Windsor prof leads Canada's first textbook on disability and law, hopes to spark change

A University of Windsor law professor is the editor and lead author of the first Canadian textbook on the law and disability.

Laverne Jacobs had the idea after teaching a course on law and disability for several years, and she collaborated on the book with colleagues across the country. The text is called Law and Disability in Canada: Cases and Materials.

"One of our primary goals was to create a text that could be used by academics to teach in the field, but we also had a larger goal, which was to bring law and disability issues much more squarely into the law school curriculum of law schools across the country,"  Jacobs said on CBC Radio's Windsor Morning.

She hopes the book also resonates beyond the classroom.

"This book is designed not just for law professors but also for legal practitioners and for people who are outside of the law altogether. I hope that this research contributes knowledge to those who want to make a difference," said Jacobs.

She said the book aims to deal with a diversity of disabilities, not just visible ones, and also factors in how barriers intersect — "the many ways that people with a disability...have lived experience of being Indigenous or suffering from discrimination due to race, gender, et cetera."

Jacobs' own research in the book focuses on the law and community living, a field that deals with how people with disabilities live in the community and face barriers such as housing.

Since moving away from institutionalization of people with disabilities, "there's been much more of a push to make sure that people with disabilities are actually finding places in the community to live and have adequate supports," said Jacobs, who has first-hand experience with disability due to a spinal cord injury.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.