Monday, July 07, 2008
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Posted by: Laurie Ralston
The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law has received an award from the State Bar of Arizona for its efforts to improve the access of disabled people in the legal profession to the judicial system. Dean Patricia D. White and Ilona DeRemer, the College's assistant dean for Career Services, accepted the Honorable John R. Sticht Excellence in Disabilities Accessibility Award during a luncheon at the 2008 Bar convention on Friday, June 20, in Tucson. The College also will be honored at a celebration on Friday, July 25, at the Arizona State Capitol to commemorate the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. The College was recognized by the State Bar of Arizona's Standing Committee on Persons with Disabilities in the Legal Profession for making its buildings and services fully, physically accessible to students, faculty, employees and the general public, and for promoting full inclusion in student activities. "We have tried very hard to retrofit the law school building in a proactive way, working with students of disability to anticipate ways to make their lives easier as law students," White said. The award is named for the late Judge Sticht, a well-respected Maricopa County Superior Court judge who became a quadriplegic as the result of a trampoline accident while he was training for the gymnastics team at the University of Arizona. "His example and personal efforts were inspirational to the Arizona legal community concerning persons with disabilities," said James B. Reed, a lawyer at Baird Williams & Greer, LLP in Phoenix, and chairman of the Bar's Standing Committee on Persons with Disabilities in the Legal Profession. Sticht's son, John M. Sticht, a 2004 College of Law alumnus and associate at the Phoenix law firm of Jennings, Haug & Cunningham, LLP, said the award was established in 2006. His father died in 2004 at the age of 63, having spent nearly 45 years in a wheelchair. "When he became a lawyer, there were many, many physical barriers that existed in the legal profession," Sticht said. "At his first job interview, he had to call someone from outside the office, because he couldn't get into the building since there weren't any ramps. "We have come a long way since then with the profession moving toward electronic communications and moving away from big cumbersome files and books," he said. "But there are still a lot of physical and attitudinal barriers, perceptions among lawyers and support staff that people with disabilities aren't able to do the same amount and quality of work, and that's just not true." White called the late judge an inspiration to the community, and said she is appreciative that the State Bar of Arizona chose to honor his legacy through the award. His son praised the College for its efforts to remove those barriers. "ASU has done a great job integrating disabled students into student life with everyone else," Sticht said. "The mentoring that is available to disabled students is top notch." White singled out three law-school administrators for recognition, Leslie Mamaghani, Assistant Dean of Educational Programs, Michael Bossone, Assistant Dean of Student Life and Development, and Registrar Tammy Vavra. They have helped students receive insurance, find housing, and obtain helpful and necessary equipment, going beyond ADA requirements, White said. In addition, the Bar applauded the College's Career Services Office for supporting the outstanding mentoring programs for students with disabilities. Sarah Mansfield, a 2006 alumna, said the College provided her accommodations for both her classes and extracurricular activities. "The College worked hard to ensure that I had access to everything," said Mansfield, who is hearing disabled. "Assistant Dean Mamaghani was especially critical to my success at the law school. "As for accommodations, I used Computer Assisted Real-time Translation, also known as CART, in which a court reporter would come to my classes and transcribe the lectures and discussions," she said. "I would read the live transcript and be able to follow along with the professors and any other speakers, and also be able to ask and/or answer questions in class." White thanked the many inspirational students who have helped the College help others. The award, she said, is a reminder of how far the College has come. "It's an ongoing project where you always have to be alert to help people operate on an even playing field," she said. Sticht praised DeRemer, a member of the Bar's Standing Committee on Persons with Disabilities in the Legal Profession since 2001 and chair of its mentor subcommittee, for her work in the field. "Ilona has been in the forefront in creating the mentoring program and has been a great asset to us on the committee," he said. That program is available to law students and new lawyers with disabilities, as well as to attorneys and legal employers who have questions about dealing with issues related to disabilities. It offers personal mentoring and situational mentors who can answer questions and provide advice about recruitment, employment and retention of legal professionals with disabilities, workplace accessibility and accommodations, and the ADA. The program also provides help with sensitivity and cultural change in the workplace, disability awareness related to interactions between lawyers with disabilities and their clients, and resources and referrals to entities that offer aid, grants and equipment for assisting law students and lawyers with disabilities.
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