“This is my dream come true,” said the Hon. Tony Coelho in welcoming multiple classes of the Coelho Law Fellowship as more than 30 past and current members gathered on the LMU Loyola Law School campus July 1516 for their first inperson meeting in three years. “What you do after this is what’s important. Going through this is for you, but after that is for the disability community. That’s where you can have an impact.”
Coelho’s welcome set in motion two days of The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy & Innovation programming designed to prepare people with disabilities to advocate for their causes as future lawyers, judges and elected officials. Students from the 20212022 cohort joined Coelho Center Director Katherine Perez to share findings from their Disability Advocacy Project. The project is a part of the fellowship that requires the fellows to identify a topic of interest and select one of two projects: to research, write, present, and submit a 10page policy report, and/or organize and execute a panel discussion with policy experts. Panels included Disability Rights During COVID19, Disability Rights & Healthcare, Remote Learning During COVID19, Disability Rights in Higher Education and Disability Rights in K12 Education.
At the conclusion of the first day, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti provided a surprise greeting for the fellows. “I am so indebted to the work of Tony Coelho. You will continue to draw on his name and the fellowship and the work you do as an inspiration. He is somebody who found a way to make sure that all of us in this country belong. And you all now can take that torch.”