2012 Equal Justice Works Fellow, Rajan Anthony Sonik
Rajan Anthony Sonik
Name of Host Organization: Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston
City, State: Boston, Massachusetts
Issue area: Health Care/Medical-Legal Collaborative, Disability Rights Children/Youth
Sponsors: Mintz Levin P.C.; Biogen Idec
The Inspiration
Printer-friendly versionIn college I joined a mentoring program for teenagers with sickle cell disease (SCD) called STRIVE. As I developed close relationships with the mentees, I began researching the challenges they faced. What I found was a history of discrimination, isolation, and few to no supports. I dedicated myself then to advocating for these children. Through this work, I saw that a variety of legal barriers often prevented children with SCD from staying healthy. I decided to go to law school so I could better address these issues, and thanks to Equal Justice Works, I was able to develop this project. The Project
Over a quarter of low-income children have a chronic illness, and they constitute one of our most underserved populations. For children with SCD, which primarily affects African Americans, these problems are compounded by historical and structural racism, leading to especially heightened exposure to social factors that negatively affect health.
My project will address these needs through direct legal assistance in education, housing, and income supports cases; the development of improved practices for collaborative medical, social, and legal services; and policy change initiatives regarding how reasonable accommodations are granted to children with SCD in schools and other contexts.
Biography
Hometown: |
Sacramento, California |
Law school: | |
Words to live by: |
"As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I posses a billion dollars. As long as millions of people are inflicted with debilitating diseases and cannot expect to live more than thirty-five years, I can never be totally healthy even if I receive a perfect bill of health from Mayo Clinic. Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be."
~Martin Luther King, Jr., “Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution,” June 2, 1959 |