For a legal scholar, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on federal law impacting every child that attends public school. It’s one Claire Raj says she is excited to be part of.

Raj is a professor of law and director of the Education Rights Clinic at the USC Rice School of Law specializing in access to education. This year, she was offered a temporary position as special counsel for the U.S Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. She is working on a project related to drafting proposed amendments to regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

"Section 504 is a federal civil rights law that prohibits any entity that receives federal financial assistance, such as public schools, from discriminating against persons with disabilities,” Raj says. “My job is, in part, to research the implications of proposed amendments to the current regulations, ensure they align with legislative intent, and support the government’s broader goal to protect the rights of students with disabilities.”

Her research is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation, which has a new program focused on advancing the rights of people with disabilities.

“The point of these laws was to say that we as an American society see value in our differences and want people with disabilities to have the same opportunities as everyone else, starting with education,” Raj says. “It’s inspirational to go back to some of that language and think about how, as a government, we can make these broad sweeping changes so that we have a more inclusive school system and, hopefully, a more inclusive society as whole.”