Ross Layton

The Project

Ross (he/him/his) will advocate for higher education students with mental health disabilities, using direct representation and other strategies to safeguard their rights against discrimination by public educational institutions.

Although existing laws are meant to protect students from discrimination on the basis of mental health disabilities, institutions of higher education are rarely held to adequate compliance standards. With these disabilities proliferating on college campuses in recent years, the need for legal responses is increasingly urgent—especially for students at community colleges and other public institutions, where there is currently little advocacy infrastructure. Such students deserve protection when their schools seek to exclude them or otherwise discriminate against them, threatening their educations.

Fellowship Plans

During his Fellowship, Ross will assert the rights of individual students in administrative proceedings regarding reasonable accommodations and involuntary withdrawal from enrollment. He will also develop and distribute self-advocacy materials, and he will build a regional referral network in order to train and connect other advocates. Finally, he will design and begin to implement an impact litigation strategy, creating a model for ongoing efforts.

Media