Disability Rights is Focus of Dierenfield's New Book

Buffalo, NY - A clash between disability rights and church-state separation is the focus of a new book co-authored by History Professor Bruce J. Dierenfield, PhD. 

Disability Rights and Religious Liberty in Education tells the 1988 story of Sandi and Larry Zobrest, who sued the Tucson, AZ school district when it denied their hearing-impaired son a taxpayer-funded interpreter in his Roman Catholic high school. 

The book examines the complex history and jurisprudence of disability accommodation and educational mainstreaming.  It similarly analyzes the thorny church-state issues and legal controversies that informed the case, its journey to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the impact of the high court’s ruling on the course of disability accommodation and religious liberty. 

Dierenfield co-authored the book with David A. Gerber, PhD, an emeritus professor of history at the University at Buffalo and director emeritus of its Center for Disability Studies.