{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78114"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78114","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"MAKING RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE: WORKERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Durlak, Paul; 0000-0002-1778-2868"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Trautner, Mary Nell","Sociology"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-06-28T20:34:18Z","date_published":"2018-06-28T20:34:18Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:09Z","subjects":["sociology","law"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. 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University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78114"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","Do legal rights produce meaningful social change? Sociolegal scholars have long been interested in understanding the impact of legal rights on society. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), our nation’s most recent major civil rights law, proves a useful case for testing the relationship between law and social change. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews with workers with a disability, this dissertation asks how workers experience, understand, mobilize, and at times, forsake their ADA rights. In general, I find that workers understand their ADA rights as ultimately social in nature, and therefore, subject to the stereotypes, perceptions, judgments, and approval of others. To construct a socially acceptable and non-threatening expression of ADA rights that meets the approval of others, workers in this study mostly drew on the frames of fairness, hard work, and opportunity. In this sense, workers with a disability understand their ADA rights from the perspective of others. While this framing strategy is successful for many workers, it also limits the potential of ADA rights to create meaningful social change. In addition, this dissertation addresses the role of emotions in understanding how and when workers with a disability use their ADA rights. I find that emotional states influence how individuals respond to rights violations and discrimination. Specifically, emotions—such as indignation, fear, shame, and embarrassment—refined workers’ legal decision-making when handling disputes involving ADA rights violations. This dissertation contributes to the fields of sociolegal studies and disability legal studies in several ways. First, by focusing on the experiences and understandings of workers with a disability, this dissertation contributes to the sociolegal study of law and social change, legal mobilization, and legal consciousness. Second, by focusing on the role of emotions, this dissertation challenges traditional rational models of legal decision-making. Finally, this dissertation contributes to the growing field of disability legal studies by focusing on how workers with a disability actively construct the meaning of the ADA in the workplace."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["MAKING RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE: WORKERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Trautner, Mary Nell","Sociology"],"dc:creator":["Durlak, Paul; 0000-0002-1778-2868"],"dc:date":["2018-06-28T20:34:18Z","2018","2018-05-18 09:26:14"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","Do legal rights produce meaningful social change? Sociolegal scholars have long been interested in understanding the impact of legal rights on society. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), our nation’s most recent major civil rights law, proves a useful case for testing the relationship between law and social change. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews with workers with a disability, this dissertation asks how workers experience, understand, mobilize, and at times, forsake their ADA rights. In general, I find that workers understand their ADA rights as ultimately social in nature, and therefore, subject to the stereotypes, perceptions, judgments, and approval of others. To construct a socially acceptable and non-threatening expression of ADA rights that meets the approval of others, workers in this study mostly drew on the frames of fairness, hard work, and opportunity. In this sense, workers with a disability understand their ADA rights from the perspective of others. While this framing strategy is successful for many workers, it also limits the potential of ADA rights to create meaningful social change. In addition, this dissertation addresses the role of emotions in understanding how and when workers with a disability use their ADA rights. I find that emotional states influence how individuals respond to rights violations and discrimination. Specifically, emotions—such as indignation, fear, shame, and embarrassment—refined workers’ legal decision-making when handling disputes involving ADA rights violations. This dissertation contributes to the fields of sociolegal studies and disability legal studies in several ways. First, by focusing on the experiences and understandings of workers with a disability, this dissertation contributes to the sociolegal study of law and social change, legal mobilization, and legal consciousness. Second, by focusing on the role of emotions, this dissertation challenges traditional rational models of legal decision-making. Finally, this dissertation contributes to the growing field of disability legal studies by focusing on how workers with a disability actively construct the meaning of the ADA in the workplace."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78114"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["sociology","law"],"dc:title":["MAKING RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE: WORKERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:09Z"}