Jasmine Harris on the Aesthetics of Disability

In this episode, Jasmine E. Harris, Acting Professor of Law at the University of California Davis School of Law, discusses her article "The Aesthetics of Disability," which was published in the Columbia Law Review. Harris begins by explaining the source of disability law and how it is intended to both prevent discrimination against people with disabilities and rely on "contact theory" to reduce the stigma of disability. But she observes that the benefits predicted by contact theory have not always materialized, and argues that it is because aesthetic aversion to disabilities encourages individual and institutional discrimination. She argues that we should strive to eliminate the ability of those aesthetic preferences to affect our choices, in order to effectively prevent discrimination against people with disabilities. Harris is on Twitter at @Jeharrislaw.This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Associate Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.