On Wednesday, Oct. 17th, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joined LMU in the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy and Innovation.
The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy and Innovation opened a new site for disability advocacy in University Hall on LMU’s Westchester campus on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The grand opening included remarks from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, as well as various members of the University’s leadership team, and was followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Coelho Center aims to develop disability leadership and community while finding solutions for barriers that exist for people with disabilities from entering legal fields.
Founded by Anthony “Tony” Coelho (’64) — former U.S. representative and the primary author and sponsor of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — the center was originally launched in 2018 and was housed on Loyola Law School’s campus in Downtown Los Angeles. The center’s hallmark offering is a law fellowship program, a pathway initiative for disabled college students and recent graduates who are interested in going to law school, working off the motto “Nothing without us.” Originating from a 1990s disability rights movement slogan “Nothing about us without us,” the motto means that no decision about the disability community should be made without input from people with disabilities…