Law students gain invaluable experience with BBI’s Disability Policy Leadership Program
Deepa Goraya, a third-year law student at the University of Michigan, has long been interested in disability law. Blind since shortly after she was born, Goraya knew that going into law could be her way to impact the lives of people with disabilities. Goraya has steadily worked toward that goal, interning everywhere from a U.S. senator’s office to the White House. This past summer, she added the Burton Blatt Institute’s Disability Policy Leadership Program to that list.
The Disability Policy Leadership Program at BBI’s Washington, D.C., office is an eight-week, competitive internship that gives top law students from across the country, including Syracuse University, an up-close look at disability advocacy in the nation’s capital. Since its inception in 2006, participants in the program have gained worthwhile experience in research support, negotiation skills, writing on regulatory issues and much more. “You’re doing real, significant work,” says Goraya. "Work that has influence for many people, including myself. You’re not just making copies.”
BBI Executive Director Michael Morris, who oversees the internship program, echoed this sentiment. “Law students over the past five years have gained important practical experience in legal analysis and policy development,” Morris says. “The students have had an opportunity to participate in negotiations on new legislation, the regulatory development process through analysis of proposed rules and authorship of comments, and to get a first-hand perspective on legal advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities in Washington, D.C.”
Goraya cited student involvement programs of this kind as important not only in gaining valuable experience in both law and policy, but also in forming relationships with mentors in her chosen field. “Eve Hill [former senior vice president of BBI] became a real mentor to me because we worked closely together,” says Goraya. “She guided me in learning to do sufficient research and in improving my writing.” Goraya feels that this is particularly significant given that she will soon graduate and start working. Without guidance of this kind, “you’d just be thrown into your first job without knowing what you’re doing,” she says. “Internships are so important in your transition from school to work.”
Student involvement at BBI is not limited to this program, however. Students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels hold a number of internships and research assistant positions at BBI as well. Through these opportunities for participation, as well as the D.C. internship program, BBI has welcomed the work and contributions of more than 100 students. “Whether it is access to affordable health care, opportunities to advance employment and economic self-sufficiency, or protection of fundamental civil rights, there is an enormous need for the next generation of legal advocates,” Morris says. “The Disability Policy Leadership Program is a great example of BBI’s commitment to Syracuse University’s notion of Scholarship in Action.”
In addition to the Disability Policy Leadership Program, BBI is educating the next generation of disability leaders through innovative interdisciplinary opportunities at SU. The resulting impact on students and the Central New York community is noteworthy. One such endeavor is “Inclusive Entrepreneurship Consulting,” a course developed by BBI and taught in the Whitman School of Management. Through the course’s service-learning component, students serve as business consultants to budding entrepreneurs with disabilities.
The students’ experiences allow them to better understand the challenges faced by people with disabilities and think more consciously about disability issues—for example, employing people with disabilities—when they enter the business world. “Inclusive Entrepreneurship Consulting” received a 2010 Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship.
