The Americans with Disabilities Act: Old and New Tricks to Combat Discrimination against PLHIV

In addition to renewed attacks on federal and state public health and social services, people living with HIV (PLHIV) continue to face discrimination in housing, healthcare, employment, and other settings. Although successful challenges using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have resulted in the removal of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices for decades, novel legal strategies leveraging the ADA are now being used to attack HIV criminalization. 

Through a partnership with the LGBTQI+ Rights Clinic at Northwestern Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, the Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) is building off the foundational work of Team ADA to Attack Criminalization (Team ATAC) and working with students to research and prepare for additional challenges to HIV criminalization laws.
 
On April 15, CHLP moderates a conversation with Kara Ingelhart, Clinic Director, and Kailey Fairchild and Dana Meskan, Clinic Students. They discuss ongoing discrimination against PLHIV across diverse settings and document the history and structure of the ADA, as well as innovative legal approaches for using its protections to fight HIV criminalization. Attendees are provided with actionable steps for reporting and challenging discrimination in their own lives. 

Watch the recording: 

Live ASL interpretation provided by Body Language Productions.