COPAA ANNOUNCES JUDITH A. GRAN TO RECEIVE DIANE LIPTON AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL ADVOCACY ON BEHALF OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. is proud to announce that it will present Judith A. Gran with the Diane Lipton Award for Outstanding Educational Advocacy on Behalf of Children with Disabilities.  For nearly two decades, Ms. Gran has been an extraordinary advocate for the rights of children and adults with disabilities.  As a lawyer at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, she has represented families who have little other recourse, and helped them ensure that their children receive an appropriate education.   COPAA will present Ms. Gran with the award in March 2008 at its tenth annual conference.

Ms. Gran has been instrumental in shaping the parameters of least restrictive environment and other special-education case law on a national level for 22 years.  She has worked to build a body of case law in the Pennsylvania administrative system demonstrating that students with a wide range of significant and complex disabilities can be educated in regular classes with supplementary aids and services. 

Gaskin v. Pennsylvania Department of Education is emblematic of her efforts.  The historic settlement in this case was designed to increase the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education classes, in accord with the IDEA.  The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia represented twelve named plaintiffs, eleven advocacy organizations, and a class of 280,000 special education students in a case that has lasted over a decade.  Gaskin followed the precedent-setting least-­restrictive environment case, Oberti v. Board of Education of the Borough of Clementon (1993), which Ms. Gran also co-counseled with her PILCOP colleagues.  

In addition, Ms. Gran has sought to vindicate the rights of people with disabilities in class action litigation on behalf of residents of developmental disabilities institutions in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other states. As a result of those cases, large congregate facilities have been replaced by community services. Former institutional residents, including those with the most significant disabilities, live and work in typical homes, neighborhoods and workplaces. Currently, she is actively engaged in implementation of consent decrees in two class action suits on behalf of People First of Tennessee and the residents and former residents of Tennessee's state developmental disabilities institutions and nearly a thousand persons in nursing facilities and other congregate settings. 

Ms. Gran's impact on the lives of families cannot be overestimated.  She has represented families at the due process, District Court, and Court of Appeals levels.  In addition, she regularly takes time from her busy practice to mentor lawyers and advocates, and provide advice to attorneys seeking to litigate cases.  She has also worked for systemic change to level the playing field for parents of children with disabilities.

The Diane Lipton Award for Outstanding Educational Advocacy is given to an individual who has made a particularly outstanding contribution to COPAA's primary mission, protecting the educational and civil rights of children with disabilities.  The award honors the memory of Diane Lipton, who spent two decades fighting for the rights of children with disabilities.  She began as a parent-advocate on behalf of her own daughter, Chloe, who was segregated from her non-disabled peers by a chain link fence at school.  She became a special-education advocate and then an attorney for the Disabilities Rights Education and Defense Fund.  Ms. Lipton was a founding member of COPAA's Board of Directors, as is Ms. Gran.

COPAA is proud to present this award to Ms. Gran for her outstanding advocacy on behalf of children and adults with disabilities.  The award will be given at COPAA's annual conference on March 8, 2008 in Anaheim, California.

For more information, contact COPAA at exec@copaa.org or 410-372-0208
Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc.
www.copaa.org

January 23, 2008