Arizona Center for Disability Law

 

MEDIA ADVISORY

 

 

What:  Tribute Event

 

Who:   The Arizona Center for Disability Law (Center) will celebrate the work of Managing Attorney Rose Daly-Rooney.  Rose began her civil rights career as a special education advocate at the Center seventeen years ago working for the rights of children with disabilities.  After a brief departure to attend the University of Arizona College of Law, Rose returned to the Center to protect the rights of people with disabilities in employment.  Rose will be expanding her civil rights work to include all protected classes under state law, prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, access and voting rights, becoming an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Arizona Attorney General in Tucson.

                                                                                                                                                           

            Rose’s recent disability rights victories include:

 

3 2001, Fass & Darnell v. Wal-Mart.  The Center represented William Darnell and Jeremy Fass, two deaf individuals, in a federal discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart.  A federal court in Tucson approved and signed a settlement reached by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Center and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.  The settlement brought nationwide changes to Wal-Mart’s reasonable accommodation policies.

 

3 2004, Savage v. Glendale Union High School District.  The Center represented Shelley Savage, an education service tech, who was forced to place an orange flag on the back of her wheelchair while in the classroom.  In addition to negotiating a successful outcome for Shelley, the Center convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that school districts are not shielded by the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

3 2004, Fiolek v. Tucson Unified School District.  The Center represented Frank Fiolek, a custodian living with HIV, in a lawsuit against the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD).  A jury concluded that TUSD had discriminated against Frank when they refused to provide him with an effective reasonable accommodation when he suffered from chronic fatigue related to the medications he took to treat HIV.

 

3 Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona James E. Rodgers College of Law teaching disability law.                                                                      

                                                                       

The Center is a not for profit public interest law firm, dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals with a wide range of physical, mental, psychiatric, sensory and cognitive disabilities.  The Center is authorized under various federal statutes to ensure the protection and advocacy of all individuals with disabilities in the state.

                                                                                   

When:             Thursday, December 22, 2005

 

Time:               5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

 

Where:            The Pioneer

                        100 North Stone

                        Building Foyer

                        Tucson, Arizona 85701

 

Contact:          Peri Jude Radecic, Director of Public Advocacy

                        Work: (520) 327-9547, extension 24

                        Cell: (623) 308-5111

                        pradecic@azdisabilitylaw.org