ADA Mediation Page Editorial 1

This editorial formally opens the ADA Mediation Page that MIRC has published over the last year, offering the most up-to-date writing and commentary on ADA mediation. This Page is a complement to the ADA Mediation online discussion group at ADA Forum Discussion , where practitioners exchange ideas – with stakeholders and advocates welcome to join in.

This page offers the opportunity for us to share longer written pieces, including articles, relevant legislation, program procedures, and other “products” that contribute to our understanding and to the development of the field. I welcome papers representing both theoretical and practical approaches. I hope to see practical articles such as Top 10 Reasons Why Psychiatric Disability Discrimination Claims Are So Hard To Mediate by Jeff Kichaven and analytical articles like Guidelines For Mediation Of ADA Claims , Bruce Myerson’s critique of the ADA Mediation Guidelines, complemented by papers addressing the complexities and the conundrums of ADA mediation. Public policy implications; mediation as standard practice for “enforcement” of civil rights laws; interest- and rights-based issues, along with core values, raised in the same forum — and data addressing the impact of these practices — are some of the tough issues that we need to examine in order to move the field forward. I hope to post papers suggesting creative, new approaches to addressing the many compelling questions raised by ADA mediation and papers that suggest ways that classic mediation practices might be further developed for application to ADA cases.

We welcome submissions and suggestions of articles and other pieces to the ADA Mediation Page that contribute to this vision and to ADA mediation practice and understanding. Please send submissions and suggestions to me in electronic format, including reproduction permissions, at [email protected].

                       

Judith Cohen

Judy Cohen, a mediator and trainer, specializes in workplace conflict management, focussing on conflict prevention, as well as dispute resolution.  Her mediation practice includes extensive experience with discrimination cases, discipline and discharge, and interpersonal relations. She is a widely published, nationally known expert in Americans with Disabilities Act, with disability-related… MORE >