Guevara on Ableness as Property

Angelica Guevara (University of Wisconsin Law School) has posted Ableness as Property (Denver Law Review Forum (forthcoming)) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

The article puts forth the need for gatekeepers to address ableness as property, instead of focusing on the ability/disability of an individual. Not addressing such a property interest leads courts and academic institutions to make damaging and varying decisions as seen in two medical school cases. By focusing on the property interest in ableness, gatekeepers begin to embrace the social model of disability, making educational systems accessible rather than "fixing" the individual to fit into existing systems. The article highlights how resistance and fear of difference towards students with disabilities in higher education maintain an ableist social structure. Gatekeepers increase in power and reinforce ableist ideologies as they manufacture disability using rational discrimination.