Disability Law Journal at UCLA Law

Sunney Poyner, Editor-in-Chief

This journal exists because of the significant and amazing dedication of a group of UCLA Law students to the cause of disability rights. Throughout the creation of this journal and the publication of this issue, we have received support from many parties, but it is those who appear on the masthead, and those who came before us, who paved the way for this endeavor, who sacrificed time and gave their energy to ensure that disability law scholarship had a home. We are now thrilled to provide that home at the Disability Law Journal at the UCLA School of Law with this, our inaugural issue.

This issue, and likely multiple after it, are a blend of republication of previously published scholarship and original work. We have chosen this model to ensure that new work is published and to honor the significant strides that have been made even without a forum dedicated to this topic at the same time. For this particular issue, we solicited nominations for articles to republish from professors, practitioners, and students; the four that follow are those that we believed most advanced the cause of disability justice, presented intersectional frameworks for analysis, and showed deep analysis of critical issues. The original, student work, which follows these articles, is my own, chosen after I abstained from the selection process, and I humbly offer my Note here. Additionally, The Honorable Tony Coelho, who was instrumental in drafting and implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act, has written an impactful foreword stressing the importance of the continued fight for disability rights.

The publication of this issue would not have been possible without the support of the UCLA School of Law, including Liz Purvis, Law Student Publications Manager, and Emily Scivoletto, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs; the Graduate Student Association of UCLA; the Disability Studies Minor at UCLA; The Honorable Tony Coelho; The Ruderman Family Foundation; Claudia Peña; Scott Cummings; and Andrea Matsuoka.