Kat Macfarlane
@KatAMacfarlane
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Professor of procedure & civil rights putting the reasonable back into accommodations. Gal from Kalamazoo/Toronto/Rome. https://t.co/F4D8xYj0FP
Joined December 2009
My latest paper, Disability Without Documentation, is available on SSRN. It examines reasonable accommodations in the workplace, and how the interactive process requires medical documentation to prove disability. I argue against this practice. A thread.
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It’s not just abortion, it’s being treated as pre-pregnant for all aspects of your medical care.
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A Louisiana doctor prescribed Cytotec to make the insertion of an IUD less painful. Walgreens called the physician to ask if the prescription was for an abortion, she told them it was for an IUD & the pharmacist still refused to fill it.
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Today I shared an incident that happened to me in law school. The experience is not uncommon, even today. As a 1L, I told a professor I was disabled, and as a result, I was threatened with an honor code violation and academic discipline.
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It was an important lesson in advocacy. I don’t think we should make students fix the problems that hurt them. it’s not their job. Their job is school.
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@chlhardy @MatthewSitman No, and it’s important not to perpetuate that fiction. The dr called and verified its proper use. Many meds involved in abortion have other uses. The people not filling these meds are feeling emboldened to punish women in any way possible.
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She was enraged. And then, she took over. She went to the right admin, ensured that there would be no stool or running around the library for me, and even got me an apology! I didn’t have to do a single thing to fix the wrong. She was amazing.
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Carrying a stool around the library is not an accommodation for a mobility-impaired person. It’s such a terrible idea that now, it makes me laugh.
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This is terrible logic bc 1) not everyone who’s disabled is accommodated 2) just hold back a handful of extra exams and 3) if you’re going to treat tests taken with accommodations differently then we need to talk about that—not ok.
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I’ll be making this point later today but it’s worth repeating. The ADA does not require medical proof of disability to get accommodations. All of those forms and processes could disappear tomorrow. They exist to gatekeep, and exclude those who can’t manage the bureaucracy.
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I’ve heard as recently as last year that a student’s disability disclosure could trigger discipline at several US law schools.
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Imagine you’re a law student who realizes during week 2 of a 14-week semester that she needs to use a laptop in a class that bans laptops. Let’s say her hands hurt when she writes with a pen or pencil and taking notes on a laptop is significantly less painful.
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When I was a 1L, the whole mess made me feel like my disability was a dirty secret. I had enough internalized ableism to tell myself such nonsense, I didn’t need someone else doing that work for me.
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I’ve been sitting on this experience for a long time, because it still stings.
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The convoluted logic is that if accommodated tests take additional time to complete and are delivered late to the prof, so then telling a prof you’re disabled may mean that they now know who one of the late exams belongs to.
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How? Well, during our 1L legal research unit, we had an exercise that required us to run around the library & find hard copy sources w/in a short timeframe. I was petrified I’d flare and would fail because I wouldn’t be able to race from aisle to aisle fast enough.
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I saw her three times, mostly to talk about what else but my childhood, and she was amazing. In just three sessions she gave me insight that would last a lifetime. So when this incident happened, I went to her.
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I tried to get a hold of our disability services person. He was out of town for several weeks. I decided to approach my professor. The assignment wasn’t anonymous, so I wasn’t revealing that a particular midterm answer, for example, was mine.
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Eventually I heard from student services. I went in for an appointment. I was informed that I had violated the honor code and might be disciplined. I began to cry.
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The guy backed off a bit, but continued to admonish me about what I’d done. I pulled myself together enough to ask what I should do about the research assignment. He told me I could bring a small stool to class and carry it with me as I ran around the library.
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I was pretty distraught over the encounter, and feared that I was going to be failed out of the research class. I also didn’t know what to do about the stool.
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Prof was super nice and told me we’d work something out if I didn’t hear back from student services in time.
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At the time, Loyola offered 3 free counseling sessions with an on-site therapist.
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This isn't just about Gorsuch being a jerk. Sotomayor needs a disability accommodation, and Gorsuch refuses. Frame it that way. The ADA doesn't apply to the fed courts; imagine what this is like for high-risk law clerks w/ disabilities (including diabetes) around the country.
Nina Totenberg reports that (1) the Chief Justice asked his colleagues to mask up out of respect for Sotomayor’s health concerns, (2) only Gorsuch refused, and (3) his refusal forced Sotomayor to participate in arguments and conference remotely.
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I don’t know if these LSAT stories are helping move us forward, many feel like humble brags. I’m interested in whether you took a prep class & who paid for it. Did you work while you studied for the LSAT and if so how many hrs a week. Did you have a quiet place to study.
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On a lighter note, say a prayer for all the women who teach Con Law who are having it mansplained to us right now. I can’t even.
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Earlier today several law profs tweeted their interest in seeing data about how students who receive extra time on exams fare in practice, in particular, in practices with billable hour reqs. ADHD was mentioned. The tweets are gone, which is good, but the sting remains. 🧵.
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I would like to send out a memo explaining that there are progressive people who also went to Sunday school and read the Bible and are deeply influenced and guided by their faith albeit in very different ways than the religious right.
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Accommodated students can use laptops despite the ban. But to get an accommodation, our student needs medical documentation of the disability that gives rise to her need to use a laptop. Let’s say the underlying disability is rheumatoid arthritis.
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Remembering the time a lawyer friend introduced me to one of his lawyer friends as ‘Kat, she teaches constitutional law!’ and the lawyer dude responded with ‘I took Con Law at Harvard.’.
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Methotrexate is an abortifacient also commonly prescribed, at different doses, for autoimmune disease and cancer. It’s a form of chemo. The doses prescribed for autoimmune disease also place you at higher risk for ectopic pregnancy.
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The same thing happens the following year. The student has to start the accommodations process all over again.
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The student moved to the town in which the school is located one week before classes began. She has refills left on her RA rxs but is hoping to avoid going to see a new rheumatologist during the first semester of law school. First-time appointments are hard to get & take hrs.
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@dascandy42 If we boycotted every pharmacy pulling this stunt we’d run out of pharmacies. Many insurance plans require you to fill rxs at a particular pharmacy.
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When she gets in to see the new rheum, the rheum is annoyed that the student only wants to talk about the accommodations form and refuses to fill it out unless the student comes back for a second appointment and pays the rheum an additional $100.
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@ArabellaSL This is an important narrative to counter. No state law bans this common, alternative use. Why are we seeing an uptick in objections to meds like this? Because Dobbs has emboldened people to hurt women. This refusal will literally cause someone to endure more pain.
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The student can’t use a laptop during the time in which she collects medical documentation to support her accommodation request. She sits in class but can’t take notes.
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It is the last week of class. The student finally gets permission to use a laptop.
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@tressiemcphd When a doctor tells me to check out with the girls out front I act surprised and ask him why he employs children.
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The only rheumatologist in town is out-of-network and has a three-month waiting list.
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I don’t have academic advice for anyone entering law school this year, but I will share that the first person I introduced myself to during orientation remains a close friend to this day. Be open to friendship in the midst of all the intensity.
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But she realizes she’ll have to do just that when she reviews the accommodations form.
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The last time I checked, NALP reported that only 1% of lawyers are people with disabilities. I think this is an undercount, and influenced by the fear of disclosure and the associated stigma—stigma that they can’t keep up. The request for data about them confirms those fears.
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The school receives the form and it sits on someone’s desk for a few weeks.
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This business of forcing women who just gave birth to stand in front of cameras and be gawked is really gross. #HarryandMeganNetflix.
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The accommodation mandate is a crucial aspect of disability law. This perspective reflects a significant misunderstanding of both civil rights and the lived experience of people with disabilities. It is disheartening, depressing, and harmful.
My latest about disability accommodations in higher ed for @chronicle @ChronicleReview. It's a very controversial topic, to say the least, and inspires strong opinions. I hope this will help shift the conversation in a productive direction:.
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But maybe also pause and consider what you’re doing when you publicly ask for data about how members of a minority group who have taken advantage of the civil rights protection the law grants them perform in practice. Why are you asking?.
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I’m positive for Covid as of a few minutes ago, which is the direct result of choices I made. I’m scared. Throw some prayers in my direction.
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I’m very happy to share that I’ll be joining the faculty at Southern University Law Center this fall. I’ll be teaching Con Law, Civ Pro, & Fed Courts in a state I know and love. For the first time in forever, I’ll be living close to family (my sister Alessandra).
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@Imani_Barbarin Had an amazing bf at 20 who was a killer salsa dancer. He made up new moves for me that would take the pressure off my knees. I danced!.
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My latest article examines the ‘Accommodation Discrimination’ people with disabilities face even when their reasonable accommodation requests are granted. 🧵 now with draft to follow as the article works it way through the submission cycle.
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Very happy to share that over the next year I'll be working for the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights as Special Counsel for Disability Rights. I'm so excited about this amazing opportunity, and grateful to @SouthernULaw for supporting it.
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I cannot think of a single time over the course of the pandemic in which my mask slipped below my nose. It has never happened. Why does this happen to men every day?.
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If you have questions about how people with disabilities manage to meet their billable hour requirements, please talk to people with disabilities. There are national organizations led by attorneys who themselves received accommodations and will talk to you about it. I will.
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On the subject of evals. Last year, a fall semester eval stated that I was lazy bc unlike all other profs, I sat during parts of my lecture. I had the same group of students in the spring and felt I had to explain that I sit bc of RA pain. The whole thing was devastating.
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I called the right Walgreens at the right time and got on the right waitlist and I GOT MY FIRST SHOT. Pfizer vaccine, straight out of my hometown, Kalamazoo. The strange woman crying in the corner of Walgreens was me. Grazie a Dio.
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Because the question itself suggests that there is something different about disabled lawyers and that their testing accommodations masked their true ability or inability to perform.
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Every year I counsel students who have been told by their professors that they do not belong in law school and that if they need accommodations now they’re screwed in practice. The students come to me crying and bereft.
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the office’s refusal to send treatment information to a co-pay assistance program, a dr’s decision to hang up on me when I called the after hours line when I had COVID, a rheum who yelled at me after I asked him to wear a mask, shouting SHOW ME THE DATA, & several errors in care.
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@tressiemcphd I once offered a student some Girl Scout cookies, handed over an opened box, and he took the whole box. I spent a few minutes just sitting in my office replaying what happened. To be fair there were a rather large number of boxes still remaining on my desk.
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@AoifeCath @tressiemcphd A man with ‘feminist’ in his profile got big mad when I told him I don’t give out my phone no. before I meet people for safety reasons. Told me he wasn’t interested in someone unwilling to take risks.
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@carlissc Just ridiculous. And I’m very sorry about your joint paint. I’ve gotten similar comments about bone density, even though they know full well that the steroids they’ve prescribed for decades have ruined my bone density.
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@MarissaEsque Thank you! I thought it was isolated until I started hearing about it at other schools.
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For every new David Brooks essay there’s already a chapter in @tressiemcphd’s Thick that eviscerates his arguments.
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It’s not an original question. People with disabilities fought the LSAC for years about its practice of flagging the test scores of students who’d received extra time accommodations, inviting law schools to question high scores received with accommodations.
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Every year I have to tell them that they belong and that there’s a place for them in practice—that all the $ their schools are willing to take from them was worth it. You can do Big Law, I tell them.
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One more thing about the supposedly impossible increase in the number of students with disabilities: we are 33 yrs post-ADA. We may be witnessing the impact of the law’s success in keeping kids with disabilities in school. People who just weren’t there before are present.
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Others have pointed out how the end of Roe will impact disabled people. Do not make jokes about our diagnoses. They always come with their own set of reproductive burdens.
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@SuserSuzanner @Popehat Have you ever tried to get a pharmacist to do something they don’t feel like doing? No matter what the med is for, you have to plead for basic competency.
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I am really tired of doing this kind of emotional labor.
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I’d be happy to talk to you & your colleagues about what banning laptops does to students w disabilities. The availability of an accommodation is never enough to counter the time, money, & stress a laptop ban inflicts. Please talk to people w disabilities before you ban laptops.
For those of you teaching in-person this fall: what are you doing about laptops? If you banned them before, are you banning them again? Or has the Zoom era changed your views?.
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This is immoral and will target patients who advocate for themselves and those with chronic illness and comorbidities who coordinate their own complex care. Will be weaponized to discourage this kind of interaction.
Johns Hopkins Medicine is joining a national trend this month when it begins charging a fee to send some messages through its online patient portal MyChart.
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‘Let me tell you about my non-chronic illness that I recovered from in three days but really freaked me out, bc now it’s like I understand you and you get me.’ #AbledsAREWeird.
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I’ve already seen drs joking about the likelihood of new RA diagnoses to disguise MTX prescriptions. Please stop with these jokes. Our access is most certainly going to be affected.
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Well it shouldn’t have gone to Starbucks every day.
US government will run out of money by October 18, Treasury secretary says
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I wrote about being immunocompromised while living in an anti-mask state, & how even drs won’t keep their masks on, for @The_Intima. I also worked in some HIPAA commentary (the answer is never HIPAA). #idahoCovid19 #rheum
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I had to see a dr for an unexpected issue today & needed the whole staff on my side to get the best care, quickly. I decided this meant that I couldn’t antagonize them by asking them to wear masks. They were much nicer than they were during other visits when I insisted on masks.
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Pregnancy is very dangerous for people with autoimmune disease. I made the gut wrenching decision not to have kids because of the risks.
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Excited to share that I’m joining the faculty @SUCollegeofLaw this summer. I’ll also serve as Director of the Disability Law & Policy Program. With tenure (and much much gratitude). Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me on this journey!.
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@victoriabwrites Extra of the basics like shampoo and soap so that you don’t have to ‘make it last’ until someone gets paid.
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My heart goes out to the gentle souls trying to parallel park while a line of traffic piles up behind them and they fail after several tries and just drive on.
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There’s this great line in @tressiemcphd’s Thick about how to get an academic to speak to you: ‘introduce yourself by proxy.’ ‘Hi I am Tressie . and I know five other people who you recognize as people.’ Today I realized this might also make my drs recognize me as a person.
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I predict increased surveillance about the use of our MTX. Did I take all of my pills or hoard them? Many of us hoard meds bc of pharmacy delays or costs. We set aside 1-2 pills every month. Will I have to take mine in public now?.
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@adamliptak This story is in desperate need of a disability framing. Including this update. Please talk to people with disabilities and acknowledge the impact of her inability to get a reasonable accommodation.
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The thing about that parental leave . essay . is that if a woman wrote it, it would never get published.
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@Kanrok So your proposal is that students with disabilities find time to re-do each class? Every day?.
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RA treatment was revolutionized 20 years ago with the advent of biologics. Biologics gave people with RA a much better disease outlook. I don’t know if I would be able to work or live the life I live now without biologics. Most biologics for RA work best with methotrexate.
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I want to be clear about what this article does not do—it does not show that students who are accommodated in law school are more likely to fail the bar.
As The Percentage Of Accommodated Students In A Law School Increases, Its First-Time Bar Pass Rate Decreases, 102 @OregonLawReview 1 (2023) by Scott Devito (@JacksonvilleU) .
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@DrSarahAxelrath @amyep9 Thank you for your thoughtful and carefully chosen words. Also really appreciate the emphasis on ‘with consent’ even though it’s anonymized. I wish others would follow your lead.
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Disability Without Documentation will be published in the @FordhamLRev. This @LoyolaLawSchool alum is . really tremendously happy. It was a hell of a year.
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I don’t think people understand that law never really had its #metoo. Very grateful to these women for speaking up and also, well, I’m angry.
I was in Prof. Wright’s economics class during my 1L year at Mason in 2017-2018. On our final exam he included a question asking us to calculate the utility a male employer gains from sexually harassing his female employees. We notified administration. Nothing was done.
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As many in the autoimmune community feared, it appears that patients on hydroxychloroquine are now having a hard time getting it. I want to explain what stopping effective treatment can mean in the context of RA, an autoimmune disease hydroxychloroquine is often prescribed for.
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This is the text I got today on my personal cell phone. I don’t have an active office phone no. precisely because I don’t want to get creepy calls. Reported this to our public safety office. Other female law profs are getting this crap today too.
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