DETERMINED: Longtime Berkeley Law lecturer Arlene Mayerson ‘77 is a national leader in fighting for disability rights. Photo by Laurie Frasier

When Arlene Mayerson ’77 arrived at Berkeley Law, the course she teaches today, Disability Rights, didn’t exist. In fact, neither did the field.

A driving force behind the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — and called the brains behind it by author Lennard J. Davis — she has spent the past 35 years propelling more pathbreaking advocacy. The winner of numerous awards for her leading disability rights work, Mayerson and her efforts were recently highlighted in an episode of the PBS show “American Experience.”

A Berkeley Law lecturer since 1988, she continues to partner on policy efforts with leaders in the field.

“I consider it my responsibility. It’s a way of giving back,” Mayerson says. “I feel like I learned legislative lawyering on the job, and it’s really important for students to know this whole other avenue of the law that can have huge impacts.”

Understanding that disability exclusion and segregation is a civil rights issue, she worked at the nascent Disability Law Resource Center following her law school graduation and soon after helped run the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. Amid cutbacks to social services, Mayerson worked on several pieces of legislation to offset negative Supreme Court decisions in the 1980s, leading to the ADA’s seismic impact.

She also has been at the forefront of enforcing the ADA, achieving many victories: Mayerson negotiated a first of its kind settlement with the California Department of Education to offer care and supports for diabetic students. She also brought a groundbreaking case on website accessibility filing cases which resulted in mandating that internet-only companies like Netflix provide closed captions for their streaming shows, and shaping a settlement with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology over web accessibility that now extends to all U.S. colleges and universities.

“My role has always been to push the envelope and to see where the ADA could be used in ways that weren’t obvious or explicit,” says Mayerson, who got the idea for the initial suit against Netflix from watching it. “When Netflix first came out and there was streaming at home, I was very excited. I’m hard of hearing, and I was used to using captions on TV. I opened the Netflix app, and when the video started streaming, I thought, ‘Wait a minute, there’s no captions.’”

Homing in on Title III of the ADA, she argued Netflix’s streaming site is a service of public accommodation and therefore must be accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. The judge agreed, and the ensuing historic settlement had a domino effect with all big streamers signing on to their own settlements.

Mayerson says she’s deeply concerned about recent setbacks, but her experience with students this year brought her some relief — and hope.

“I think the students still feel the energy to use their lawyering skills to advance the greater good,” she says. “And today’s students know that race, gender, disability, and ethnicity are all intertwined in the wider civil rights movement.” — Gwyneth K. Shaw

Mayerson has racked up many accolades for her effective disability rights efforts, including:

• Center for Independent Living Spirit of Independence Leading Advocate Award (1993)
• American Diabetes Association Public Policy Award (1997)
• Henry Viscardi Achievement Award (2014)
• Starkloff Disability Institute Open Door Award (2015)
• American Bar Association Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights (2016)
• National Women’s History Project Honoree (2018)