Ted Kennedy, Jr., Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Stamford, Connecticut, office, was featured in Law360, in “Stigma of Disability in Legal Industry Is 'Very Real,' Panel Says,” by Tracey Read. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
About nine months before Chad Jerdee was appointed general counsel and chief compliance officer at professional services company Accenture, he lost his lower left leg in a crash with a drunk driver.
"I'm a little embarrassed to say that that is what it took to really make me realize the importance of employment for people with disabilities and the challenges that they face," Jerdee said of the 2015 incident.
Jerdee spoke Tuesday on a panel in a webinar co-sponsored by Epstein Becker Green and Disability:In, a worldwide nonprofit advocating for business disability inclusion, on "Advancing Disability Inclusion in the Legal Profession" as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
Epstein Becker member Ted Kennedy Jr. moderated the panel.
"Today, we see very few lawyers with visible disabilities and a huge reluctance of lawyers with non- apparent disabilities to self-disclose their disability status," said Kennedy, a pediatric bone cancer survivor who has had an amputation. "People with disabilities face significant barriers to pursuing careers in the law, despite the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act over 30 years ago."
The panelists discussed the issues that people with disabilities face when pursuing a legal career, and presented ways law firms, law schools, bar associations and corporate legal departments can help advance disability equality.