ABSTRACT

A growing body of legal scholarship studies the recognition of disability: whether an individual is perceived, viewed, or understood to be disabled within society or within our disability legal regime. This Article introduces the novel concept of “disability specialization,” a phenomenon representing a major determinant of when disability is recognized, that has yet to be acknowledged within disability scholarship or academic scholarship in general. Disability specialization is the extent to which a disability support is either consumed en masse by the general public or specialized as a niche for disabled people. The concept of disability specialization is a basic feature of the disability experience, yet it is commonly misperceived within public discourse, disability rights law, and predominant representations of disability. This misperception erases a major swath of the disability experience and has material societal and legal consequences, implicating anything from plastic use policy, to voting ballots, to motorized scooter regulation. As a case study, this Article devotes particular attention to the social and legal treatment of disabled people relying on Emotional Support Animals (ESAs). It argues that misperception surrounding disability specialization fuels the hostile public skepticism directed towards ESA handlers and motivated the exclusion of disabled ESA handlers from federal disability rights protections. This Article discusses both intentional access barriers, such as those faced by disabled ESA handlers, as well as the more covert but nevertheless pervasive and significant implications of misperception surrounding disability specialization. In light of such implications, the Article introduces a prescription for change, including both specific policy recommendations and a broad framework for moving forward. Disability specialization must be grappled with: within discussions of recognition and disability scholarship more broadly, within public policy, and within our systems for promoting disability access.