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Classes

Wednesday January 25
2017
 Reasonable Accommodations and Inclusivity in the Workplace

In this two-part panel discussion, faculty will begin by discussing reasonable accommodations in the workplace and then discuss ways to make environments more inclusive to those with disabilities.

Panel 1 – Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace: Laws and regulations, vocational rehabilitation, and how working can affect public assistance

In this session, panelists will explain the laws and regulations at the federal, state and local level that protect individuals from discrimination in the workplace. Panelists will offer best practices for employers and employees to adopt to ensure an inclusive and effective workplace. The faculty will also discuss vocational rehabilitation opportunities, and also how government benefits are affected through earning money through employment.

Panel 2 – You Don’t Know Until You Know: Cultural and linguistic barriers and creating inclusive environments

In the second panel, faculty will discuss cultural and linguistic barriers in the workplace that people with disabilities may experience. Panelists will detail their experiences being deaf and being an employee with other types of disabilities in the workplace, the importance of translation services as accommodations and legal rights, practical strategies to the “interactive process” when making or responding to an accommodation request, and strategies for employers and employees to employ together to create more inclusive environments.

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  • When
    Wednesday, January 25, 2017
    1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Location
    Legal Services NYC - Central
    40 Worth St., 6th floor
    New York, NY 10013
  • CLE Credits
    Areas of Professional Practice: 2.00
  • Format
    Traditional Live Classroom
  • Practice Area(s)
    Disability
  • Price: $150

About the Faculty

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    Christina Asbee (Speaker)

    Christy Asbee is a program director and attorney at Disability Rights New York. She serves NYS residents with disabilities receiving, interested in receiving, or having difficulty obtaining assistive technology. Christy has helped individuals receive devices such as motorized wheelchairs, speech generating devices, computers and training services, and the like through the VA, state and private health insurance providers, schools, employers, and other funding agencies. Her work helps people live independently, meet educational goals, and find and maintain employment. Christy received her J.D. from Vermont Law School in 2011. Prior to law school, she received a B.S. from Elmhurst College in Chicago, IL, attended Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, and worked for two years in Akita, Japan.
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    Sara Liss (Speaker)

    Sara Liss joined Disability Rights New York as a staff attorney in August 2014. She a devoted disability rights advocate and has served clients in matters involving employment, housing, transportation, education, healthcare, jail and prison rights, and other issues. She represents clients in administrative and legal proceedings for a wide variety of disability-related matters. The majority of her clients have physical or sensorial disabilities. Sara earned her J.D. in 2014 from the UCLA School of Law and her B.A. with General Honors in 2011 from the University of Chicago, where she was Phi Beta Kappa.
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    Sara Mendicino (Speaker)

    Sara Mendicino is a Staff Attorney in the Albany office of Disability Rights New York (DRNY). She is in the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (PADD) Program. In her role Sara has represented and worked with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a wide range of civil rights issues including special education, access to community based services, Americans with Disabilities Act claims, guardianship restorations and monitoring or investigating residential schools, facilities and prisons under DRNY’s access authority. Sara graduated cum laude from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. She is also a graduate of Albany Law School, graduating cum laude. While in law school she worked in Albany Law’s clinical program in their Domestic Violence Prosecution Clinic and Family Violence Litigation Clinic. This parlayed her into continuing this work with domestic violence victims by obtaining a coveted Summer Fellowship at Harvard Law’s clinic, The Harvard Legal Aide Bureau, the summer before her third year. Sara began her legal career as a Judicial Law Clerk in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for two terms with the Honorable Michael J. Barrasse. In this position she worked primarily on criminal matters. Then, prior to joining DRNY, Sara was in private practice where she represented car manufactures in warranty and contract litigation. Sara is barred in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is awaiting admission in New York State.
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    Erica Molina (Speaker)

    Erica M. Molina, Esq. directs Disability Rights New York’s (DRNY) Client Assistance Program (CAP). Erica graduated in 2009 from New Jersey City University (NJCU), where she majored in English & Journalism and minored in Pre-Law. Before graduating summa cum laude, Erica was Managing Editor and then Editor-in-Chief of the university’s newspaper. Also at NJCU, Erica was an establishing member of the university’s ADA Committee. Erica graduated from Albany Law School in 2012. While there, she worked in the school’s Civil Rights and Disabilities Law Clinic, and also held leadership roles in the Latin American Law Students’ Association and in the Women’s Law Caucus. As a person with her own disability, Erica has always been an advocate for people with disabilities and has been the CAP Director at DRNY since May 2013. She is admitted to practice law in New York.
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    Ben Thapa (Speaker)

    Ben is a staff attorney in the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security program at Disability Rights New York. Ben works with disabled clients to remove barriers to employment and to resolve individual and systematic issues through advocacy, litigation, and monitoring. About a year after Ben Thapa was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, his family and doctors found out that he was profoundly deaf. Soon after that discovery, the Thapas moved to the Capital Region of New York. The Thapas loved the region for its opportunities, services, and environment, so they stayed and built lives here. Ben was lucky in terms of starting K-12 school just before the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. After starting kindergarten at an all-deaf school, Ben mainstreamed with success and graduated from Albany Law School in 2011. Following graduation, Ben worked at South Col Engineering as an attorney and administrative director. He started with DRNY as a legal intern in 2016.
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    Kim Weisbeck (Speaker)

    Kim Weisbeck joined DRNY as a staff attorney in April 2017, and has successfully represented children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities on a wide range of issues including special education law, civil rights of prisoners, guardianship, and rights of residents in nursing homes and residential treatment centers. In her position at DRNY, Kim also serves on the executive council of the Western New York Special Education Task Force. Prior to joining DRNY, Kim engaged in private practice, representing children and adults in Family Court and Supreme Court in Western NY for approximately 15 years. In private practice Kim focused on the issues of domestic violence, abuse and neglect, custody and visitation and matrimonial law. She is a past recipient of both the Michael F. Dillon Award and the James R. Boyle Award, both recognizing outstanding representation of children. Kim began her legal career as a staff attorney at the Administration for Children’s Services in Manhattan. She is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and Albany Law School.