Disability Inclusion and the Marketplace of Ideas

Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/04/2023
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

More than 42 million Americans live with a disability. This includes citizens with hearing, vision, cognitive, or physical disabilities. Nearly a quarter of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 report having a disability, and Americans in certain racial and ethnic groups are more likely to have a disability. Americans with disabilities earn less than other citizens, have lower rates of technology adoption, and often face more hardships accessing employment and healthcare, particularly online. Their voices are often forgotten in the First Amendment’s marketplace of ideas and rights of access, but their input in that marketplace is increasingly more important as the U.S. population ages and as healthcare and technological advances allow more people with disabilities to live longer and more independently.

This panel, which is co-sponsored by the UNC Media Law Society, Carolina Law’s Committee on Inclusion and Community, and the First Amendment Law Review, will address how the voices of disabled people are included and excluded in today’s public sphere.  The panel will also discuss what Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC), the state’s protection and advocacy organization, is doing to raise public awareness about disability rights.

Panelists include:

• Eleanor Bolton, UNC undergraduate and Co-Chair, Disability Advocates for Carolina
• Corye Dunn, Director of Public Policy, Disability Rights North Carolina
• Victoria (“Tori”) Ekstrand, Associate Professor and Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education, UNC School of Journalism and Media.
• Christine Mendoza, UNC undergraduate

This event is free and open to the public. Students can earn Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit.

This is just one of many events we are hosting on First Amendment Day!