Throughout history, societies all over the world—including the United States —have viewed persons with disabilities a group, and often, subjected that group to discrimination, marginalization, and outright violence. Disabled individuals may find protection from these injustices in the United States, and in some cases, existing U.S. asylum law can offer that protection. At the same time, though, fitting a disability-based claim into the strict requirements of U.S. asylum law risks further perpetuating harmful ideas about disability and may fail to fully capture disabled individuals’ lived experiences and protection needs. The emerging field of disability studies disrupts the conceptions of disability that often inform the mistreatment of disabled persons. In analyzing asylum law through disability studies frameworks, this Note both demonstrates the viability of disability-based claims and suggests modest expansions and reinterpretations of existing law that can more effectively offer needed protection without further marginalizing or stereotyping persons with disabilities.

Continue Reading The State of Disability-Based Asylum Claims Under Current (and Reinterpreted) Law: Assessing Viability Through Disability Studies Frameworks