Moments in Disability History 1

The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
mn.gov/disability-mn
Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Moments in Disability History 4

ADA: Back To The Future with U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank

Nowhere in this interview does U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank mention the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but his comments on bigotry, employment, abuse and especially on the influence of self-advocates, reflects on how far our society has come since the passage of ADA, the importance of maintaining the ADA, and the need to advance the ADA, particularly through the influence of self-advocates on the disability justice community.

Donovan W. Frank took the oath of office on November 2, 1998 to become a United States District Court judge. His career was profoundly influenced when he was as an Assistant St. Louis County Attorney for the St. Louis County Attorney's Office in Virginia, Minnesota, where he was involved with people being committed into the mental health system. Judge Frank served as the Chief Judge of the sixteen-judge Sixth Judicial District from 1991 to 1996, prior to his appointment to the federal bench.

Video: Judge Frank Interview for TPT

Judge Donovan Frank
Judge Donovan Frank

Karen Loven
Karen Loven

Sources:

Institutions To Independence

Profile of United States District Court Judge Donovan Frank from the September 2010 issue of The Federal Lawyer

"Juries and the Disabled," December 2012 issue of The Federal Lawyer

The Honorable Donovan Frank, US District Court Judge District of Minnesota, was recently awarded the Paul G. Heane Award for Disability Rights by the American Bar Association (ABA).

April 1, 2013

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The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center, the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.

This project was supported, in part by grant number 2401MNSCDD, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.

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