children without the help of an attorney. Begin your search for information with our Getting Help pages:http://www.wrightslaw.com/links.htm

Although facts and law are important, they do not control outcome. You need to present information and requests in a way that makes your adversary WANT to give your child what he or she needs. You avoid a battle. Everyone benefits, especially your child.Do not allow the situation to get polarized. If you cannot do this, ask someone to help you. If you are looking for an attorney or advocate, visit our Yellow Pages website at:http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/ and click on your own state's listings.

Also see our legal resources at:http://www.wrightslaw.com/links/legal_advocacy.htmandhttp://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/help/legal_advocacy.htmIf you are looking for help or a helper - an advocate, tutor, evaluator, attorney, visit the Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities - we have a directory for every state: http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/

CONSULTATIONS + LEGAL QUESTIONSPete is often away from the office for days at a time in due process hearings, witness meetings, trials and training conferences for parents, advocates and attorneys. When he is in Deltaville, he has face to face and telephone consultations with parents about special education issues. An average consultation includes one or two hours to review the file and another hour or two for the consultation. Before a consultation, the parent must complete and return the questionnaire along with copies of the child's file.If you are interested in a consultation, follow this link:http://www.wrightslaw.com/Consults.htm and also send a blank email tomailto:toconsult@wrightslaw.com

BOOKSFor information about our books, please visit our publications page:http://www.wrightslaw.com/pubs.htm
For information about, Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide, follow this link -http://www.wrightslaw.com/bks/feta2/feta2.htm




"Everyday Law" for Individuals with disabilities...
Everyday Law for Individuals with DisabilitiesBy Ruth Colker and Adam MilaniParadigm Publishers$18.95 paperback,1-59451-145-4Handbook helps the disabled and their families navigate legal issues with ease ...If you are an individual with a disability and believe you have been discriminated against, it is often hard to find a lawyer to help remedy your situation. Accordingly, “self-help” may often be your most, or your only, viable strategy. But how to proceed? This book serves as a badly needed practical guide to disability discrimination law. Covering a wide range of issues faced by individuals with different kinds of disabilities, it not only describes those individuals’ legal rights but also suggests solutions to disability discrimination issues that are more practical and less expensive than filing a lawsuit.Written by two disability law experts, Ruth Colker, whose son is developmentally disabled, and Adam Milani, who was paralyzed from the chest down, this book is informed by their scholarly expertise but is also based on their collective practical experience from years of navigating issues of disability discrimination.Everyday Law for Individuals with Disabilities is the first in a series of practical guides to the law, organized by series editors Richard Delgado and Jean Stephancic, packed with useful overviews and advice for the people who need it most and can least afford it.Ruth Colker holds the Heck-Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law at Ohio State University. The late Adam Milani was Associate Professor of Law at Mercer University. They are coauthors (with Bonnie Poitras Tucker) of The Law of Disability Discrimination (4th ed., Anderson Publishing 2003). In addition, Colker is the author of Disability Pendulum: The First Decade of the Americans with Disabilities Act (New York University Press, 2005), and Milani is the coauthor (with Bonnie Poitras Tucker) of Federal Disability Law in a Nutshell (3rd ed., West, 2004).