Law & Disability Conferences
CHLP presents a conference at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick once or twice a year. This event is sponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Education. It is open to the public and free of charge. The half-day program features experts in disability law and other fields that have an impact on people with disabilities and on seniors. Past panels have focused on such issues as access to health care, barrier-free housing, Social Security Disability Insurance, programs for people with developmental disabilities, changes in the state’s mental health system, special education, and long-term care.
The last conference, held on April 7, 2009, included the following presentations and panels:
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Thomas Garrity, Jr., Chief of Collingswood Police Department and Board Member of the Mental Health Association of Southwestern New Jersey
PLENARY SESSION
Jail Diversion Programs for People with Mental Illness
Up to 15 % of the calls to which police officers respond involve someone with a mental illness. Chief Garrity of the Collingswood Police Department pioneered jail diversion programs in New Jersey. Today twelve New Jersey counties have such programs. Collaborations with mental health agencies and local police departments have educated police officers to recognize individuals with mental illness and intervene in nonviolent behavior, helping them get mental health treatment and avoid jail. The panelists, all of whom are involved in jail diversion programs in New Jersey, will discuss how the programs work.
Moderator: Harold Garwin, President/Executive Director, Community Health Law Project
Panel:
Robert Davison, Executive Director, Mental Health Association of Essex County
Thomas Garrity, Jr., Chief, Collingswood Police Department
Mary Lynn Reynolds, Executive Director, Mental Health Association of Southwestern NJ
Linda Reynolds, Program Director, Adult Outpatient Unit, Trinitas Regional Medical Center
Maureen O’Brien, Esq., Assistant Prosecutor, Union County Prosecutor’s Office
Juan Santiago, Director, Developmentally Disabled Offenders Program, Arc of New Jersey
WORKSHOP 1
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008: Reversing the Supreme Court’s Assault on the ADA
The ADA Amendments Act, signed into law on September 25, 2008, makes important changes to the definition of the term “disability” by rejecting holdings in several Supreme Court decisions and EEOC ADA regulations. It was hailed as a return to the intent of the Congress that originally enacted the ADA in 1990. The panelists will discuss the court decisions that necessitated the new legislation and the effect of the amendments on ADA jurisprudence. The panel will also cover transportation law under the ADA.
Moderator: David Popiel, Esq., Senior Managing Attorney, CHLPt
Panel:
James Weisman, Esq., General Counsel, United Spinal Association
David Popiel, Esq., Senior Managing Attorney, Community Health Law Project
WORKSHOP 2
The Future of Health Care Reform in New Jersey
The panelists will discuss health insurance reforms that have recently taken place in New Jersey, as well as those that were part of the federal economic stimulus package. It will also discuss the recent amendment to the federal Mental Health Parity Act, which broadened the protections provided to insured consumers who are not covered by New Jersey’s Mental Health Parity Act.
Moderator: Harold Garwin, President/Executive Director, Community Health Law Project
Panel:
Dennis Lafer, Mental Health Association of New Jersey
Joshua Spielberg, Esq., Legal Services of New Jersey
Eve Weissman, Health Care Campaign Coordinator, New Jersey Citizen Action
| 
